I was in Walgreens drugstore and saw some reading glasses (As Seen on TV) in the miscellaneous aisle. Each pair of glasses covers the range of 0.5 to 2.5. I thought they were the kind that you need to adjust a dial, but when I opened the package, there were no dials. I read on the website that the lenses include all the different powers, but your eye picks the best one. Sure.
I can say that they work like magic. These are probably the clearest over-the-counter eyeglasses I've ever bought. Anyway, if you see these in the store, take them out of the box and give them a try. They sure beat having to buy different powered glasses for different reading tasks. They aren't that stylish, but you do have some choices if you buy from their website.
Now, it's easy for me to see the individual pixels in an image on the computer monitor, mainly because I can move in closer to the screen. https://www.onepowerreaders.com/
Besides my Weeview 3D camera (more fun than a barrel of monkeys) I bought from Amazon, that's all my water cooler stuff for now.
I recently had cataract surgeries and am now using readers for the first time, so this looks interesting. Checking Amazon reviews, people seem to have mixed reports on these ranging from “fantastic” to “scam”. It seems that this may be one of those “your mileage may vary” situations. After reading those reviews I would definitely want to try them first at a place like Walgreens (like Rob said) instead of just placing an Amazon order.
There's nothing magical about this type of glasses. The technology for 'progressive' lenses has been around since at least the early 1980s. (Progressive being a pair of prescription eyeglasses with bi-focals built into the bottom of the lens with no visible line.)
The glasses don't focus. The different magnifications go across the lenses in horizontal lines, highest mag at the bottom, least at the top. The wearer needs to tilt their head a little up or down to find the best magnification for whatever they are reading.
I bought a similar pair of these very recently. Mine are branded "ICU". $38. I'm going to take them back to my local store and order a couple of pair, one square and one round, from RJ's link.
I'm not happy with the pair I got. The segment I need for reading my computer is not ground correctly all the way across the right lens. Fine on the outer edges, but when I read all the way across my monitor the text goes wonky. In focus with one eye but not the other. I happen to have a pineal arachnoid cyst, that is fluid filled, not cancerous, right in the middle of my brain. In the middle, behind the eyes, right between the ears. It's about the size of a small egg and has squashed my cerebellum so much that the neurosurgeon said it is surprising I can walk. Anyway, I get migraine headaches all too often. I remember being in a store once and hearing a lady complain to her companion that she had a migraine. Funny, I thought. Why aren't you lying on the floor in a pool of vomit? That's what happens to me every time I get one. I keep plastic bags beside the bed and in the car to throw up in.
Anyway, back to glasses, I can't take it if readers are not pretty good quality. We have dozens of pairs around the house of all powers. I need 1.5 to read my monitor. 2.5 to 3 is best for seeing my camera's flip out monitor. No glasses for the camera eye viewer, variations for other types of reading, depending on the size of the text, oh, and 2 to paint my toenails. How I would LOVE to have one pair that would work for everything!!! Especially if I'm at the computer and see something outside that I'd like to film. I have to take off one pair and find another that's the right thing. (I now have pairs of 2.5 in pouches attached to every camera.)
The very best 1.5s, for monitor reading, came from Dollar Tree. One dollar for any product in the store. The grinding of the lens is good from top to bottom, side to side, all the way across. They are the ONLY pair from Dollar Tree that are worth having. Especially since the Dollar Tree frames are so fragile. I keep trying different ones in pretty much any store that has them.
When trying to decide, I find some text on a product that is as wide as possible, close one eye and turn my head from left to right to see if any horizontal portion of the lens is out of focus, then with the other eye. Very difficult to find a pair that meets that standard. These ICU ones are good through some of the power segments but NOT in the computer reading level. They are very good for camera monitor viewing. If the computer segment was better I'd be thrilled. Oh, and using them I can read every size text from the tiniest on medicine bottles, up. And in trying to use these multi-focal readers, I've found good posture with my head NOT tilted in either direction, from left to right works best. The up and down part depends on the size of the text.
Hope that helps,
Paz
Whatever you do, don't set your coffee cup adjacent to your turps cup.
Paz_Pazzaz wrote:Dave, Congrats! What type and brand lenses do you have?
Acysof Toric. I've had bad astigmatism my whole life. The lenses correct to near perfect vision in the range of about 1.5 ft to 10 ft. Distance vision is good enough that I can drive safely without glasses. Need readers for the close stuff. I have to renew my driver license in August and the doc says to take the test without my glasses so that I can have the corrective lens requirement removed. However, with a minimal amount of correction I can have near 20/20 vision at all distances, so after the eyes have stabilized I'm planning to get tested and get a pair of glasses. I've worn glasses since I was 7 and they don't bother me. I'd rather do that than have to mess around having readers to carry around and worry about. I had a pair of the no-line progressive trifocals before the surgery. Always did fine with them, even with my extreme nearsightedness.
I think the glasses are a good idea. I had the same cataract procedures several years ago. Went from being nearsighted to being farsighted -- I'm 20/20 at distance and in focus down to about 3 feet. Closer than that, it gets real fuzzy real fast. Had to use multiple strength readers while my eyes stabilized -- really didn't like having to mess around with them. I now have progressive lenses with no correction at the top and positive correction at the bottom. Works well and feels natural.