I am about to order from this company and although I have read a bunch of sunglass threads- here goes.. I am ordering Wiley X Airrage, prescription and with transistional lens. Their rep claims that this is a new type of transitional lens that is light sensitive rather than UV sensitive so it will work behind a faceshield or a windshield. The color gradient goes from yellow (low light) to dark brown (bright light). Theory sounds good- my concern is that the rep said that the transitional is also polarized and my memory from prior threads is that polarized lens may not be a good thing? They are pretty spendy so any feedback would be appreciated!

 

so, you want feedback about SportRX? great company to do business with.

I've never dealt with transitional lenses - no help.

back in the day - I flew with polarized lenses, I think they kept eye fatigue down.

 

thx Aviator!

 

You're probably talking about drivewear lenses http://www.drivewearlens.com

I was looking at these lenses from a variety of providers, and tried the actual lenses at my local eye doctor's office. I think they're really cool if you're going to use them for bike and car, from low light (storm/clouds etc) to bright light/full sun, but they don't claim they're ok for night riding. I thought about using them for night anyway, since I've had tinted glasses at night before, but then I started thinking about it. I was hit by a car last year at night (wearing clear lenses), and am still trying to work through and settle that case. Even if something isn't your fault, I'm more leary now about things that could potentially come back to bight me, like if I was wearing glasses that looked tinted at the time of an incident, if they (cops, other driver, insurance company) somehow tried to pin anything on me, and it came out that the glasses I had on at the time were specifically not recommended for night driving, that might not play out in my favor. Call me paranoid, but after having fought w/ an insurance company after doing absolutely nothing wrong, I guess I am a little paranoid.

I was still thinking about getting the drivewear lenses, and just not using them at night. But as I continue my search I'm having a hard time getting the frames I want given my high prescription, so places like sport rx that are affordable, may or may not be able to do my prescription properly.

I was looking at RX Safety, Anysunglasses, SportRX, and HeavyGlare, mostly wiley X or panoptics frames because I could go to my local Harley dealer who carries them and try the frames on first (which I would highly recommend, because many frames I tried are too tight, too loose, or somehow didn't fit the face/eye cavity right making me feel it would expose me to too much wind/debris), so once settled on a few possible frames, I narrowed down options w/ the sites that can do the work.

SportRX's price was good, comparatively, for a drivewear lense wiley X blink was only $265, or $220 for regular transitions, but w/ my high prescription, they said the lens would stick out quite a bit from the frame, and I may have some distortion.

HeavyGlare was much more expensive for same thing $455 for drivewear, or $355 for transitions, but would guarantee the prescription using digital surfacing and not have the lenses sticking out etc.

The *other* new style of transition lenses is the "Varia® Day-Night Light Amber to Dark Grey" http://sunlenstechnology.com/rx.html

...or this link has more info too http://corporateportal.ppg.com/NA/ch...dSunlenses/EN/

While these may not activate behind some windshields (as far as I know), for the bike they might be better if only one set of glasses, since they go yellow and are approved for night driving/riding, and when they darken they go all the way to 18% darkness (only letting 18% of light through), where the darker sunglasses usually get to 12-15% by comparison.

The biggest complaint I hear about transition lenses is they don't get dark enough in bright light. I feel, based on my research, that either the drivewear or possibly these new NXT/Trivex lenses, may be the best ones to choose from, since the drivewear is polarized and reduces eye fatigue so however dark it does get (and I took a lens outside and tested it) it is comfortable for your eye, and the NXT/Trivex lens gets to 18% theoretically, so going by the numbers, that seems to be one of the darker available transitions.

Some don't like polarized because it can create a rainbow or etched effect picking up cracks or wrinkles in the plastic of some face shields or windshields, or can minimize glare from tar snakes or oil spots, or make some screens like LCD hard to read. I'm used to riding w/ polarized lenses and like them, they seem to enable me to still spot issues, w/out the annoying glare, and don't have the windshield issue, although haven't tried my add-on face shield I just bought for my half helmet to see if the polarized has any issues w/ that.

I think I'm leaning towards the NXT/Trivex for the complete versatility of night to day, assuming it works as described, from a nighttime perspective for visibility and legality, making me feel more comfortable I'll only have to buy one pair. And since the only place, HeavyGlare, that seems to want to touch my prescription, charges so much for drivewear, and the Trivex is cheaper, it's making me lean that way for now.

If I had to spend out of pocket more than $300-$400, like if I had to buy two pairs, then I might lean towards getting laser surgery, but that is such a huge thing to get into now, there's so many technologies and places that do it, I'm afraid to jump into anything right away before understanding the best tech and best price/value from the right dr., so if it only costs me $250 to get these glasses now, to use in addition to my contacts and regular sunglasses, that should buy me a couple years to learn more about the laser vision and save some money...

I can get a $100 back from the insurance I have, so out of pocket it would be like $255 for my set. Again, I have a high/flat prescription, so YMMV.

Good luck.

 

Karz- 1st off- sorry for your accident- those are never fun to deal with. Thank you for your detailed explanation- placed my order after reading it!! I am going to go with the driveware lens as I think it will be a good multipurpose lens that I think will work good for me. Again- Thank You!!!

 

So it's been over a month now, have you got the new frames w/ drivewear in em yet?

If so, or when you do, will you tell me how they work at night for you? I'm curious, I still haven't placed my order yet...lol

 

Walmart has some good ones pretty cheap

 

Yeah, except for when you have a big head and even bigger prescription, then it's a no go