Presbyopes....what is your "reader" glasses solution?

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Brad W

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kinda related to the current thread about progressives, but a bit off topic

I'm wondering how those of you that relay on non-prescription readers or bifocals have found best for flying.
neck lanyard?
shirt pocket?
just slide them low on your nose?
just straight readers, or over the counter bifocals or multifocals
and the whole bit about the panel being at that mid distance...too far for the readers but too close for the old eyes...

I finally got up yesterday for by BFR...16 years after my last PIC flight.
well, I used to have way better than 20/20 distance...& could see like a magnifying glass unaided.... till in my 40's
Went through a few years wearing readers, then prescription progressives...then had lasik done. Now my distance checks 20/20...although I think it's not as good as it used to be but still... 20/20
but like most folks my age I need readers.

So yesterday I broke my primary readers during preflight...I was wearing a hat so couldn't slide them on top of my head like I normally do, and was juggling the fuel sampler, the dipstick, the checklist, etc... ugh

anyway, I had a backup pair handy in my bag
and my sunglasses have bifocals.... and it was a sunny day so I wore them the whole flight. They actually worked great! I could see the panel ok, read the checklists, etc....
I had the readers handy though, but I never found a great solution for juggling them in case the sunglasses became too dark, or whatever...
 
I found a pair of non-polarized sunglasses and stuck a pair of +2.5 stick-on half lenses in the bottom half of the sunglass lenses. It took 1 or 2 flights to get used to using sunglass-bifocals in the cockpit. But, now I hardly even notice. I can see distance over the top no problem, then glance down, inside the cockpit and pick up the fine print on the chart.
https://www.amazon.com/20-Hydrotac-...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

When its low-light, I wear my regular progressive lens glasses.
 
During the day I used the Hydrotac stick-on lenses on the bottom of my sunglasses. At night I wear half-frame readers that let me look over the tops of the lenses.
 
I have some prescription sunglasses (progressive). They're not that dark so I can wear them in nearly all light conditions. I don't fly much at night but if I do I have my normal glasses or I can pop on some readers.
 
I don't generally wear sunglasses (I know, bad idea), but for readers I agree with the half-frame suggestion. I have trouble finding half-frames in stores so I usually just go with ordinary cheaters that are relatively narrow top to bottom.

The only prescription eyewear I use is contact lenses, calibrated for distance vision. Since I can't stand to wear glasses outdoors while hiking or cycling, prescription glasses wouldn't see much use, so for me it's by far the cheapest option.
 
Presbyope! Thems fightin' words!
It took a LONG while for me to get adapted to readers while flying. For some idiotic reason, I kept trying to look UNDER the readers to look outside. What finally got me adjusted is to do what you said, and slide them waaaaay down my nose (literally to the tip). That forced me to look OVER them most of the time, then through them to see up close.
I find that for normal reading, +2 works good for me, but for reading that middle-distant-panel that you mentioned, going to +2.25 seemed to work better. Sometimes you have to lean in a little to bring clarity to small lines (Kollsman window, degree lines on compass) but overall it works fine. I also use the stick-ons on a pair of sun glasses.
 
I've got three pairs of glasses I regulary wear: A pair of progressive "Transitions", A pair of progressive regular glasses, and (for working on the computer) a pair of glasses that are cut with only my reading correction.

My near correction (especailly at the distances I look at the instruments, charts, and iPad) is pretty close to nothing. When I was dong my IFR training, I would just take leave my glasses on my thing and until I was "in visual conditions" just wear the foggles.
 
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By the way...

The plane I trained in has a glass panel (G3X Touch), but last summer I tranisitioned into a Cherokee with steam gauges. As nice as the G3X is for nav, weather, etc., I find the steam gauge instrumentation much easier for airspeed, altitude, and vertical speed. With the G3X I have to read numbers, but with the steam gauges I don't have to focus on the actual numbers, just glance at the position of the needle.

For example, if the large hand of the altimeter is pointing straight down, I know I'm on altitude (VFR) without having to read the number. Not so simple with glass, and I have to have better focus to read actual numbers.
 
Half Fast said:
For example, if the large hand of the altimeter is pointing straight down, I know I'm on altitude (VFR) without having to read the number.
Click to expand...
yep, one of the benefits of analog for sure. Being able to notice trends and movement another....

Anyway, it seems most folks just get by wearing what they need for the time of day (suns or readers) and don't worry about keeping them handy by neck lanyard or something... I've gotta pay a bit more attention on my next flight to see if I should stick with my normal add number, or get something just a tiny bit weaker for the longer distance to the panel.
 
Brad W said:
yep, one of the benefits of analog for sure. Being able to notice trends and movement another....

Anyway, it seems most folks just get by wearing what they need for the time of day (suns or readers) and don't worry about keeping them handy by neck lanyard or something... I've gotta pay a bit more attention on my next flight to see if I should stick with my normal add number, or get something just a tiny bit weaker for the longer distance to the panel.
Click to expand...


My issue isn't so much seeing panel instruments as it is reading the iPad on my kneeboard.
 
For flying and driving, progressive bifocals with flip-up polarized sunglasses if it’s sunny as seen in my avatar.

Other than that, $1 readers bought at Dollar Tree 3 or 4 at a time. 3.25 strength is what I’ve been level at for some time.

Despite a lot of time behind glass panels, I also prefer that analog airspeed and altitude. My Sky Arrow has both, albeit with a small “glass” display, and I virtually never look at the Dynon’s airspeed and altitude “tapes”.
 
One of the Tecnams I flew had a digital tach and I hated it, even though it displayed in an analog-ish bar graph style. It had a lag of maybe 0.5 to 1 second, and it drove me nuts to hear the engine sound change and not see the tach move simultaneously.
 
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