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Dual Eyewear glasses

Been reading the cycling sunglasses Road Test in Cycling Plus and interested in the Dual Eyewear glasses with the in-built bifocal lens.

I use vari-focals all the time and need to wear them when cycling so I can see my phone and cycling computer, so these might be a solution.

They get a good review but the bifocal section is a fixed diopter.

Does anyone have any experience/opinions on these?

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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17 comments

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jova54 | 9 years ago
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Hi Ants and Bikebot.

Thanks for the replies.

I've found the glasses on High on Bikes as well and the spiel says that a slightly weaker prescription works well with the SL and Pro glasses.

Mine is still +2.5 for the varifocal. What strength are your prescriptions and did you get lense of the same strength or weaker?

Cheers

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bikebot | 9 years ago
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I also bought a pair of Dual Pro's last year. I'm happy with the purchase.

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Jack Osbourne snr | 9 years ago
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Nigel, look at the difference in domains...

Your posted .Co.UK link is to the very bland webpage of a draughtsman.

The safety specs people have a .Com Web address... And amusingly, they carry an advert by some CAD design people... But, you will note...different ones from the guy with the straightlines.co.uk address.

I was going to give you the benefit of the doubt and suggest that it must be the autoincorrect on your device... But then you besmirched by vision.

Whoops... Egg everywhere. Welcome to the pedant-filled world of cycling.

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NigelSign | 9 years ago
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Jack, obviously need glasses, look past the front page and you will find the glasses on the straightlines site

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andyp | 9 years ago
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'Optician did suggest varifocal contacts or alternatively using a close-up lense in one eye and distance in the other. Even though this sounds crazy it does seem to be possible.'

it's an incredibly successful and popular form of vision correction. Your brain can handle it really well.

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Ants | 9 years ago
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When I was looking into this some people reported issues with varifocals for cycling - I think this may depend on type/strength of lense and some have better transitions. Even though I use VF for everyday use I can manage without them for distance but was having issues with reading the Garmin. I added the stick-on lenses mentioned above and cut them down by several mm to keep them out of normal vision. They are quite expensive though considering an extra set of lenses for the Dual SL2 Pros are less. Both solutions work for me but I prefer the Dual SL2 Pro over the stick-ons on my Racing Jackets. If the stick-on lenses were cheaper I may have gone for that but almost £60 for 3 sets for my lenses is pretty close to the £85 for a pair of SL2 Pros and 2 extra sets of lenses - and no chance of the stick-on falling off. Prescription lenses were possible for the Oakleys but only just (due to shape of lense) and were much too expensive. Optician did suggest varifocal contacts or alternatively using a close-up lense in one eye and distance in the other. Even though this sounds crazy it does seem to be possible.

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andyp | 9 years ago
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multifocal contact lenses & normal shades?

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jova54 | 9 years ago
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Cheers for the comments guys.

Posted the original last year so surprised to see it pop up again.

I've tried the industrial route with bifocal stick ons but I'm so used to varifocals that they made me feel ill on some transions.

Going to look at the Rapid Eye Wear stuff and Wiggle again for the Dual Pros

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NigelSign | 9 years ago
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Take a look at www.straightlines.co.uk they do safety glasses for about £8.00 in clear dark or yellow, can have a small lense with your prescription for seeing computer or reading the coffee menu. Look like cycle specific glasses and I use them all the time find them great for riding

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Jack Osbourne snr replied to NigelSign | 9 years ago
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NigelSign wrote:

Take a look at www.straightlines.co.uk they do safety glasses for about £8.00 in clear dark or yellow, can have a small lense with your prescription for seeing computer or reading the coffee menu. Look like cycle specific glasses and I use them all the time find them great for riding

That link is an advert for a draughtsman. I'm wearing my normal prescription specs and can see that without squinting or moving my tablet back and forward.

http://www.straightlines.com/safetyspecs/

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jthef | 9 years ago
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Guernsey Donkey | 9 years ago
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I have a pair of the Dual SL2 glasses (not the Pro) which I have had for about 10 months.

The reading part of my Varifocals is +2.25 and I have the SL2's in +2.0. I find them excellent and have bought the amber and clear lenses to go with the standard smoke ones.

How you will get on with them will depend on your distance vision. Mine is basically uncorrected so these work fine for me but if your varifocals have a correction for distance vision as well as near you might struggle.

I've just looked at Wiggle and they have lenses in +1.5, 2.0 & 2.5, not just the 1.5 stated above.

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pcaley | 9 years ago
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I am at the point of needing bifocal cycling glasses. The ones that caught my eye (as it were!) were pro performance plus from rapid eye wear. Do an internet search for Rapid Eye wear and select prescription sunglasses. £105.00 looks very tempting to me. Also available through Amazon.

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Ants | 9 years ago
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I bought these as I was fed up with not being able to read all fields on my Garmin and unwilling to pay the £300+ for Oakley prescription lenses. I tried stick-on bifocals which worked OK with a bit of trial and error but these are a much better solution. Now all fields of the Garmin are sharp by just looking down with my eyes (not moving my head) - the bifocal area is perfect for riding as it is has no effect on normal vision of the road. They do a good range of tints at a reasonable cost but the best feature over my Racing Jackets is that they fit OVER my helmet straps  3
I can't believe other manufacturers haven't created a similar lense.

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jova54 | 10 years ago
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Just got a copy of the prescription for my current varifocals from the optician. It's +2.5 for each eye so pushing the probable limit of these glasses but they sound a better option to inserts.

Be interested to know if anyone has any practical experience. Wiggle only carry +1.5 lenses. I had read somewhere, but can't remember where, that these don't need to be as strong as prescription glasses.

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bikebot | 10 years ago
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Also very interested in these.

I find the glasses that use optical inserts, which tend to sit very close to the eye uncomfortable. I don't fancy paying stupid amounts of money for prescription cycling glasses as I know I'll either break them or I'll lose them.

Instead, I've been wearing bifocal safety glasses, which you can pickup for as little as £10 online, and they look OK if a bit basic. They will also sometimes steam up quite easily, which is a problem.

These basically look like a proper version of the same thing, and I may well pick up a pair. If the only thing wrong with your eyes is that they've reached 40, you should be able to pick a pair which are a good enough match for your prescription.

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therevokid | 10 years ago
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I too need varifocal due to be old and broken ...  1

I use Rudy Project with an optical insert on the inside. this means when my
prescription changes all I need change is the lenses in the inserts - far cheaper  1

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