Nightshade

No, Prescription cycling glasses are IMO a total waste of money. There are several options that allow the use of street 'scrips for riding.

Everything from fitovers to clip ons so save your money. One of the best ways to solve this issue is to buy 'scrip glasses that have a chemical in them that
turns them dark in the sun. I've worn this type of lens for decades with not one complaint.

P51

I'm near-sighted. I wear prescription, wraparound, sport bifocals that I got from the optometrist. I now wish I'd got trifocals because the dashboard in my car is a little out of focus in either lens. Great for the cyclocomputer or reading, though.

trackhub

I wear progressive bifocals day to day. But, for cycling and driving, I don't need the bifocal. Single visions work just fine, so I invested in a pair
of Oakley prescription shades. Wrap arounds, they are some of the best money I have ever spent. Ask your eye doc if you can get away with this.
Sun, wind, rain, and the occasional bugs are all stopped, and easily cleaned from these lenses. Since a lot of my riding is at night, I had a second pair
made, with clear lenses. Fantastic. Uh, really nice to have when the bugs are out.

Perhaps what is most amazing, is how you notice the wind being blocked. So, yes, I would say it is definitely worth the cost.

FreeFloat

I believe they are a privately held company,
so no, you can't purchase stock.
I was shocked though!
Virtually EVERY designer frame you can think of, plus Sunglass Hut, Lenscrafters, Oakley, Ray Ban.....RAY BAN!!!! all now owned by one privately held Italian company?
At least the CEO gave some good advice on alternative choices: Walmart or Costco! I'd rather enrichen the Chinese suppliers of those frames by a few bucks per pair than the Italians by $300+ per pair for the frames alone!

GeorgeBMac

I love the brown lenses in the fall -- brings out all the colors...

I the winter, I like the blue / grey tint better as it brings out the blue sky...

But, since I switched from contact lenses back to glasses, now I have neither.
... But it's time I looked into it...

campngolf

Luxottica is NYSE listed (LUX). And it was a very interesting story. Seems to me to be almost a monopoly, but what do I know?

I'm just back into cycling and am on a sunglass search too. Would love wraparounds but with my vision, not sure that'll be an option.

FreeFloat

I stand corrected, could have sworn I heard that somewhere in the report. When are we going to start a SIXTY and over forum?
Meanwhile, this little summery from Wikipedia:

Persol sunglasses



Ray-Ban sunglasses


Luxottica's two main product offerings are sunglasses and prescription frames. The company operates in two sectors: manufacturing & wholesale distribution, and retail distribution.[SUP][14][/SUP]
The house brands include:[SUP][15][/SUP][SUP][16][/SUP]
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]

• Arnette
• Eye Safety Systems
• K&L
• Luxottica
• Mosley Tribes
• Oakley

[/TD]
[TD]

• Oliver Peoples
• Persol
• Ray-Ban
• Revo
• Sferoflex
• Vogue

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
The company also creates eyewear under license for designer labels such as:[SUP][15][/SUP][SUP][17][/SUP]
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]

• Anne Klein
• Brooks Brothers
• Bulgari
• Burberry
• Chanel
• Chaps
• Coach

[/TD]
[TD]

• Dolce and Gabbana
• DKNY
• Donna Karan eyewear
• Miu Miu
• Polo Ralph Lauren
• Prada

[/TD]
[TD]

• Ralph Lauren Purple Label
• Paul Smith
• Stella McCartney
• Tiffany & Co.
• Tory Burch
• Versace
• Versus

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
The most recent deal was with Tory Burch. These brands are sold in the company's own shops, as well as to independent distributors such as department stores, duty-free shops and opticians.
[h=3][edit] Retail[/h]Luxottica Retail has more than 7,000 retail locations in the United States, South America, Canada, China, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, the United Kingdom and United Arab Emirats.[SUP][11][/SUP] The headquarters of the retail division is in Mason, Ohio.[SUP][11][/SUP] Their retail banners include:
[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD]

• Sunglass Hut International
• LensCrafters
• Pearle Vision
• Pearle Opticians
• Sears Optical

[/TD]
[TD]

• Target Optical
• OPSM
• ILORI
• Bright Eyes
• Budget Eyewear
• Cole Vision Care

[/TD]
[TD]

• Optical Shop of Aspen
• Surfeyes
• Laubman & Pank
• ICON
• Grand Optics LLC

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[h=2][edit] Medical managed care[/h]Luxottica also owns EyeMed Vision Care, a managed vision care organization in the United States.[SUP][18][/SUP] As of 2012, it was the number one vision benefits company in the United States.[SUP][19][/SUP][SUP][20][/SUP]

Hairy Hands

I had lasik done a few years ago which fixed my distance vision right up, but now I need readers.. Has anyone tried the stick on bi-focal readers? I need sunglasses during day ride and clear for night rides, I was thinking about trying the stick-ons and just switching out the lenses on my Oakleys based on conditions.

bigbadwullf

There is a new Transition lens(Vantage) that are actually clear and turn dark and BECOME polarized. Pretty new. Very nice. Trying them out on myself before my office sells them. Awesome actually.

P51

I used stick on readers on an old pair of prescription sunglasses. They worked okay, but I had problems getting them to stay on becuase the lenses were curved and the stick on readers were a little stiff. If your lenses are relatively flat, you should have no problems.

FreeFloat

I used stick-ons with my Oakley M frames and they stayed on perfectly.
Now I need mid-distance as well so I use a progressive sun reader lens in a Ray Ban Predator frame.

FreeFloat

Now I know why I thought that, the first story was even scarier, the Huawei company of China. IT is privately held. I'd buy that stock if it were to go public.....the only company in the world able to build a modern 4G network?

FinanceGuy

I have progressive no-line sunglasses from sportrx.com—I can see the road and my Garmin. One of my best cycling purchases

Buy their house brand frame and the cost is less than $250—even less is you utilize a pre-tax spending account .

fire

2 words. Contact lenses. They're the easiest solution if you're wearing sunglasses everytime you go outside, like I (and most everyone else down here) do. Having to swap specs for RX sunnies and back is boring and expensive, especially if you mess them up with hand sanitiser or insect repellent. There's no fogging up from walking out from the AC either.
And yes, I'm aware... they don't work for everyone.

FreeFloat

I do wear contacts to correct for myopia and astygmatism, but once you hit middle age most people begin to suffer from presbyopia and need additional near vision correction. That's when I added he stick-ons to my Oakleys. By the time I hit my mid fifties I could see far through the regular part thanks to the contacts, close like a map or watch with the stick-on lower part, but small displays mounted on the bar were blurry no matter what, that's where the tri focal or progressive comes in.

bigbadwullf

Luxottica owned by LensCrafters (or was or vice-versa). Will not sell their stuff in my office.

Mobile 155

Dude, we must be twins. Just ordered some of the new Transitions myself. Should pick them up next week. But getting back on topic. While normal prescription glasses will work most of them are flat and even my old Aviators or Serengettis were great glasses till you were riding at 23 with a side wind. However with my prescription some wrap arounds will not work. The insert glasses works better in some of those cases. But I will be looking for another pair of riding glasses for the winter with a lighter shaded lens maybe even in Yellow for those darker days. I have thought about some of the online discount eyewear places so I may just get a copy of my new prescription and order some. I just don't want to fork over another 325 bucks for them.

FreeFloat

Luxottica bought Lenscrafters, and Pearl, and Sunglass Hut, and Ray-Ban. When they refuse to continue selling Oakley at Sunglass Hut, Oakley threw in the towel and sold out to Luxottica.
Huawei is building some of Sprint's new 4G Networks in the U.S. because Cisco isn't able to! And Cisco is the only American player still in the game, but apparantly unable to compete after Huawei stole some of it's technology.

You have an optical practice? How do you find non-Luxottica frames? (I'm guessing China, right?)

on the path

I'll let you know. I'm getting my first set ever, next week.

I think my preferred solution to my vision issues would be lasik. The cost is what prevents me from going that route. EVEN SO, I've acknowledged that any practical solution (read: not using "monovision" or compromising depth perception or peripheral vision) to correct my vision will involve glasses for reading or close up. I've chosen to try contacts to correct my astigmatism and presbyopia induced vision impairment. It's my hope that I'm comfortable wearing the contacts and that I'm happy with my vision while wearing them. We'll see..

zonatandem

At age 80 I've had cataract surgery 20 some years ago on both eyes.
Now have glaucoma pretty bad especially in left eye.
Have progressive lenses with sun sensors for decades.
Live in sunny Arizona so sun is a constant issue . . . sledom a cloudy day!
Can see far, can see near. What more do I need?

ricebowl

Tried the prescription sunglass route, wasn't for me. Biggest plus with contacts, you can take off your sunglasses and still see. Buying additional lenses for varying conditions would be much cheaper with regular sunglass lenses. My vote is for contacts and regular sunglasses.

I was looking forward to the 60 minutes story. But for me it was slightly disappointing. There weren't any AHA! moments ala "These $.99 cent dollar store pair of sunglasses performed just as well on our tests as a $200 pair of Oakleys". I expected better from a 60 minutes story, than info that could be found on a company's wikipedia page .

GlennR

I have Rudy Project glasses with the RX insert. I can change the lens to match my needs but they are not prescription.

rdtompki

+1. I have transition lenses that go as low as 17%. I'm looking at a second set of lenses that are transition/polarized that go as low as 12% for those really bright days. The glasses with RX insert are a bit heavier, but the flexibility is worth it. The one caution with the inserts is that if you ride in a really aggressive position the combined width of the eyeglass and insert frame may be a bit of an issue depending on next flexibility, etc.

Gerryattrick

I used to ride with just my normal specs but two years ago I had to have laser surgery on both eyes due to torn retinas. My consultant said that I should use wrap around specs to avoid exacerbating the problem due to potential wind damage.

I've got specs with interchangeable colour lenses and a prescription insert and they've made a great difference, although it took a bit of getting used to as my eyelashes touched the inserts when blinking due to the position of the inserts inside the frame.

I don't want to wear contact lenses all the time but I do think they're a great idea for cycling used with non-prescription wrap arounds, and that might well be my next choice.

Greyride

I heard from my LBS that Contact lenses at higher speeds tend to dry out and make your eyes water. My wife experienced this on a down hill. She said she couldn't see 2 feet because her eyes were full of water.