I'm 51 and am a bit short sighted and starting to get long sighted too - don't need my glasses much and can legally drive without them, but I've noticed in the dark leaf-strewn woods at this time of year that I'm struggling to pick out enough detail. So I'm pondering contacts or inserts for my goggles. I mainly ride enduro style stuff, full face on the "proper" trails, goggles round the neck or over the bars for the climbs, quick wipe off the sweat and down we go. When it's cold or damp, I'm sweaty enough that I'm on the edge of steaming up my goggles (Scott Prospect or Smith Squad), so I'm wary of inserts, and getting rain between insert and lens... I used to wear contacts before laser surgery, but if I wore them now, I'd need to carry reading glasses if I had a mechanical and probably need to hold my phone at arms length... There must be plenty of other middle aged riders in the same situation - what have you done?
if you can pop your prescription up I am happy to give you advice, including your add. (used to own an opticians)
Varifocal contacts.
I'm not super short slighted (-4) but am of an age where I also needed varifocal glasses (which I use except for sport).
The varifocal contacts are good but not incredible to be honest. There's definitely the odd moment in darkness as your eyes adjust.
I tried inserts a few times and have never been happy with them.
I am only short sighted, but tried goggle inserts and did not get on well with them. Cant recall brand, but found the focus and field of view offputting. Swapped to contacts (was resistant to using contacts) and haven't looked back.
My only gripe with contacts is them drying or watering if i dont get a good seal with goggles.
Thanks!!! For some reason they didn't give me my paper prescription on Sunday - need to go back... But optician said my distance hadn't changed from the last one which was L/R sph -0.25/-0.5 cyl -1/-0.25 axis 93/150. Reading was +1.25 both but had got worse, though I don't struggle currently. Given what others have said about inserts, I'm tempted to try lenses and tuck a cheap emergency pair of readers in the first aid kit
YouZee Prescription Goggle Inserts – Single Vision & Bifocal
I've been using these plopped into 100% armegas and love them, absolute gamechanger for me wouldn't swap them out for anything else. Have always had a hard time with contacts and after a contact folded into my eyelid during an enduro stage causing a crash i can't seem to trust them anymore.
I have inserts like the ones above and don't like using them, I find the lenses are so far from your eyes on my scott goggles that they make everything look smaller. I just run my oakley jawbreakers with prescription lenses in them, the good thing about jawbreakers is they look just as goofy with a regular helmet or a full face
Maybe a different goggle would help.
Quite a small distance prescription tbh and also not a huge add (bout right for your age really)
Advantages of contacts is the field of vision, which for riding is brilliant, they do get a bit dry sometimes and are also susceptible to mud and dust but mudguards and decent riding spex will help.
Multi focal contacts I wouldnt really advise for mtb and your prescription as it is now, you would be better going for distance correction only, use readers for close up cheap ones will be all you need. But, your reading add will increase as presbyopia gets worse with age.
I would guess your visual acuities without spex is pretty decent without glasses anyway (can you read a plate at 20 mt) so you are not correcting much really.
Book a trial fitting with a Decent optom as there is a few options available.
The distance prescription is I guess pretty small due to laser surgery 30 years ago! (And also why there's astigmatism in the left eye due to guinea pig procedure at the time)
Thanks for all the advice - as you suggest, avoid the varifocals and try simple lenses first. Given how damp the air is this time of year, dry eyes should be the least of my problems (though local sandy soil in the eye might be!). Will reply once I've been out and tried things
For trail riding, I wear non prescription glasses, so prescription lenses could work there, but given how often I scratch them, it might get an expensive hobby... For enduro, I like the locked in security feeling from goggles, plus my eyes water at high speed, so that wouldn't work so well there. Good feedback on the inserts
Good to be thinking about this though. A couple of years ago I broke a chain and even had the requisite quick link. But trying to re-align the quick link proved very troublesome for eyes of a certain age. Two middle aged mountain bikers holding bits of chain and quick links at arms length whilst trying to coordinate their actions must have been quite the sight. 😀
I was in the same boat and tried inserts, which didn't work for me. The field of view was a challenge and they never seemed the right distance from my eyes. Finally got contacts and it's been awesome. The inserts are cheap enough to try, and if they work for you, then you're lucky. They are definitely easier.
Post a reply to: Goggles with prescription inserts vs contact lenses