Sharpen your vision with corrective lenses in your sports glasses
There are a few options when it comes to sports glasses with corrective lenses. Read out post and find out which one works best for you.
When biking, sports glasses protect our eyes from glaring sunlight, branches, mud and rain. However, wearing glasses is not just about protection. Various lens coatings and tints actively improve our vision. However, this is not a privilege for riders with 20/20 vision. The advantages of modern sports eyewear’s latest technologies can be combined with corrective lenses that require a prescription. Of course, contact lenses can be used, but in this post we are specifically discussing the addition of corrective lenses to sports glasses.
Is your vision the best it could be?
Those who’ve had impaired vision for a while, know they need corrective lenses. But let’s get real, with every year your eyes get weaker and the need for corrective lenses increases. Thank goodness we are able to fix this without losing out on all the fun cycling brings us. Manufactures like Oakley, Alpina and adidas offer special lenses und clip-ins that can be either ground or glazed for individual prescriptions.
If the trail looks like this to you, it’s time to see a professional optician.
“The older you get, the harder it is for the eyes to adjust to quick changes in distance.” - Peter Knopik, Optician
Modern sports eyewear can be modified with prescription lenses.
Peter Knopik, our trusted optician
Peter, who is also a passionate cyclist, was able to impart is wisdom with helpful tips when it came to corrective lenses in sports glasses.
The clip-in is invisible.
“Sports glasses should fit well on the face and should allow for as much ventilation as possible, so that the lenses don’t fog. Mountain bikers should consider full frame glasses, which have fewer sharp edges that can cause cuts during a crash.” - Peter Knopik, Optician
Corrective lens options on the adidas evil eye pro L sports glasses
adidas offers three types of corrective lenses: full frame and frameless clip-ins as well as ground lenses that can used directly in the frame. All of adidas’s sport glasses are Rxready™, which means corrective lenses can be used.
The difference between their options lie in the price and practicality. The lenses for the full frame RX Clips-Ins are standardised and can be bought and fitted at any optician’s office. However, when used the field of vision is limited because the corrective lenses do not cover the entire lens of the sports glasses. In some cases, the corrective lenses are too close and make contact with eyelashes as well.
The adidas Full Frame RX Clip-In
Another option, is the frameless RX Clip-Ins. They are easy to mount and you have a larger field of vision due to the larger lenses and the lack of frame when compared to the full frame RX Clip-Ins. However, the distance between corrective lens and eyelashes can still lead to problems.
The adidas Frameless RX Clip-In.
The third option, grinding/glazing the lenses directly, is by far the best, but also the most expensive. Almost all of adidas’s lens can be ground or glazed, which gives you the largest field of vision. The lenses characteristics are not changed and there is no bothersome clip-in. Of course this cost much more. The price of the prescription varies depending on strong it is and what type of lenses you want (polarized, self-tinting). adidas and Oakley charge between 200€-600€.
The adidas evil eye.
“When biking, the eyes need to adjust for quick changes in distance. That is why it is important to have a pair of glasses that are perfectly adjusted to you.” - Peter Knopik, Optician
Now to the optician
Christopher, one of our customer service agents, was in need of new sports glasses with corrective lenses. First, his prescription was checked, which is something that should be done once a year.
Once Christopher decided on the evil eye glasses, Peter recommended we go with the RX Clip-In.
Make sure you get your vision tested, don’t rely on outdated test results.
Here, the optician takes over and prepares a few more extra test besides a normal prescription.
Correct measurements form the basis for right corrective lenses.
Peter has quite a few modern and precise methods that are important when putting corrective lenses in sports glasses. The field of vision analysis check how Christopher’s pupils react to movement. This allows Peter to fit the corrective lenses perfectly.
A good optician will take the time to explain the corrective lenses to you.
After about an hour of tests, Peter took all the data and in our case, sent them off to adidas for the sports glasses to be ground by them.
Wrap-up
We hope we were able to help you make sense of the corrective lens world.
When it comes time for you to invest in prescription sports glasses ask yourself the following questions and then head to the optician:
- Do I have impaired vision?
- Do I want to use contact lenses?
- How much can I pay?
- What manufacturer do I prefer?
- Do I want to work with clip-ins or ground lenses?
Now you just need to buy a pair and head to the optician and then get out and bike!
