Do you use contact lenses or glasses when outdoors?

[Nonsuch]

Glasses in the office / driving / watching TV, but see well enough without them in the great outdoors and somehow seem to be able to see fine ! Couldn't get on with contacts - even the daily disposables. For archery however, I wear glasses.

As has been said, glasses protect your eyes when pushing through brush, and from spent shot, sparks etc etc so it's not all bad

NS

 

[spiritwalker]

wore gigs for 22 years and dabbled with contacts but i think messing with them when camping and all the muck etc was a bad idea. 3 years ago i got laser surgery and havent looked back best thing i ever did all be it i am still paying for it lol

 

[tommy the cat]

Contacts and glasses. (not at the same time)
Ive got a real bad astigmatism in one eye pretty bad in the other.
I started with contacts for snowboarding as wearing glasses under goggles gives you twice the lenses to fog arrggghhhhh!
I use monthly but may try a daily disp as they have started a daily with my astigmatism. In fact I may just do monthly and buy a few disp for when overnighting in the woods to save taking solution.
D

 

[R.Lewis]

Personally I wear my contacts when out. Daily disposables, no problems.Had a nightmare learning to fit them but now can get them in and out without mirror most of the time and hygiene with disposables is simple. just clean hands to insert/remove. Something that encourages hygiene in the woods is not a bad idea! But Would in no way go done the reusable cleaning routine in the bush! As for freezing bear in mind they are stored in saline so not too likely in this country! I work for Vision express so benefit from very good staff discounts!

 

[Beardy]

Cheers lads and lasses, am going to persevere with trying to get them in. Not 100% convinced they are the better option than glasses but I'm off to Lochaber for a week next week so am going to give them a pretty good trial run up there!

 

[Satyr]

I wear contacts when doing outdoors stuff (and used to for out on the town when I went) and any work climbing as they are cheaper to replace than glasses and if for some reason i take a headder into a structure the glasses wont split the top of my nose. The rain is a pain with glasses too.

 

[em11]

I wore glasses during my whole childhood it took me some time to adapt to contacts first for the price and the burden of having to order them regularly and second for the constant dry eyes. But as a sporty person it got necessary and I advise them strongly for anyone doing cycling I usually buy , it was really annoying and was then on small budget and thought I couldn’t afford lenses but started buying them online on this online contact lens store I usually get the Air Optix Aqua which are good for dry eye. I am still a little scared at the prospect of surgery so I will stay that way for a while at least.

 

[DaveBromley]

Glasses for me too!!!
I recently bit the bullet and decided to replace my aging scratched pair that i had been persevering with for about 2 years (due to cost, nearly £300) so i started looking around and found out that tescos are doing decent frames from a tenner! I though they would be deidre barlow ones but mine are ok, really was thinking that there would be a catch but i had my eyes tested frames were £10 and the lenses were free all in it cost me £10 (including free eye test!!!!!)

So now ive got 3 pairs just in case lol

Moral of the story get to Tesco's
I don't work for them no affiliation just good value!!

Dave

 

[Steve27752]

I was like Mr magoo....Until I had my eyes lazered now I am like Superman!

 

[Tiley]

Many years climbing while wearing contacts has driven me to glasses once more. it was always on multi-day routes and wilder trips to keep my fingers clean enough to wash the lenses. I got plagued in summer with the itchy eyes from hayfever and being unable to give them a damn good rub because of the lenses. Likewise in the woods, if you're on the move, it is just another (one could argue unnecessary) thing to worry about at the end of the day.

Glasses are easier, certainly, but they have their own draw backs, the worst of which occurs when it's raining. I long for the day that someone can produce a material for spectacles which does not steam up and does not allow water to bead up on its surface.

I might try disposable lenses (my old ones were gas permeable hard lenses...) but, if possible, I'd like ones you can wear for a week at a stretch. For me, that might just work!

 

[Conrad81]

I wear the 30 day soft disposable lenses. I can sleep with mine in but take them out for 24hrs every 2weeks just to rest my eyes or if I have a cold it is recommended to take them out. I was in the Infantry for many years and glasses were just not an option, misting up, sweat and rain and dirt on them and too easily broken or damaged. I spent many weeks and months in the jungle and middle east in rather dirty living conditions and never had a problem with them. The down side is swimming and I still need to take my glasses with me in a hard case in the event I need to take the lenses out.

 

[bushblade]

I'm a massive fan of the extended wear lenses, been using them since 2003 now. I regularly wear them in excess of 3 weeks at a time with no problems. I rarely notice I'm wearing them even after a dusty day in the workshop (though I do use goggles most of the time). I always carry a spare/emergency pair when out but have never lost one yet to need the spares.

 

[PropThePolecat]

I wear those 1-day disposable lenses. That way if i lose one its no big deal. I just take another. But i do need a mirror for putting them on. On hiking trips i usually wear lenses, but always have my glasses with me just in case.

 

[comeonbabylightmyfire]

Glasses - varifocals: long, medium and short (reading) with prescription sunglasses too. I find that a peaked cap is essential along with microfibre cleaning cloths. Does anyone else hear use the detergent method to prevent misting?

 

[Sanji]

I wear glasses all time, couldn't get the hang of putting contact in and out. Hated anything going near my eye.

 

[Amon81]

glasses all the way for me and prescription sunglasses.

Same for me, but I keep my spare pair in my backpack too.

I have tried contacts twice, but sadly couldn't get them to stay in as they would pop out every 5 minutes.

I've worn glasses for most of my life so I'm used to them anyway. I look stupid in one, but a baseball cap helps alot in the rain. I really do need to look into finally getting some kind of wide-brimmed hat.

I'd love to get them fixed, but I can't. I'm just stuck with them. Oh well, at least I can see with them as I'd be blind as a bat without them.

 

[Trunks]

Daily disposable contacts when shrafting, rain on my glasses does my head in!

I always take spare contacts & pack an emergency pair of specs.

 

[tetra_neon]

To the lasered folk: did you go with one of the bigger, cheaper companies? i've been tempted for a while now, as glasses are getting in the way at work.

 

[spiritwalker]

i went with optical express the sales blur said from £395 per eye but thats for really weak prescriptions i paid around £1800 in total but definitely worth it its now been 3 years on glasses free.

 

[mrcharly]

I cycle a lot and find rain+cold+fog a nightmare - glasses mist up, at night the car headlights + water on glasses make it impossible to see. (prescription is 4.75 3.75 + astigmatism in one eye)

contacts are fantastic for rainy or foggy conditions. In dry weather I can't see the point. I do get dry eyes, so find contacts uncomfortable after a short period (unless it's very wet weather).

top tip for insertion in the wild - put one in while looking up - then tilt your head right back and blink a few times. you can think they are in properly, blink and have the buggers fall out. When you are halfway up a moor in a rainstorm, that's a bad time to be groping on the ground to find a little bit of plastic. If you head is tilted back they don't fall out.