Transition Lenses - good or bad?
 

Does anyone have any experience with transition lenses? Do you like them? Anything about them that annoys you? Any opinions are welcome.

For those that don't know, transition lenses are the lenses that automatically become tinted like sun glasses when exposed to sunlight and change back when you're indoors.

i haven't seen the latest technology but one of the issues was the speed at which they transitioned.

In the 80s it was still slow.

the ones i saw changed in around 30seconds.. is that considered slow?

I have transitions and wear them daily. They change quite fast. I did not actually time it, but I never felt like it was slow. Before I knew it, they was already dark.

What alternatives do we have other than actually having a physical pair of sunglasses or flip-ons on hand?

Seems to me like the best solution of them all.

They work, and they'll flip totaly in about 30 secs in my experience. But, they take signifigantly longer to lighten. It may only take a minute or two, but its annoying as hell to have sunglasses on in inside for that long with no choice but to wait for them to change. Think about it.

My friend's used to change under fluorescent light

I on my second pair. The latest pair changes very rapidly and is dark enough in sunlight that I don't need sunglasses. The only problem I have had is that If I walk into a relatively dark place like a store or movie theatre, it feels funny with the lenses being so dark. In situations like this, it seems to take forever to lighten.

that's what the problem was before... I think that it could be a problem if you drive in tunnels (lots of them in NYC)

hmmm.. interesting.. the ones i saw did get dark in around 30 sec but the time it took to change back did take significantly longer..

question.. so if i'm in a theatre and the scene in the movie is very bright (e.g. a daylight scene), will the lenses darken?

I've been thinking of getting them. My friend has them, and really enjoys not having to wear sunglasses or clipons. His only problem is when driving; they apparently don't really work all that well in the car. Something about needing light from all angles or something.

i always had this problem... transition lenses are 2 slow, clip ons look bad and are 2 heavy... my first solution was contacs... this has worked for about 7 years but i am growing tired of them... my new solution(starting this fall) lazer surgery...

so in the car the lenses won't tint??? o_O

have you seen how they do laser eye surgery? they cut the top layer of your eye off (well not totaly off).. i was freaked to death watching the procedure done.. definately not for me..

sure and if you watch open heart surgery it's equally freaky.

but the best part about it just like extended wear contacts is that you wake up and can see the world clearly.

Wore transition lenses for about a year and a half- I'll never go back. It was the mid 90's, but my lenses never turned back to a complete clear. It was always lightly yellow/brownish and bugged the heck out of me.

i know that you have to be in the ideal climate for them to work properly. here in AZ they dont really work when you need them to. the heat does something to the lenses so that they dont transition very well at all. i think the best temp for them to work is between 80 and 90 degrees. anything else higher or lower is not good.

sounds like your transition lenses were damaged. the place where i bought my glasses said that if you, for instance, come from outside where your lenses were tinted and take them off and place them inside your eye glass case b4 the lenses can transition back clear, then they would stay permanently half tinted.

wow, overall it seems like the majority here are not fond of transition lenses..

my glasses/transition lenses are already on order. oh well.. i get to see first hand how they are.