Magnified Reading Sunglasses
From LoveToKnow Sunglasses
Magnified reading sunglasses can come in handy when you're trying to check out a map while driving or enjoy a good book on the beach. The concept sounds odd at first, but there really is a place for this type of sunglasses. Find them pre-made or have your own designed.
Choosing Your Strength
If you're looking for generic magnification, you'll find racks of reading glasses in different levels and styles. To choose the correct strength, go shopping with a newspaper in hand. Try on various strengths and hold your newspaper a big closer than arm's length from your face. When you can see the print clearly, you'll know you've found the correct "prescription."
Sometimes ophthalmologists and optometrists will prescribe reading glasses in a more accurate prescription just for your eyes. In that case, you may still be able to get by with drugstore lenses. However, if you want the sharpest vision up close, you'll want to opt for what's on that little piece of paper. The difference in price can be huge, though, with drugstore reading glasses being close to $10.00 and the potential for prescription reading glasses reaching well over $50.00.
Buying Tinted Reading Glasses
If you're buying your reading glasses in the drugstore, you'll have to go ahead and buy them tinted if you want magnified reading sunglasses (as opposed to just eyeglasses). The lenses in the drugstore frames often can't be popped out and tinted by optical labs, and sometimes the materials used don't tint evenly. Your safest bet is to just go ahead and buy them the way you want them.
Maximum Eyewear has a pair of aviators for $16.00. They're most suitable for men, judging by the size and style of these metal frames. Choose from Smoke or Amber Gradient lenses, 2.5x or 3.5x magnification. They offer sufficient sun protection, too. Before ordering, it's a good idea to try on some reading glasses in person so you'll be certain to choose the correct magnification for your eyes.
Specially Made Magnified Reading Sunglasses
A benefit to having your own magnified reading sunglasses made, aside from having your own very accurate prescription, is the ability to choose your own frame, your own tint, and even your own add-ons. You can add a UV coating, an anti-scratch film, and even an anti-reflective coating. If you'd prefer it, you could even have polarized lenses cut for your individual prescription.
If you go this route, you're not limited to the small selection of drugstore reading glasses that actually have the tint included—or the sometimes overly-whimsical frame designs they have available. You can pick out any frame on the rack, tint them pink if you'd like, and add any kind of extras you desire.
The Bottom Line
Keep in mind, as you age, your magnification needs increase. Unless you like to spend a good bit on your eyewear wardrobe, choose a frame you'll like for years—not the trendiest one out there—because as time progresses, you can change out the lenses and spare yourself the cost of a new frame every year or two.
If you don’t want or don't need prescription reading sunglasses, stock up on the drugstore kind when you find a good selection. They're cheap, and you can keep them in your car, your purse, your house, etc. If one pair breaks, it's not a big deal. You'll have more and there wasn't a lot of money invested. If you do have a lot of money invested, you'll want to purchase a cheap eyeglass case (clamshell cases are better than the soft sleeves) to protect them from breakage. You can sit on the case, toss it in your car, or leave it in your glovebox; the sunglasses will be unaffected and ready for their next use.
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