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By Odakyu-sen
#400541
What eye protection do you use? Do you find that the wind makes your eyes a little red and sore?

- No protection?
- Helmet visor?
- Ordinary prescription glasses?
- Ordinary sunglasses?
- Modern wrap-around-lens sunglasses?
- Health & safety goggles with padded frames like the Bolle Tracker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj6LXj-yQXo&t=13s ?

(Have you sealed up the air vents to help prevent your eyes watering?)
- Old-style "WWI ace" flying goggles?
- Motorcycle goggles?

What kind of lens shading do you use?
- Clear
- Amber
- Smoked
- Other?

Do you have a spare pair of clear-lens eyewear for those overcast, dull days? Or do you fly with shades even on low-light days?

I have just bought a pair of Bolle Prism safety glasses that have a detachable gasket (a sub-frame that has vents and padding to seal the glasses and make them like flying goggles). I have taped over the air intakes to stop the air blasting through and making my eyes water.

I bought the Bolle glasses from the local safety equipment store because they are about six times cheaper than name-brand sunglasses.
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By red
#400546
Campers,

I routinely wear ordinary (safety-rated) eyeglasses when flying, driving, and reading. They provide eye protection from bugs, grit, et c. They are UV-proof, which helps to preserve your vision, long term.

My cautions would be these:
1. Use anti-fogging cleaners on the lenses, where needed.
2. Avoid the cool-guy eyeglass frames that only have a monofilament fishing line to hold the lenses in the frames. The string can fail, and naturally at the worst possible time, so you may find yourself operating with only the vision of one eye at a bad time. Instead, use eyeglass frames that completely encircle each lens with hard frame material

8) .
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By kukailimoku2
#400547
I was always a big fan of tinted skydiving goggles, the ones with a vent on the sides.
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By remmoore
#400548
For the past several years, I've been wearing Crews BK112 BearKat Safety Glasses in grey. Nicely tinted for my light-sensitive eyes, advertised as being 99.9% UV filtering, and are a frameless design. They wrap around my face and cut much of the wind if my face shield is up. $1.59 each on-line.

Of course, with the face shield I added to my Kali Shiva helmet, wind isn't an issue when it's down.

RM
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By aeroexperiments999
#400551
I've always been a fan of polarized lenses for all forms of soaring flight including hang gliding. And brown (or amber) lenses. The intersection of that set being, brown polarized lenses. Brown (or amber) polarized lenses are the absolute optimum lenses for cutting out the blue, polarized light of the sky and turning the sky to a much darker color than usual-- under the most ideal conditions, these lenses can turn portions of the sky nearly black. These lenses really make light-colored objects such as the bellies of soaring hawks above you, sailplanes above you, hang gliders above you, etc, pop out against the weirdly darkened sky. They also cut the haze and make those faint wisps that are about to turn into full-blown cumulus clouds, MUCH more visible. Ditto for cumulus clouds (or cunim clouds) in the far distance near the horizon that would otherwise be lost in the haze. The effect is very powerful and has to be seen to be believed.

Polarization can create an issue w/ viewing LCD screens in some orientations, but I've never had a significant problem viewing instruments mounted on my right down tube in a mount projecting forward at roughly a 90-degree angle to the down tube. Your mileage may vary.

These days my near vision is not so great-- my eyes are longer able to over-power my far vision correction (did I mention I fly with prescription lenses?) to see near objects in sharp focus-- so I've included a bifocal inset on the left lens only-- my non-dominant eye. The bifocal inset is smaller (less height) than what is normally suggested. This set-up gives me some area of sharp near vision (which I use mainly when operating a hand-held camera), while also still allowing me sharp far vision throughout a large area BELOW me, while flying my hang glider in the normal prone position, without the widespread blurriness in the lower portion of my field of view that a more typical bifocal correction would create. Again, your mileage may vary.

The frames are from one of your typical in-the-mall eyeglass stores, in a style that gives better-than-average coverage of the field of view and sits high enough on my face that the all-important forward-and-upward field of view is not compromised. This is really important for all pilots who fly prone. I can give the exact name of the frames in a few days if anyone cares. For the shape of my particular face, nose pads are essential-- a simple molded plastic frame always sits too low on my face and cuts off the upper part of my forward-and-upward field of view.

I've posted much more along these lines in related threads, under my old "aeroexperiments" user name. I seem to no longer have access to that account at this time.


Steve S.
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By paicolman
#400552
I am wearing a shaded helmet visor since this season, which I like a lot, but I have a bit of a problem with it getting fogged when it's completely closed. I leave it a tad open, but the wind makes whistling sound then, which I don't like much. How do you cope with this, is there any antifog spray you can recommend?
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By remmoore
#400553
paicolman wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 3:22 am ...is there any antifog spray you can recommend?
There are plenty of options, but here's the one I use. You may already know this, but don't use anything with alcohol in it.
RM
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By Wonder Boy
#400554
Blueye USA goggles! https://www.facebook.com/Blueye-USA-220031371404531/
Talk to Rich Hiegel, tell'em Mike sent ya 8)

I have been flying with the "cage" goggles since 08' they are the best! I use the rose lens, yellow on winter overcast days.
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By raquo
#400559
I bought BluEye paratrooper goggles – http://blueyetactical.com/shop/goggles/ ... tude-wide/

They came with a clear lens and a tinted lens, I usually go for the tinted one. I chose this model because I wanted goggles that don't restrict peripheral vision – it's crucial for detecting other gliders around me without delay, and the goggles work great for that.

One major downside of this model, or I'd say probably of this design in general, is that the sweat from your eyebrow area very quickly ends up on the glass, visible to you. So far this hasn't been a problem for me in the air, but I can't wear those goggles when setting up or breaking down on a hot summer day, and this annoyance pisses me off to no end.

Anyone else has this problem with such designs? I suspect there might be a DIY solution to this – maybe add some padding on the top rim – but I haven't tried anything yet.
By blindrodie
#400571
What do you folks with eyeglasses use? I sold my BluEyes due to them not going over glasses. Eye surgery is down to around $250 an eye for Lasik if one does not have big issues. I just can't get a handle on contacts but may have to try again. Strongly thinking about Lasik over big goggles.

8)
By aeroexperiments999
#400572
Blindrodie-- see my recent post. My preference is simply to fly with prescription sunglasses in a frame style with ample-sized lenses. I don't personally see the need for wearing goggles over glasses, or getting expensive surgery-- but your mileage may vary. It's mainly the occasional reports of serious night vision issues that keeps me from seriously considering Lasik. I'm sure it's a rare thing but it would sure be a bummer. Btw I'm looking at the particular eyeglass frame that I currently fly with-- it says "GA7063 01N 58 15-140". The brand is "Gant". The large lenses cover the full field of view quite well, and keep most of the wind out of my eyes. But everybody's face/head is different. One more thing to note-- my prescription is strong enough that most optometrists advise me not to choose a frame style with lots of "wrap". Also maybe if I suddenly start routinely logging 8-hour flights for some reason, I'll be more concerned about shielding my eyes from the wind to the absolute maximum degree possible etc... but what I'm currently using seems to work well enough for now. Also-- re contacts-- that may be a great way to go for some but I've never much cared for sticking little things into my eyes every morning-- and my general experience has been that my vision is less sharp with contacts than with regular eyeglasses-- and now the near-vision thing is starting to be an issue too (see previous post) which is kind of complicated to deal with via contacts -- and I'd want to wear some sort of sunglasses or goggles over them anyway --

(Do they make sunglass contacts yet, and if not why not? I probably wouldn't personally be all that interested, but... )

Steve
blindrodie wrote: Fri Oct 06, 2017 9:32 am What do you folks with eyeglasses use? I sold my BluEyes due to them not going over glasses. Eye surgery is down to around $250 an eye for Lasik if one does not have big issues. I just can't get a handle on contacts but may have to try again. Strongly thinking about Lasik over big goggles.

8)
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By red
#400573
raquo wrote: Fri Oct 06, 2017 12:36 am I bought BluEye paratrooper goggles – http://blueyetactical.com/shop/goggles/ ... tude-wide/
One major downside of this model, or I'd say probably of this design in general, is that the sweat from your eyebrow area very quickly ends up on the glass, visible to you. So far this hasn't been a problem for me in the air, but I can't wear those goggles when setting up or breaking down on a hot summer day, and this annoyance pisses me off to no end. Anyone else has this problem with such designs? I suspect there might be a DIY solution to this – maybe add some padding on the top rim – but I haven't tried anything yet.
Raquo,

With my eyeglasses, I deal with sweat by wearing a wide, very thin stretchy headband. You may or may not want the headband to cover your eyebrows. You may or may not want the upper edges of the goggles to be on top of the headband, not touching the skin. See what works for you.
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By dbotos
#400575
Scott and other dirt bike eyewear makers have OTG (over-the-glasses) models of goggles. Can wear regular prescription glasses or sunglasses with added protection/warmth.
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By AIRTHUG
#400592
Very timely topic for me, since I've been researching and shopping for a new pair a flying glasses lately...

I've also been using the Blueye Cage goggles with rose lens for a very long time (and the smaller fitting Zoo goggle before that, when I was younger). I wear contacts, and these were one of very few options I found to keep the wind off my eyes and keep my contacts from drying out or BLOWING out... even at triple digit aerobatic speeds :twisted:

Just lately I got a bit tired of the elastic band on the back of my head with the goggles, and went looking for a nice pair of traditional sunglasses. I found a pair of Suncloud sunglasses that perfectly fit my face and bought them on the spot- and that's what I've flown with the last year or so.

Thing with SUNGLASSES is, I often fly late into the day, and as the sun is setting and the shadows get long sunglasses can be a bit dark... but with contacts I don't like taking them off and having my eyes exposed to the wind even for the brief time of my approach and landing.

So I've been looking for PHOTOCHROMIC glasses. These get darker with brighter sun, and lighter when it's shady or not as bright out. I have a pair of these $20 specials I use for cycling, and I have to say I really like them! https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1

I wish they got a little darker, but these get totally clear when not in the sun... and there are others that get lighter, but not clear, and their darker tint is darker than these. This company also makes a polorized version for 5 beans more, and I've been considering getting a pair of those too.

In my research I've found a few brands that seem to do PHOTOCHROMIC better than the others... One brand called Ryders seems to be pretty good and a bit less expensive than the best I've found, but still in the $80-100 range. I've been looking for who offers the greatest range of transition between light and dark, and two brands stand out so far: UVEX and JULBO. UVEX has a wide range of high tech glasses for cycling and sports, and they look GREAT for flying as well. But they're $100-up. Julbo also has some really good looking lenses- the Zebra doesn't get as light, but gets nice and dark like traditional sunglasses, and it's available in a brown or reddish tint, which like Steve mentioned above is advantageous for flying. Or they also have a Zebra Light, which doesn't get AS dark, but gets... you guessed it... lighter. And there's a Zebra Light Fire which I think has a red or rose tint... but I need to find a place to try them on/try them out before I spend that kind of money on glasses... especially glasses I plan to keep in my flying bag and only where when I fly!

As I write and think about this... the $20-$25 RockBros glasses are sounding better and better. If I were rich, I'd have the best fitting pair UVEX makes for me... but in the real world, I have to say I've been very happy with the fit and quality of my RockBros glasses (linked above). They're light, comfortable, sturdy... they do transition decently- just takes a few minutes to go from full clear to full tint- and they seem really good at not fogging up, even when I'm peddling up a big hill and going slow so there's very little airflow through them. And I've noticed drips of sweat seem to run right off without leaving a mark... maybe the anti-fog coating on the inside is hydrophic? Anyway... they seem like a good option IMHO, hence sharing what I've found so far...