Transition lenses

[TimTheEnchanter]

Have Transitions (about a year old) in one pair of glasses. As others have said, they do NOT go 100% clear but are a lot clearer than the previous generation coatings.

One big problem with Transitions (or any other changing lenses) is that they don't work in the car. Most widows are UV filtering so the Transitions won't change. To solve that, I just kept a pair of clip-on sunglasses in my car. Sucks when you get in someone else's car and you didn't grab the clip-ons.

Overall, they aren't bad. They don't get as dark as I'd like. My wife says they change half-way under some light conditions and then you look like a "child molester in 70's style glasses". I tend to not wear them as much as my current ones, but they are nice for days when I'm constantly going in and outdoors.

 

[scotty96LSC]

My optometrist told me that transitions do not block out the UV rays like real sunglasses. I have a perscription set for just that reason.

 

[dmr727]

I just got transitions a few months back, and I go back and forth with whether or not I like them. Like you, my eyesight isn't that bad, and I don't wear my glasses unless I'm somewhere where I really want to see as clearly as possible.

My glasses seem pretty clear - I certainly wouldn't think there's any tint to them at all unless they were activated. And it seems to take about 30 seconds or so for them to go from full tint back to clear. So yeah, there's a period of time when you walk indoors and feel like an idiot. I just take them off. That's not a big deal because I do that anyway when I'm wearing regular sunglasses.

I've never had them activate indoors - it seems like everywhere I go, the window glass is UV treated, so that's never been a problem. The flip side, as someone else mentioned, is that they won't activate in a couple places where you'd like them to - for example in the car (or in my case, in the plane). So I end up having to haul around sunglasses anyway. But they're great at places like sporting events, or just tooling around outdoors.

Anyway, I guess I'm glad I got them, although they're really not a sunglasses replacement.

 

[steve2112]

I have had my transitions a bit over 2 years. I got them because I got tired of swapping the prescription sunglasses for the my regular glasses all the time. Mine are clear indoors, or least close enough for me not to notice any difference. The biggest gripe I have with mine is that I got an anti-reflective/anti glare coating on my lenses, and it starting peeling off the lenses, so I now have spots on my lenses. The spots are much more noticeable after they darken. It's weird, though, that I don't actually see the spots when looking through the lenses, but I can see them all over the outer lenses if I take them off.

A couple of notes about the Transitions:

1) They are affected by temps. Extreme temps on both ends can affect the time to change. I notice in the summer around here (high 90s/low 100s), they take quite a while to change when going from outside to inside.
2) They don't change in my car. This one is really annoying because this was one of my main reasons for getting the lenses. I got tired of swapping glasses when getting in the car, but these didn't help the matter. The only time I can get them to change in the car is if my windows are rolled down.

 

[Demosthenes X]

I had transitions on my old glasses, and opted not to get them on my new ones. I wish I had. Lugging around two pairs of glasses is a pain, and transitions were great for just walking to/from work and all the other situations where you want glasses, but also appreciate having sunglasses.

When I replace this pair of glasses, I think I'd opt for transitions again.

FWIW: when wearing them, I never noticed the transition. Other people did, but looking through the lenses, I never realized it. I think they took around five minutes to lighten back to normal, though.

 

[nobunaga209]

I've had a pair of transitions for almost two years and HATE them! My biggest gripe is that they don't always go back to "clear" when I'm inside. Sometimes it takes around 20-30 mins for my glasses to adjust back to normal.