I have been using lined bifocals for many years for sailing glasses, both transition sunglasses (the kind that get darker, the sunnier it is) and regular sunglasses. The "trick" to making it work well is to have your optometrist make the bifocal area smaller than normal because you want it only for close-up viewing, such as to read your watch or GPS. You want as large a field of view as you can have for normal distance viewing (usually anything past 6-8 feet). My optometrist just holds a ruler level at my eyes, slowly lowering it until I let her know that is good. The amount of bifocal is probably about half of normal but I like that trade-off for sailing (and driving). I tried the progressive lenses and never could get used to them - I was constantly moving my head around trying to find the "sweet spot" (focal distance) for any particular object - a real pain! I was fortunate to get safety glasses paid for annually at work so they paid for my experimenting. I think if you try that idea you will be happy. I also get large aviator style glasses to give my eyes as much protection as possible, usually reusing a frame every third or fourth year or so (my insurance still covers much of the cost). They have gone out of style but I don't give a rat's butt about that; I am not wearing them for style...



Last edited by Mike Fahle; 02/21/17 07:36 PM.