I find Transitions and generic photochromic lenses to be more or less equal in performance. They all retain a slight tint indoors. Transitions VI takes a few minutes less to darken or lighten, but none change instantly. All photochromic lenses offer UV protection, regardless of color.
AR coating does not affect the UV protection of a lens. As for the clarity of a photochromic lens, the AR coating doesn't seem to affect the photochromic properties. However, while you have a clearer view wearing AR coated lenses, the coating itself is visible at some angles, as a greenish or purplish film on the lens. The coating might add slightly to the tinted appearance of a photochromic lens that isn't 100 percent clear indoors. On the other hand, AR does make your eyes much more visible to others. I have three pairs of glasses with photochromic lenses, from 39dollarglasses, Eyebuydirect, and Framesdirect, all gray. The ones from 39dollarglasses are the clearest indoors. None of them change as fast, or get as dark, as I would like, but they are convenient for some occasions. They are very inconvenient in other situations, such as walking from bright sunlight into a dark restaurant. My prescription is quite strong, and I use hi-index lenses. I have many pairs from 39dollarglasses, all excellent, but I agree that frame selection is limited, and their service can be slow-ish sometimes. They are my favorite. Zenni does an excellent job on the lenses, but frame quality is a crap shoot. I have found Eyebuydirect to be uneven in lens and frame quality, but usually a decent value for money. I also have several regular tinted sunglasses, in gray and brown. Brown has a very slight edge in contrast and clarity, under certain glare conditions, but distorts color perception. Red lights do not stand out when seen through some brown lenses. I much prefer the more natural colors through gray or G-15 (green-gray) lenses. You might want to look through some non-prescription sunglasses in a store, before you decide on color. I hope this helps, and good luck! On Jun 24, 6:24 pm, "Mr.Nobody" <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, new to this group but started read the glassyeyes a couple of > years ago. Got my first online glasses off zenni after Costco > declined to relense my Burberry frame because they were too afraid to > break it, LOL. > > Anyways, now I'm about to get another pair before my university > insurance expires this Aug. Basically I could get up to $100 > reimbursed toward optical hardware purchase. Worked flawlessly last > year for my zenni glasses. My situation is, I need a fairly large > frame (at least 54mm in lense width) and I prefer a narrow looking > lense (lense height smaller than 29mm). And I want to try out color > changing lenses with my a little strong prescription (so index > 1.59-1.61 is my target) > > Apparently, based on my criteria, it came down only to 39glasses and > zenni. Problem with 39 glasses is they had very little selection of > medium/large frame, and cheapest frame cost 39.99, with their > Transistion VI lense (1.59 index), without AR coating ($25), it would > be around 110 after the $20 discount. > > With Zenni, I got more choices of frame, and I could actually find a > $8 cheapo frame that fits me, however, their Transition VI lense (1.61 > index) is super expensive, $139+$4.95 AR coating, so we are talking > about $150 range glasses with a cheap frame (might break easily). But > they also have their own color changing lense (not Transition brand), > for quite cheap. > > Enough for the background, here comes my question: > > 1. For the transition lense, my major concern is if it could look > like a "normal" glasses indoor, while maintain some adequate tint > outside for protection. I heard a lot of complaints about transition > lense (mostly lenses from those websites own brand other than the > Transition brand) that they always had say 10% tint indoor, making you > look like wearing sunglasses indoor. Does the Transition VI lense > worth the extra money compared to other in-house brands? We are > talking about hundred dollar versus say 20-30 dollar range, which is a > huge difference. > > 2. Is AR coating necessary for transition lense to achieve better > color changing, most importantly keep it clear indoor? > > 3. Which color would be better in terms of eye protection, gray or > brown? I asked a friend of my father's who's been in prescription > glasses industry for over 10 yrs, and he suggest gray. However from > this forum and other online resources, I've seen multiple positive > reports on brown color. So which one based on your own experience? > > 4. Based on your previous experience, which site would provide better > transition glasses overall, 39glasses or zenni? For Zenni, with $150 > I got a higher index lense and AR coating, but with a real crappy > frame I suppose. But with 39glasses, I end up with a OK index lense, > also a crappy plastic frame, but I'll get closer to my budget ($100), > suppose the AR coating is not that essential for my criteria. It's > hard to decide. > > Thanks very much for any input. > Thanks very much. -- Check us out at the oft-updated http://glassyeyes.blogspot.com! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GlassyEyes" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/glassyeyes?hl=en
