I am thinking of getting a pair. I have always worn contact lenses, but have a difficult prescription and find myself wearing my glasses more, but don’t like the glare when I run or ride. Can you have an optometrist put prescription lenses in Oakley frames or Rudy Project frames? I looked at the Oakley website and their prescription lenses aren’t strong enough for me. I would need to have my own lenses made. Thanks.
I haven’t tried them, but I’ve heard good things about Sports Optical
The curvature of the lens in most sport frames means that prescription lens must be done by a specialist (i.e. big bucks) or cannot be done at all. I have had a variety of prescription frames over the past 15 years. The best ones are the ones I have now: less than $100 from Costco. The frames are made for sunglasses and actually look a lot like much more expensive brand name sport glasses. I live in Arizona so I wear them all the time. My advice: forget about the fancy brand names and check out Costco or Wal-Mart. For the price of 1 pair of prescription Oakleys you can almost get three from Costco.
I have been very pleased with my prescription Rudys from www.rx-spex.com
The customer service is great. All you need is a recent eye glass prescription.
Hi AndrewPhx:
Small world, I’m live in the Phoenix area as well
.
Lots of brands can take an RX insert (usually sits behind the lense in its own mini-frame). Bolle was the first that I’m aware of, but Rudy and Adidas also have a similar system. I used the Bolle system back in the mid 90’s, and it worked pretty well. Now I just wear contacts.
Try the Rudy Project RB3s. I have used a pair for years and really like them. The Rx inserts snap out easily, so if you do go contacts, you can still use the glasses.
Spot
I would go with the Oakleys. Go to an Oakley RX dealer instead of their website to find out information about their perscription lenses.
Nothing compares to Oakleys…
tricheermom,
I have a pair of Rudy Project sunglasses with a prescription insert for a very strong perscription. I love my Rudys. They are great and I have never regretted getting them.
I stayed away from the Oakleys because I was advised by an Oakley retailer that you had to have a prescription lense bonded to each lense insert in Oakley frames rather than having a separate prescription insert and being able to use interchangeable sunglass lenses for your frame as the Rudy Project glasses will permit.
Two additional words of advice, If you go this route alone, go to an Opthamologist’s office that has an optician on the premises. The better practices use labs that are first rate and way above the quality of the “Lenscrafter’s” and such. They will evaluate your prescription and frame choice and give you advice on whether you can expect good results or not.
In my case, the lab technician took my lenses on as a personal challenge. The optician and the lab tech said I wouldn’t be obligated to pay for anything if I wasn’t happy with the results. Not only was my perscription very strong, but I wanted a no line bifocal in the lense as well. To a degree, they were experimenting and trying to do something they hadn’t done before. But they were interested, willing, and prepared to accept the costs if their efforts were unsuccessful. Then too, they were reasonably confident that they would be successful and I would be happy with the results. But they conferred back and forth a bit to arrive at that decision. This is the kind of a working relationship you should seek in the provider you choose. I couldn’t have asked for more in terms of service.
The second word of advice is a company run by opticians who are triathletes themselves and run a perscription sports eyewear for serious athletes business. Their name is In-Spex. These people know their stuff! They can advise you and recommend choices that will work well for your particular situation and they will tell you what choices are poor ones. I have personally received outstanding service from them. They hunted down some out of production, out of stick lenses for me that many others had simply said, "those are no longer made and you won’t find them anywhere! There is no point in wasting the effort to try! They advertise in Velo News and their phone number is 1-888-950-SPEX and their website is www.in-spex.com.
Good luck. You will love your new glasses.
I have the same problem, and for many years wore Adidas sports glasses with the prescription insert with no problems. My only slight concern was that I always though the legs were a bit flimsy and then sure enough one leg came off and I lost the lot about 10k into the bike of IMWA last year.
I now have a pair of Bolle with the same insert system and whilst good solid specs, the distance between the prescription and tinted lenses is such that if it rains heavily and you get water betweeen the two, you cannot clear them without stopping and taking them apart.
I have never worn contacts so I have no real choice, so I just live with it.
I’ve not had the same good results with the inserts. Seems when things got tough I ended up with 8 sweaty lens surfaces instead of 4. Twice the cleaning, twice the problem.
Tom
I am an Oakley Rx dealer and I can tell you that while the Oakley optics are superb, the curvature of the lens (base curve) makes it impossible to put all Rx’s into their frames. If your rx is beyond the limit for the frame you want, you are better off with an insert. Of the ones I have seen lately, I like the Adidas system the best (although I don’t sell them yet). Bolle is good also and I have very limited experience with Rudy Project so can’t comment there. Many people will have problems adjusting to the increased curvature of a wrapped prescription spectacle lens (distortions, aberrations, etc.) so be prepared for that during the adjustment period.
Go to a knowledgable clinic (not Walmart or Costco) and investigate your options. An Oakley Rx dealer will have a list of the range of Rx’s which can be put in each of the Oakley frames.
good luck,
robert
That is why I couldn’t use do the inserts. Going from a relatively flat eyeglass to a curved sunglass made me feel like I was on LSD. Got Lasik. problem solved.
RAinBC:
I’m probalby beyond the range of the oakleys. I have a severe astigmatism in one eye and it is something like -7.75 and the other eye is -6.25. I have a very good opthomologist (I have a family history of glaucoma) and I’m having difficulty finding a contact lense for my bad eye, as the company I used went out of business. He has an optician on site who did mention not to get the wrap style of glasses because he couldn’t my prescription into something like that.
I’m starting to think Lasik.
I do have a very good opthomologist, and I will probably get some inserts. Like you, I have a very strong prescription and am having trouble finding contact lenses to correct my vision. I also have the no line bifocals in my glasses. I’ve been riding in my glasses and the sun is way too bright in Phoenix to ride without sunglasses.
I will also look at in-spex. I like your screen name, it should be my mantra.
Thanks
Tricheermom,
With an Rx like yours you may even find that the inserts won’t work as the Rx lenses may rub against the sunglass lenses. Lasik or PRK may be a good way for you to go although it won’t solve your near vision problems. There must be someone in your area that could do a good CL fitting for you. With the range of lenses available to us now, it is pretty amazing what a good CL fitter can do. Don’t hesitate to PM me if you have more detailed questions that I can help with.
robert
I have two pairs of different Rudy Project sunglasses with the inserts. The rx lenses sit very closely to your eyes, takes a little getting used to. I’ve used Bolle inserts before until I broke those glasses,similar design.
Try these guys:
http://www.rx-spex.com/home/index.html
Give them your prescription and ask them what in glass rx are available.