[at-l] Glasses

[terry_norton@iname.com (Terry Norton)]

>    Question:  what are folks' experiences with glasses?

I had a relatively good experience with a lightweight metal frame, high
refractive index lenses ("thin" lenses -- but mine are not that thin at -9.5
diopters!), and the photochromatic lense coating (Transistions III?).

I wore a nylon baseball cap most of the time, and always on rainy days.  I
can only remember twice when I was too fogged up to enjoy the scenery.  The
problem with fogging appeared only when I was wearing a rain jacket and the
evaporated sweat escaping from the jacket condensed on the lenses.

Prior to my hike my optician (a friend) changed out all the screws in my
frame to a special screw with a "binder" to prevent the screw from backing
out.  I did replace the nose pads once on the trail when they were becoming
discolored.

I really like the photochromatic coating.  The lenses are slow to make the
dark to light transition in colder weather, so I was not able to see well
when I went into a shelter after being out in the bright light on early
spring days.  I would never carry a pair of prescription sunglasses or
clip-ons just because of the annoyance factor.

The only mistake I made was in my cleaning method.  At the suggestion of an
coworker who was a very experienced backpacker, I used a camera lense
cleaning cloth.  This cloth was a fine weave washable cloth which cleans by
absorbing and wiping the grime off.  Unfortunately, the scratch coat on my
lenses was gone by the end of my trip, and my lenses were very scratched.
(At $130/pair, I would prefer the lenses to last longer.)

> Is there a
> style/brand of frame that seems 'tougher' for trail use?  Is a hard case
> a good idea (I've been using a soft case)?

Since my glasses were always on my face during waking hours, I carried only
a lightweight neoprene case.  If I had carried a backup pair, I would have
carried them in a hard case.

Cheers,
Terry
game'98
mega'01