Damnit. Learn me readers/bifocals

I'm in my 40s and have never had to wear glasses -- I've always had excellent vision.  My preschooler found my father-in-law's reading glasses under a chair and handed them to me, so i put them on to be funny.  When I looked down, the printed logo on my coffee mug was crystal clear -- i could see the individual ink dots.  I did a double take, then compared what I could see with the reading glasses off then on.  The text onscreen on my phone is razor sharp with the glasses on, not with them off.  Crap.  Looks like I could use reading glasses now.

Glasses are a whole new thing for me so I'm not sure where to begin.  The borrowed dollar-store reading glasses I have on-hand have short, wide lenses -- I find myself looking beneath them when i want to read something close up.  They work better worn at the end of my nose, but that's super uncomfortable and I like a cartoon character.

What glasses do you recommend?  What style has worked best for you?

It sneaks up on you. I have readers stashed everywhere now, so I don't feel blind if I forget to bring a pair with me.

Interested in this as well, had Lasik done about 13 years ago, and one of the consequences is that they said i would need readers at some point, and I think I'm almost there.

I wear glasses, so I got the progressive lenses.   I hated life for the first two weeks, but now they're second nature.  Since you don't wear glasses, it's dirt simple.  Go to the pharmacy, WalMart, Target, grocery store, dollar store, or anywhere like that.  Pretty much anywhere that sells shampoo or advil will have them.  Find the reading glasses.  Follow the instructions on the display.  They have you try a few diopters until you can read a certain line when you're X inches away from it.

It is suggested you pay for them before you leave.  Ya know, Karma.

If you can stand to wait a bit, just ask your eye doc at your next checkup.... which reminds me... I need an eye checkup.

Oh, and as I understand it.... readers on the end of your nose are for one of two reasons:  1) you're switching back and forth between near and far, like watching TV while knitting, and 2) you've chosen the wrong diopter.

I wear contacts but, after some reluctance, bought some readers. (What? Readers? I'm still punk rock, right?)

My findings:

The ones at the drug store were crap and broke right away–even the ones from a name brand. (Fool me twice...)

So I splurged and bought some from a company called Eyebobs. I think I just googled "quality readers." They're not inexpensive–like close to a hundred bucks a pair. 

That was a few years ago.

I had to retire the first pair just because I needed to go one click stronger. I have been wearing this pair of Eyebobs since 2019. No scratches, tight hinges, no issues. 

I wear them all day at the computer. 

When I started getting to this stage, my eye doctor suggested getting a pair or two of cheap ones from Walmart so 1) I could get used to them and 2) I could lose/damage them without concern. It's also a cheap way to play with different strengths.

I've never gone past that. I don't have to wear them often (probably should more, honestly) so I just have a couple of pairs where I'm most likely to need them.

I'm in my mid 40s and have been wearing cheaters for a few years now.  Started with the 1.0 prescription, I have two mains types that I wear.  The first are for general use, now I have one pair in every car, etc. The second set are something a little nicer that I can wear to work.  I just picked up a set of cheater safety glasses for the garage, as well.  I'm probably ready to move up to the 1.25 for detail work.

These are the three I use, and I can recommend them all.  One option you may consider is the blue-light blocking models are great if you're staring at a computer or phone screen all day.

Everyday cheaters

Work cheaters

Safety glasses cheaters

My solution has been to get the (relatively) cheap safety glasses that are either bifocals or full readers.   They are available through Amazon and once you settle and something, you can buy in large quantities to stash lots of places. 

Oooo, I like the safety cheaters. Working under a car is one of the times when I'm most likely to want them.

The worst situation I've been in for near vision is upside with head stuck in footwell and using progressives/bifocals-- can't move head to pick a part of the lense to focus through, and can't get close enough to focus without them. 

I got a pair of 2.5x 'bifocal' safety glasses when I had to help install a very large number of 2-56 helicoils (and account for every single tang).  Those are too annoying for almost anything else, but I should try some full-lens ones at lower magnification.  Somebody posted semi-recently about a magnifier insert for a welding helmet.

Speaking of using these for very specific uses--

My wife likes to use a set of the full reader sets when inspecting/stripping my old man ear hair.  Either she loves me or feels that the state of my grooming might otherwise reflect poorly upon her.

My PSA that may not apply to the folks above, and may seem obvious to others, but... If you already wear glasses and have astigmatism, you'll be stuck with getting progressives/bifocals, and even if you just want readers for close work, they'll need to be made with that part  of the prescription accommodated. i.e. no $10 readers stuffed all over the house and shop because magnification alone won't work.

I just berkeleyed up my order for a cheap pair of progressives to try them out before committing to this insurance-year's benefits in my good frames, but I'm just going to have to go for it. I'm sick of having my glasses on top of my head half the time and there being no real "good" distance for close stuff anymore.

And my PS: My eye doctor recommended the cheaters and told me which power to get. 

I went from nothing to bifocals on my 45th birthday.  I'd been using drugstore readers for a while, but my left eye is quite a bit weaker than my right.  I knew I needed glasses for close up, but had no idea at all that my brain had not been using my left eye for anything for quite a while.

Took me two weeks for my brain to relearn to use my left eye, then I was golden...until I needed progressives,  Took a year to stop hating the narrow field of vision, and even after getting used to them, I still have my last set of bifocals for in the race car.  Stock car track is the only place I notice the narrow field.

I wear glasses unless I'm in the shower, or asleep.  I have a set of prescription readers for under dash work, because with my different eyes, I can't turn them upside down for close vision while looking up.

TL,DR: Get your vision checked by a pro, you may need more help than you think.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I'll second that emotion of regularly seeing an eye doctor. I've been seeing mine for like 25 years. I'm happy with him. 

I still argue that my eyes are fine and my arms are just too short now.    

I buy them at the dollar store ,  large lens and whatever color frames (plastic) they have , 

They are fine if you do not sit on them .....oops I have broke 50 probably ..

the cheap ones have plastic lens but  they scratch easy, 

if I-was organized , I would buy heavy metal frames and glass lens , 

I had a full eye exam and they told me what strength to start with .....

Remember the feeling well. I had regular eye exams through work back in the day which I have kept up since retirement and have some prescription progressive lenses for computer work and also some tinted ones for driving, so I can read the dash displays, but most of the the time I manage with cheap readers from our equivalent of Walmart. I buy them 2 or 3 at a time and have them scattered all over the place. As per others in the thread I have some of the safety glass versions which have a small magnifying section which are great for mechanical and wood  working since I don't have to take them off and on.

The biggest downside is when you lean forward or get upside down over a bike or fender they fall off. A friend put me on to CliC glasses which have full circle frames and come apart at the bridge of your nose with a magnet. I like them a lot but they do have one disadvantage - they can only be put on and taken off with two hands ...

I went nothing to progressive/bifocals. The doc tells me I got lucky with peripheral vision working with my progressive computer glasses. I tried progressive with sunglasses and flopped. I had them swap for bifocals. I have glasses with a bit of wrap and they just can't get a good progressive wrap reliable, yet.

Streetwiseguy said:

I have a set of prescription readers for under dash work, because with my different eyes, I can't turn them upside down for close vision while looking up.

Yeah.  I can't bend my head back far enough to actually see when I'm under a hoist.

I have a pretty heft correction in my lenses (I always wear glasses), and the field of useful vision is very small.  There is ONE sweet spot for whatever distance you're looking at, it's also "straight on" which is annoying, and everything in the peripheral is a blur.

Nevertheless, it happens to all of us.  It's still good to be able to see.

Just wait until you need tri-focals and can't decide if you want them on the bottom for reading and working from on top of your car or on the top for working from under your car. Edit: oops, it's already being mentioned.

I wore progressive bifocals ($$$) for years up till I had Cadillac surgery.  Now I can see just fine at distance, but can't see diddly up close.  I've been buying my readers from Amazon or lately from the Walmart or Dollar store.  I need to buy a pair of 2.0 or 2.5 for doing close up detail work, which I haven't been able to do.  For normal use, I go with 1.25 or 1.5ish.  

Thanks for the comments, guys.  I tried a number of pairs of readers at the drug store and it seems that 1.5 works best for seeing things in the 6"-18" range.  Anything more than two feet past my nose is a distorted mess, though, with any of the reading glasses on.  I think clear bifocals may be a better solution for me, but the store didn't have any to try out, so I'll keep looking.