Inexpensive eyewear recommendation

thebruce

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Jul 8, 2013
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the Bruce
New pilot, but I've been wearing some sort of eyewear in the field and at ranges in the Marine Corps for 23 years, so I've been through a lot of glasses. For the last couple of years I have been wearing inexpensive 3M safety glasses with flat flexible temples, and I decided to give them a try in the airplane because my regular glasses are only comfortable with a headset for about 30 minutes. The 3M glasses were extremely comfortable;they're light, inexpensive, and not polarized so no interference with iPad/flat avionics displays. (Yes, I realize I sound like a 3M salesman. I promise you I'm not-- no relation to the company whatsoever.)

These are the ones I have in case anyone is interested. Best of all, under $10 on Amazon right now. http://www.amazon.com/3M-47011-WV6-Eyewear-Scratch-Resistant/dp/B00OI6E85U/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1449852746&sr=1-1&keywords=3m+flat+temple+safety
 
I don't get the point of expensive eyewear. Cheap Foster Grant 100% UV protection will do just as well as $200 Ray Bans.
 
I buy the cheap tinted safety glasses -- the kind that fit over your glasses -- cut off the bows, tap holes in the stubs, attach old-lady eyeglass cords with safety wire, run them back to and through an appropriate-sized stainless steel nut (for adjustment), and end up with the perfect flying sunglasses that do not interfere with our headphones.

Total cost: $~10

We leave them hanging in the plane, and replace them as they get scratched.

We really like having the sun shielded on the sides and tops of our glasses, since we fly under a bubble canopy. These glasses have excellent optics, provide great eye protection, take 5 minutes to make, and are cheap enough to be disposable.
 
I don't get the point of expensive eyewear. Cheap Foster Grant 100% UV protection will do just as well as $200 Ray Bans.

I've found the optical quality of "cheap" sunglasses to be, generally, rather poor. Sure, they're fine for driving and generally looking at things, but reading anything with them on can be a challenge depending on how poor the quality is. I gave up trying to find a good "cheap" pairs and now stick with Ray Ban or Maui Jim.
 
I wear similar 3M safety glasses too. They're cheap, they work, and they're also (other than some chewing marks on the arms) toddler proof. :wink2:
 
If you want pilot sunglasses there is, IMHO, only one way to go: American Optical. Worn by: Navy and Air Force pilots, early NASA astronauts and on the moon (Neil Armstrong's pair is in the Smithsonian). The factory lenses are glass/non-polarized and they are made here in America and sold at a fair price, not made in some Chinese sweatshop owned by <cough> Luxottica <cough>. They are also prescription friendly but the prescription lenses will be poly. The bayonet "temples" are comfortable to wear under a headset - at least mine are while wearing a David Clark headset.

http://aopilotsunglasses.com/pilot.html

Good luck!
 
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