11 replies to this topic

[rgscpat]

ISAF training thread, noting Appendix G description of safety training in the offshore special regs...

.17 trainees who depend on spectacles may consider having an
indestructible pair as part of their personal survival kit.

Sports goggles are pretty tough, designed to receive impacts, but

Is there truly such a thing as indestructible eyeglasses?

Or are we talking about only as indestructible as the Titanic was virtually unsinkable?

[Ocean View]

It's like the titanic - Indestructible has it's limits.

They claim the titanium ones can be bent and twisted and not break.

Throw in a polycarbonate lens and maybe you've got something close to it.

I'm grabbing some of these with clear polycarb lenses for offshore nights to keep the wind and rain out of my eyes.

http://barzoptics.com/prescription-sunglasses

or you could try these for close fit glasses

http://barzoptics.com/arfa-surf-goggle-sunglasses/arfa-polarised-pc

[egon]

Outside the realm of goggles, there is frame manufacturer Prodesign (http://www.prodesigndenmark.com/). They are a little tough to find in the US, but any good eyeglass shop should be able to order them. They make stainless and aluminum frames with one piece milled or stamped bridge/rims. They also have frames with milled 5 and 7 finger hinges. My current pair is only made of 3 pieces of metal, no joints to fail and nothing welded or brazed. Couple these frames with good quality poly-carbonite lens and you are about as indestructible as you can get outside of goggles.

--Matt

[judge]

The indestructible ones are the cheap-shit ones you buy from a hardware store or a servo. They last forever; you can't even lose them!!!

Judge's Law states that..." The more expensive the specs the sooner they will go over the side or under the feet of the biggest gorilla on the boat."

Seriously though after more than 40 years mixing poor eyesight and sailing I've come to the conclusion that cheap sunnies and single use soft contacts are the only way to go. Plus a pair of cheap readers if you're going to have to do close work.

[tommays]

I have REAL work safety glasses with drop tested GLASS LENS that are pretty bomb proof

I have had way to many poly-carbonite lens lens fails

I have a sport set that wraps around and is held on with a strap that never moves BUT this style distorts your vision so they do not get much use

[red_sky_sf]

I use a set of glasses for surfing. The key to their near industrial strength is that the lenses are mounted so they cannot be blown inward to your face. They are in essence mounted on the outside of the frame. Many similar glasses, for indoor ball sports, don't mount lenses in this fashion and when getting hit in the face with a wave the lens blows through the frame. They are known as RecSpecs and look similar to an image in an above thread entry.

[Call Me Boomvang]

IMHO indestructible means that you break before they do. When the boom kills you, who cares if the sunglasses shattered.

[e^2]

Day to day use, IC Berlin frames. I break and fix them all the time while i watch my wife go through one after another.

[froggie]

When I was in high school (eons ago), I wound up with Bausch & Lomb 'indestructible' black nylon framed glasses. They personified 'nerd'.

I played soccer, so every so often I would show up at the B&L place with a pair of glasses with big wads of athletic tape in the corners and another wad of tape holding the bridge together. I eventually got to know the B&L guys by name and we joked about the 'indestructible' frames. Nylon does tend to get a little brittle in the cold.

I guess my point is that 'indestructible' glasses aren't.

[Oxygen Mask]

Seriously, who has had glasses broken while being worn? Usually happens when you've set them down or they've flown off your face, rarely ever on your face. (Once, a boom hit me and busted my glasses, and the damn glasses did 90% of the damage to my face!) The other hundred pairs of busted glasses I've had were crushed. Stepped on, something heavy set on them, crushed in my pocket etc.

I have seen carbon and titanium, etc glasses busted simply by sitting on them on the carseat (carbon= CRACk)) or tossing your briefcase on them (titanium = snap!) No amount of stiffness within the confines of weight you're willing to hang on your nose will be anywhere near enough to withstand even a simple crush.
The most 'indestructable' glasses are flexible plastic.
Flex is the key, and even then no guarantees...

[crankcall]

I need prescription glasses and am at the point of needing bifocals to be comfortable. Prescription bifocal anti glare glasses= very expensive so I'm a bit protective. I've tried them all and they still break if you try hard enough. My current pair are Oakley softflex frames, the arms are some kind of rubber and a head strap so they dont fly off. I dont break many on my face, its the switching between sunglasses and regulars and not getting them into a case before some body steps on them or sits something on them for me.

[WHL]

I need prescription glasses and am at the point of needing bifocals to be comfortable. Prescription bifocal anti glare glasses= very expensive so I'm a bit protective. I've tried them all and they still break if you try hard enough. My current pair are Oakley softflex frames, the arms are some kind of rubber and a head strap so they dont fly off. I dont break many on my face, its the switching between sunglasses and regulars and not getting them into a case before some body steps on them or sits something on them for me.

Try Transitions non polarized lenses. Polarized lenses are a bugger with some instrument displays.