Under the Christmas Tree...

[Canoetripper]

... even if you have to put it there yourself.

I know that what I really want is a state of the art pair of polarized prescription sun glasses. Obviously, really good polarized sun glasses would help me in my fly fishing and canoeing. Any suggestions would be welcome about sun glasses.

That said, I want to open this up for all and any gifts not necessarily related to fly fishing. Santa Claus is not going to reward me with sun glasses. I need help from the board on what to spend my hard earned money on.

I hope that everyone on the board enjoys their Christmas.

 

[nomad_archer]

Canoetripper - First question: What part of Lititz are your from? Wonder if we have run into each other.

Just for some ideas - William Joseph as a brand is more or less getting phased out. On their website they are giving 60% off until 12/20 if you use the code WJHOLIDAYS16 Be advised they dont have a lot left. But I did pick up a few of their stripping baskets, a new fanny pack and exodus pack. Just what I needed more ways to carry too much stuff.

 

[Canoetripper]

Lititz is my mailing address. I actually live in Manheim Township. I live in Northfield which is the town homes just past the tennis courts at Bent Creek Country Club.

I spend most of my time at the Manheim Auto Auction where I work. After work, I go to Universal Athletic Club where I work out. On my way home from the gym, I am a regular at the Sandwich Factory and Sport's Lounge, which is also right next to the Neffsville Beverage distributor.

On sale days at the auction I like to go to the Cat's Meow in Manheim to talk to auto dealers about what they like and and don't like about their day at the world's largest auto auction.

Without auto dealers buying/selling vehicles at the auto auction, I am unemployed. I need dealers from around the world buying and selling vehicles there, and I am going to do what I can to make them want to be there.

The food is very good at the Cat's Meow. The foreign dealers know that. That is why they go there after the sales. That is me in a nutshell.

I am an easy guy to find. I am 58 years young/175 pounds/very gray hair. I am always sporting North Carolina blue since I am so proud of my daughter for getting accepted into that great university.

CT

 

[nomad_archer]

Feels like I havn't run into you. Doesn't mean I shouldn't at some point. The reason I was asking is I have run into and had some really great conversations with some local FF'ers since I started FF last summer.

Sounds like you know your business and are smart about understanding and learning more about your customers. That is some great business sense.

Lastly congrats to your daughter. That is a fine school. I wish her all the best in her education and beyond.

 

[BrooksAndHooks]

Wiley X has some great glasses, fairly affordable, good polarization, also double duty because they are shatter proof. If you have more, get some Costas, if less, pick up a cheap pair of something else.

 

[pcray1231]

For the glasses, it's harder to get premium in prescription, no doubt about it. A lot of opticians will sell you the frame and make their own lens for it. Usually that means polycarbonate, which just isn't very good. Some will use trivex, which is better, but still not as good as the manufacturers. But easy for them to work with in house. They may coat it with anti scratch or anti reflective coatings and be able to match tints pretty well, and they'll tell you it's the same as the costa or maui jim or smith ones you.we're looking.for. They are wrong. They'll also steer you towards flatter lenses because they don't have the digital processing needed to eliminate distortion in a wrap.

You want to make sure the optician sends out the prescription and has costa or maui jim or smith actually make the lenses, and be picky about the material. They'll use better materials, coatings, digital processing to prevent distortion in a high wrap, etc.

Maui Jim and Costa both make 8 base wraps in prescription with glass lenses. Generally only for +3 to -3 prescriptions. Both single vision and progressive. The trick is finding an optician to admit it. Some will even go to the extreme of making you sign a waver to talk you out of it. Why? Because it's law that they can't make a dime of profit on you to just get your prescription and send it out. They want to make their own lens.

If you have a stronger prescription, though, you'll be locked into plastic lenses and maybe even a 6 base curve.

Here's MJ's guide. Pc is polycarbonate. Don't want that. Ev is evolution, which is better. Gl is glass, if you can, that's what you want.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www-2.mauijim.com/mjresource/salesteam/documents/rxreferenceguide.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwiLvdHGw_7QAhWkxYMKHcLaAwwQFggoMAA&usg=AFQjCNHtE7-KTkS_Psk45COijZn1vX2hGw&sig2=dLGLLb0Ra99OcENiFv1ieA

I don't have costas guide but it's probably similar. Both are top notch companies that use only premium polarizer. Smith is also good, but don't make prescription in glass. But if you are locked into trivex they are fine. Kaenon is also good in the trivex category.

Just avoid polycarbonate for sure.

If you know your prescription, shop before setting foot in your docs office. Even call MJ/cosyta and confirm that you can get what you want. Get a list of frames that will work. Go to a Plano dealer, like sunglass hut, and try them on, cause it's highly probable your doc may not have that frame. Do everything and be armed before going to the doctor.

If you don't know your prescription, go to target optical or something and get it, without buying anything.

 

[Canoetripper]

Thank you pcray1231,

I used to sell ultrasonic cleaning equipment so I kind of know the optical industry in terms of lens materials(glass/plastics) I also know a lot about the difference between chemical and physical depositions, used in coating various materials.

I am sure that I can ask more questions than most optometrists can answer, but I just want the best prescription sunglasses that I can afford. You obviously have been down this road and have a lot of experience finding what works best for you, and I really appreciate that.

Since I started wearing eyeglasses, I have relied on the Orvis Cocoons. They are okay and better than nothing, but I really want something better.

Thanks again for the reply and giving me a great starting point.

CT

 

[DGC]

Some very astute information from pcray on aspects of the business that I was not familiar with. Much appreciated.

I have posted before that despite needing Rx glasses, I have found that high quality, glass, polarized sunglass lenses obviate the need for RX sunglasses, thanks to the extra sharpness and contrast these provide. This is so long as I am not using them for reading. The only way to tell is to try them. If the merchant you use has a liberal return policy, you may be able to try them out for very little return shipping cost. Check the return policy and see. Also, the various discount sites are almost always legit, authorized dealers. I verified this for STP with Smith before going on a spree a few years ago.

Caution: Though I accept the risk for myself, I have a hard time suggesting glass lenses to friends and family if the glasses are also going to be used for driving. I can see greatly increased risk to your eyes in the event of an airbag deployment, whether due to malfunction or accident, when wearing glass lenses.

 

[boychick]

I haven't found good Rx sunglasses. I've had a few crapy pairs. I also tried Cacoons, they fit over your Rx glasses. They are OK, but not ideal. My next move is contacts and a good pair of Costas with the 580G lenses.

 

[acesedgley]

DGC, are you talking about using non Rx glass ones OVER Rx glasses?

 

[DanL]

I asked my wife for a rod rack and I'm pretty sure that is what she got me based on the size of the box next to the Christmas Tree.

It's the wooden one from Cabelas with some drawers to store things and it holds the rods on the side. My man cave was getting out of control. I'm going to customize it so that fly rod tubes stay secure on it (hopefully...)

 

[mt_flyfisher]

I'm a bit late getting into the discussion here, but would like to add a bit different perspective on the prescription sunglass subject.

With all due respect to pcray, I used to get my bifocal prescriptions with the glass lenses from Smith (formerly Action Optics) but found them too heavy to wear for a long time period in my prescription, so I switched to polycarbonate lenses perhaps 15-20 years ago, which are much lighter, and have had absolutely no problems whatsoever with the clarity, scratch free material, etc. ever since.

I know what they say about glass having better optical clarity, blah, blah, blah, and all that, but since I often wear my glasses over 12 hours a day in the bright summer sunlight on Montana rivers, and am still able to see rising fish at over 100 yards, and everything else I need to see, and some things I shouldn't see, and most importantly, I barely know my glasses are even on, until I take them off, I don't see the need to go back to glass and doubt I ever will.

I bought 2 new pair of sunglasses this past summer - one from Smith and the other from Costa - in polycarbonate. They are a bit pricey, but good quality is rarely cheap.

Incidentally, canoetripper, I don't know how long you've worked at the Manheim auction, but you may know, or have heard of, Greg Gehman. At one point, way back in his pre-Manheim days, he worked for me. Great guy.

 

[Canoetripper]

Thanks for all of the replies, I have worked at the auto auction for about ten years. I may or may not know your friend. This is the world's largest auto auction and is the third largest employer in Lancaster County with over 1,700 employees.

A lot of them are part time drivers. Florida has the most retirees and Pennsylvania is #2. There are a lot of retirement communities in Lancaster County. I can't think of a job any easier than driving and parking a car/vehicle, which is what most of these retirees do on a part time basis.

I run the outside of the detail shop, which is the largest in the world. We detail up to and over 900 vehicles a day through two shifts depending on the accounts and sales. On any given day, I am driving the most exotic sport's and luxury vehicles right on down to the nastiest repo's you can imagine.

 

[pcray1231]

mt, everyone's eyes are different. Some people see a large optical difference between glass and polycarbonate. Some don't. And the higher end plastics like Trivex fall in between on every category.

The glass of today takes away some of the drawbacks of the glass of 20 years ago too. Unlike some horrer stories of past glass lenses, which are true, it's all tempered now, and of more modern compositions. The lenses are made from the likes of Corning and Schott. Tons of glass research has been done since the cell phone came out! Like your windshield, it may chip or spidercrack, but it's getting harder to do that, getting harder to scratch too, and it won't easily shatter and go all projectile like. Also like your windshield or phone, that allows them to make it thinner, and thus lighter. Of course that's trading back some of that toughness. The trade off is still there, but ultimately they are still thinner, lighter, and still tougher than yesteryear.

Frame materials are also lighter and stronger so you don't need the thick heavy metals to have the structural integrity needed to keep glass from flexing.

The drawback? $$$$. A single optical quality lens will cost $40 or so. And an inability to tint or edge or glue without expensive equipment , which is why your everyday local eye doc doesn't deal with it. Glass got a bad name because of weight and safety, and while those limitations have been improved greatly, the optician industry doesn't want to go back. Especially with injection molded Trivex becoming the standard plastic, which is indeed light years ahead of polycarbonate, available in relatively cheap blanks that can be edged and tinted and ground and coated and glued, and approaches glass in optical quality. And the big companies can tweak it slightly or even coat it with their special sauces and market the crap out of it. "Maui Pure" "Chromapop". And your cheapo drug store brands still stamp big sheets of polycarbonate to make lenses for a few cents each, pop them in a $1 frame, sell it for $20, and still have better margins than the big names.

 

[Canoetripper]

I need to edit my above post. Driving and parking a car(tongue firmly in cheek) at the Manheim Auto Auction is actually very mentally challenging and physically demanding work.

I have 14 doors that detail the vehicles and 40 rows that fit approximately 18 vehicles for cars when the doors are full. It is mentally challenging for our drivers to know the difference between a door and row, and also to know that five cars are all that will fit at doors. Counting to five is very hard and even harder to count to eighteen. They always try to fit more cars at doors that are already full with no more room, which is mentally challenging for our drivers.

What is very physically demanding for our drivers is when I tell them that the most important thing to always know is that regardless of where they park a car at the auction, somebody else is eventually going to move it.

Place the key in the cup holder so the next driver can find it easily. This is very hard to do for our drivers.

Dead batteries are a fact of life at an auto auction. Everyday I have to tell our drivers about this. All day long I have to tell the drivers that when they park a car that all of the remaining energy left in the battery has to go to the starter. Therefore, please turn off everything electrical like the heater, radio, seat warmer, and wind shield wipers so that the next driver starting a car has a good chance of successfully starting the car.

It was easy enough to turn everything on but very physically demanding to turn it all off. Our drivers have all the finger tip dexterity in the world to light cigerettes and play with cell phones, but it is a real physical challenge to turn off a radio, heater, and seat warmer.

And, everyone always says why is Owen so pi$$ed off at us all the time? It is because you have the easiest job in the world, and most of you can't do it.

 

[mt_flyfisher]

Canoetripper - Greg was the General Manager of your auction for a number of years. I loose track of time. He may have not been there when you started.

 

[DGC]

responding to aces in #10: A pair of non-Rx polarized sunglasses of high quality, by themselves, is all I wear while on the stream and while driving (except at night). I must also have a folding magnifier that clips to my hat for tying on flies and for untangling leader mishaps. That I can do this is likely based on the characterstics of my Rx (bifocal, distance correction that apparently is not too serious). I suspect I am not the only one who can go this route, but others would want to verify for themselves.

 

[pcray1231]

Yes, that will vary greatly. Without contacts or glasses I'd have trouble finding the steering wheel!

 

[Canoetripper]

I have thought about going back to contact lenses because my vision was so much better when I wore them. When I noticed my eyes starting to decline, I had 20/400 in my left eye, which is myopia. Eventually, I was diagnosed with astigmatism in my right eye.

For years I only wore one contact and that was in my left eye. Father time eventually catches up to all of us. My eyes are declining. And there is nothing I can really do about it other than wear corrective lenses.

I am 58 years young.

God gave me the great head of hair gene. It is almost all gray, but who cares what color it is at my age?

I spend a lot of time working out at the gym. I'm 6' tall/175 lbs. As long as I can fit in a size 33 waist, I feel like I am where I need to be. I don't burn calories like I used to and I don't drink light beer.

Merry Christmas to all who read my posts.

CT

 

[TimRobinsin]

Canoe and Nomad.

We need to get together and have ourselves a little Lanc Lanc Jam. Merry Christmas to you both.

I bought myself a new nymphing rod for christmas. Here's hoping santa brings me a new lens for Christmas.