Dickw Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 13 hours ago, Don Fry said: I agree with Kevin’s sentiments. My life has revolved round shooting, and building / flying model aircraft. The sight discipline needed is similar, an ability to lock onto what you are looking at. Difficult to describe, but concentrate on what you see, not what you hope to see. ...................... Small aside, I used to be the Secretary of Torfaen Rifle Club. Premier league standard Club. One of our members was an optician. We all went to him for eye stuff. His “Saturday boy” was a professor at Cardiff uni, keeping his hand in at my mates shop. He used to use us as guinea pigs in departmental research. Reason, we could describe what we saw. Some years ago I asked my optician for some "distance" glasses rather than reading glasses. He was happy to do that, but asked why I wanted them as it was very unusual. When I explained about flying model gliders several hundred metres away he understood and explained that the only other time he had been asked for distance glasses was by someone who did shooting. Strangely I find that they also help with reading, so I don't need to change glasses (or use varifocals) for setting up anything on my Tx. The optician confirmed that was expected! An additional comment - I have yellow tinted lenses as I find that helps visibility by brightening things up on very dull days and yet still acts as "sunglasses" on bright days. Dick 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 I have an annual eye test and always stress that I need to optimise my distance vision due to model flying - for which, along with longer drives, I usually wear single vision contact lenses and use reading glasses when close vision is required. So far, my optician (various branches of Vision Express, due to work relocations and retirement) has been responsive and efficient. The idea of formalised eye testing for driving doesn’t worry me but it does seem to be an additional complication which shouldn’t be necessary and would no doubt involve additional expense unless simple evidence such as a current optician’s prescription would suffice. Although I’m quite short sighted, I’m lucky that my visual acuity is better than average (think of it as screen resolution). A history of glaucoma in the family has meant that my eye testing has been free since I was 40 so I have little excuse - and every reason - to keep my vision monitored regularly. As such, it feels odd to me that others may not be having regular checks though, as eyesight is of such importance - especially to model flyers - and early diagnosis of impending problems can have significant impact on the success of any treatment. It would be interesting to know whether any of us visiting this thread doesn’t get their eyes checked reasonably regularly and their reasoning behind it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 I also get my eyes tested every 12 months and after being a long term customer of a major high street chain, found that their service, since moving here five years ago had deteriorated and was not up to the standard that I'd become accustomed to, so that I no loner had confidence in it. I switched to an independent optician and the service has been top notch. The main consultant asks me have I been doing much flying and how my distance vision is, how are the prescription sunglasses that she prescribed performing and goes through all the usual tests, explaining the results as she goes and comparing them to last year's results, The series of tests takes about 45 minutes and, being as this is Scotland, is completely free of charge. The last test a few weeks ago, detected a slight improvement in my corrected reading vision, in that I could read one line lower down than last year. With a clean bill of optical health I was happy to say thanks very much, see you next year, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 I have an annual eye test at the opticians, and an annual diabetic eye scan. I have cataracts starting, and at my next eye test, around June, expect to hear they are getting worse. Not affecting my flying yet.... I've tried a number of opticians, including Spevsavers, and have been happy with them all. Didn't think Specsavers had a bad press - but these days Mother Teresa would probably get a bad press on-line.... WHSmith have been struggling as a business for decades for many reasons. The decline in demand for printed stuff is just one of their problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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