After having some contact lenses wash out of my eyes during kiting I thought I'd look into getting some prescription kiting glasses. The only 2 options seem to be Oakley glasses (similar to seabreeze glasses but you can get prescription put in) for around $800 all up, or Barz optical goggles (for $450). I chose the latter and just wanted to advise people that they are NOT any good for kiting. They come with a soft elastic strap which slides down to press your ears down and would never stay on your face even with a small fall into the water. I tried putting on some rubber straps from swimming goggles but even still they will easily fall off. Fortunately I got $150 back from my health fund, but I'm still out of pocket $300 for something I'm never going to use. I'll just continue to use contacts...

Saffer said...

Seaspec. You can order prescription.

http://www.seaspecs.com/html/FAQ.html

US$200 and $30 shipping means you could have saved yourself a bundle. Used them myself and the glasses I ordered have last about 4 years already.

+1
... my missus has them, and loves 'em You wouldn't use 'em for reading but she says they work perfect on the water.

cheers,

Robbie

One of the kiters I met has a pair of Fuglies which he highly recommends. They are made in Australia and you can get them with prescription lenses.

shop.fuglies.com.au/prescription.html

McSalty said...

I am using this treatment as an alternative to laser. Lot cheaper and can get some rebates. It has been great for kiting
www.osa.net.au

does it work? What prescription do you need in your contacts/glasses?

Vision for kiteboarding/windsurfing has been discussed at length, many times.

A mate has used the hard, sleep in contacts for some years. He now wears only one so he has one eye corrected for distance vision and the other uncorrected for close up vision. It is fine for correcting minor vision problems (about -1.5)

I had laser surgery in 1995. My eyes were -3.5 and -4.6 IIRC. I still have better than 20:20 vision. I use reading glasses when threading needles or working in poor light. In good light my close vision is fine.

My laser correction cost a little under $4000. It turned out so good that I would gladly pay 10 times that price. It is truly life changing.

If you don't want/can't have laser surgery I would stick with disposable contact lenses. They're cheap enough. Maybe wear sunglasses over the top to prevent losing them.
If you want surf sunglasses then Seaspecs are about as good as they get. They're cheap and they work fine. The Oakleys are crap (you can have mine if you want.)

You want cheapish sunglasses because you will scratch/damage/lose them. Don't bother with anti-fog/anti-water coatings. They are all over rated. All you really need to do is clean them thoroughly with detergent and warm water, rins well and dry them off before use.