Orienteering glasses

[DaveK]

Any recommendations please for good orienteering glasses. I've used 'Vapro Classic Downcutted' previously, which have worked pretty well, but wondered about other designs/makes?

[sborrill]

I think the answer will depend a lot on whether you are short- or long-sighted, but from your mention of Vapro Classic Downcutted, I assume long.

I'm very happy with FRENSON FOCUS FogFree. They have a small, but perfectly-placed sweet spot for map-reading.

https://www.compasspoint-online.co.uk/p ... s-fogfree/

Stephen

[Nimby]

I found running with one contact lens worked well. My brain adapted quite quickly to one eye for distance (no lens) and the other for reading the map (+1.75 lens).

[DaveR]

My experience is of simple long-sightedness. My optician recommended variable rate contact lenses. They are pretty standard disposable lenses but with a range of power between e.g. 0.25 to 1.5 Diopters. This works really well for me and doesn't significantly degrade vision for running (although recognising people at a distance is trickier!). I am too sweaty to get on with orienteering glasses most of the time. I've also run (inadvertently) with one lens in, which works surprisingly well too.

[awk]

Probably not very helpful, but with a complex prescription and fairly hefty short sight (-7 or more in both eyes), I've never found glasses a satisfactory solution, in spite of the fact that I wear them all the time otherwise (and have done since aged 5!). I worked hard with my optician to come up with a good contact lens solution, and have found the modern disposable lenses (which can now also correct astigmatism) have been a revelation: one eye for reading, one eye marginally favouring distance vision. The latter is slightly blurred, but reading vision is pinsharp in daylight. Nothing works at night, and have virtually abandoned night orienteering.

[IanD]

My eyesight problem is primarily extreme astigmatism. I wear the same glasses for orienteering as I do for the the rest of life. (I did try contact lens about 30 years ago, and didn't get on with them then- maybe I should try again?)
Anyway, glasses work fine for me provided I can keep them dry. I used to use a visor, but nowadays prefer a baseball cap in daylight. Night is a little tricky, but I do find it possible to combine headtorch and visor.
Both cap and visor leak during prolonged heavy rain - the cap through the material, the visor through the join between my head and the visor - so I wear a cag with a hood if it's really wet. This can be a lightweight cag which isn't totally waterproof, so long as it slows down the water ingress sufficiently for cap/visor to hold out for an hour or so.
The conditions I find it hardest to cope with are drizzle and scotch mist. Small water particles drifting under cap/visor are something I don't really have a solution to, other than carrying dry tissues in a sealed bag, and stopping occasionally - something I really don't like to do in a race.
I have won a British Night Champs in heavy rain, so, Awk and others, it is possible to cope with glasses - don't give up!