Reactalite glasses

Hi, I wear glasses all the time and use clip-on sun glasses. These have scratched the lenses so it is time for an eye test and new lenses.

I am thinking of varifocals with reactalite. I have read that these do not work very well in a car and also that whilst the lenses do darken they are often not dark enough.

I live in the Mijas costa area and we have a specsavers in fuengirola who offer several special deals.

I would very much welcome your views about reactalite lenses generally and your experiences with specsavers be it good or bad.

Reccomendation to other opticians would be appreciated. Thanks Jack.

I have reactions glasses - they do not go dark in the car, and although i ordered the very darkest lenses i could get, they are not dark enough for me in Spain in the summer or even in winter on really sunny days - i ordered at the same time a pair of prescription sunglasses - and tend to wear these far more

Not bought from specsavers in Spain so cannot comment - i got my glasses from Specsavers in the UK

Reactolite lenses only work in the open and NOT through glass. I was told this when I  was ordering my glasses. I took up the two pair offer and have one pair of very dark sunglasses and one pair of ordinary lenses. It works for me.

Specsavers are very good as far as I´m concerned.

Irene

I bought reactolite from Specsavers and find them to be very good.  Before I was changing my glasses every time I went in and out of a building and now I only need to change to proper sunglasses when I am driving.

Specsavers always have deals on and I did compare their prices to two local opticians the last time I changed my glasses and they were cheaper for what I wanted.

And as an earlier poster said, always ask for the darkest possible tint.

I used to use clip-ons, but decided to try reactolites (or whatever they're called), because I was fed up with the fiddly business of clipping them on & off. They are particularly dangerous when entering tunnels at speed on a motorway and fumbling to un-clip, then struggling to re-attach on exiting the tunnel. It is true, the reactolites do not go dark in the car - but I think this is more to do with them not being exposed directly to the sun due to the roof of the car, rather than not working through glass. Maybe someone with a glass roof can comment? Either way, I found very quickly that you do not necessarily need them to go dark, for the simple reason, your eyes are not actually directly exposed to the sun either. As soon as you get out of the car, they will go dark. I'm sure others will disagree, but I suspect that the use of sunglasses while driving is largely psychological and makes us feel cool. Maybe the solution to the problem is to buy an open top car - then your reactolites will go dark while you're driving!

I'm on my second pair or reactolites in five years.

They only react for about two years in the stong Spanish sunlight.

 I am also a Reactalite user and find them really useful most of the time.  They will work fine behind uncoated glass, but cars have a strong anti-UV coating on the glass that stops them working.  Some modern double glazing also has a similar coating.

They also work better in low temperatures as I discovered when I went skiing in them.  They are normally the same tint as my sunglasses, but at -2c, they were a couple of shades darker.

Jon

Hello folks. I'm moving back to Spain shortly after a few months back in the UK. I have had similar issues with reacterlight glasses over the years when driving. In preparation for this summer in Spain, I've bought some new reaction glasses that do work in the car. The online glasses firm I use is Spex4less (been with them as regular customer for donkey's years!) and they came up with a solution called Transitions Extra Active lenses. I've tested them out in the car and they actually do go quite dark behind the glass in the car. Hope this helps someone.
 

A couple of years ago I got two pairs of bifocal, ‘reactolite’ glasses from Specsavers in Spain.

When I looked through the reading area, horizontal surfaces appeared to be sloping.  The specs also did not react when I was in  my car.

When I ‘complained’ I was told the specs were ok.

A week or two later  by coincidence I had a ‘national heath’ check-up in Spain. They gave me a prescription.   I took it to anther opticians and asked how my (Specsavers) compared with the prescription. They said I should return to Specsavers as they were way out.

Eventually Specsavers replaced both pairs, one with permanent dark lenses, as they said no such lenses worked behind glass.  My wife’s specs  bought in Asia work fine in the car !

With the replacement specs,  horizontal surfaces are normal. Thus the first two pairs were faulty.

Advice, Forget about Specsavers , at least in Spain.

Probably just a bad pair, happens, my sister who has been staying in my house since November bought two pair from spec-savers shortly after arriving, sound the same as yours, anyway a month later she broke a pair, her fault, took them back to see if they could be repaired and they replaced them with a slightly better framed pair, and with no charge, even though she told spec-saver she had broken them, very impressed with the service.

It's also well to remember that if your Reactalite glasses don't, or don't seem to work in your car thats most likely down to the windscreen doing its job correctly by stopping most of the uv light coming in contact with your glass lens. My sister likes specsavers, and dopey gave me a thumbs down for posting what she likes...Impressive.