You mean the lenses that are bifocal without a line? If so, I've had those for years. Why wouldn't they work in a car? Mine seem to work fine.

Those are progressive...no line bifocal. Transition lenses are the ones that turn into sunglasses.

Vickey-Mn

Hubby and I both have transitions lenses. Ours turn somewhat darker in a vehicle, but not nearly as dark as outside of a vehicle. On a really sunny day, I'll use a pair of clip-on sunglasses on top of the transitions. Transitions are no where near as good as the old photo-gray lenses were.

I wear Transition (bifocal) lenses, and have for a long time.

Inside or outside, I am not aware of any "change."

I've heard it said that they don't work in a car.

Don't know where that came from. There is absolutely no basis for that.

Talk to your Ophthalmologist, that is where you will get the best advice for your situation.

Sue

I have transitions and so does Gary. Ours work great, both in the car and out. On the days that we head out somewhere and I don't have my glasses on (forget them) I am really hurting as I don't even carry sunglasses any more. The only thing I wish was different is that I wish they lightened up faster when I walk indoors. They are very dark at that point and I usually have to take them off for a few minutes while they change, so that I can see indoors.

my DH has them and they were a waste of $$ if you live in super bright & sunny FL. in Feb 2007 we were in chicago and it was 17 during the day and the lenses worked great, they have never worked well here in orlando. DH got clip on shades made for those glasses because there really is no sun protection w/them ~ liz

I have worn transitions since they first came out. I have eyes that are very sensitive to sunlight and I would not ever want to have a pair that weren't transitions. I have never had any problem with them in the car. I'm not sure exactly what you are getting at. They may not get as dark in the car as if you were just outside, because it is sunlight that makes them turn dark and you are "shaded" by your car roof. You will need to have sunglasses that can go over your prescription glasses if this is what you are looking for.

I have transition trifocals, so would need a pair of trifocal suns if not for these. Love not having to change and carry extra glasses--which I probably wouldn't do anyway. No problems driving on sunny days so they must work.

My problem is that I currently wear contacts, my vision is NOT what I want it to be with them (that old eye thing), and I've decided to give them up. (tried the bi-focal contacts; one contact seeing near, one far...nothing is working for me). BUT I also know that sunlight is one of my migraine triggers. With contacts I could wear dark sunglasses. So I was hoping to NOT have to buy sunglasses and regular glasses by getting the transition lenses. But they have to get as dark in the car as outside in the sun to be worth it for me.

Vickey-MN

I used to work for an optometrist and we sold Transitions. It is the UV rays that cause them to change so if you put them on when you were in the car they may not change fast since glass blocks most of the UV rays. If you have them on and then walk outside they would likely be pretty dark by the time you got to the car.

I have a pair of these fitover sunglasses to wear over my transition trifocals. I love them! Because of needing trifocals, I don't want to pay for 2 pair of Rx glasses, 1 for indoors and 1 for outdoors.
My fitovers are this brand, but I've seen similar ones in W-mart.

Here is a link that might be useful: these are great!

I have the "latest and greatest" in the transitional and they work GREAT in the car. I am VERY pleased with it, I didn't care for the old stuff so I ended up paying for prescription sunglasses. Now, that would be a needless expense.

I always liked the idea of transitionls but don't care for the generally darker tint they have when out of the daylight or sun - this is very aging to the eyes, something I don't need.

This new stuff still has the just the barest of darker tint vs clear glass, but not so much that I don't like them because of it. I examined them carefully when indoors and did think they carried the barest hint of tint, but several friends don't know what I'm talking about, they can't see it at all. It could be my imagination.

The new stuff darkens up right away in outdoor light, within a couple of seconds, (literally) but take about five minutes to completely fade away when indoors. However, it does not affect my vision at *all* indoors, and the deep tint fades right away.

If I'm somewhere where I don't want the dark to show indoors at all because of appearance, I carry a piece of flannel with me, go into the bathroom and cover the glasses with the flannel (for darkness) for just one minute and they return to the lack of tint - this is just a little hint for you if that is, in any way, important to you. It is for me only when I'm at a really nice function where I'd like to look my best indoors.

The new stuff is a great step forward in transitional. Ask your "glasses" provider about it - it might be something that is an additional charge over the older transitional coatings. My glasses are one year old (this month!) and it was a brand new thing when I got them.

I love those "fitover" sunglasses. I've never heard of them till I looked at the link.

I rarely wear my glasses in the car. (I only need them for reading, not driving). My eyes are very sensitive to light and I wear sunglasses all the time, even on overcast days.

I'd love to be able to wear my glasses all the time, then I'm not having to get them out of my purse when I need them to read something. These sunglasses would solve it. I'll have to look for them here in our Canadian Walmarts.

Personally, I was never happy with them for indoors. Mine just didn't go clear, they stayed like tinted. I like it light, even indoors!

I have two pairs of glasses, no, three. Clear with bifocals, cycling sunglasses with bifocals (I even wear them otherwise as sunglasses) and then some just for distance.

It's hard to watch TV in the recliner, in the reclined position when you have bifocals. :)

I have an older pair of just distance I wear when I lounge in front of the TV.

Moni

"tried the bi-focal contacts; one contact seeing near, one far..."

I know that a lot of folks refer to those as "bifocals" but they are not. Those are monovision contact lenses. One eye sees distance clearly, the other eye sees close up clearly; and your brain merges the two images.

I wear true bifocal contacts. Like these (image and text from www.contactlenses.org):

Here is a link that might be useful: Contact Lenses

I now have my second pare of glasses that are Transition. I love them and will never go back to regular eye glasses.

I was dissapointed when I was told that they will not darken while driving in your car. The transition from clear to dark is caused by UV rays found in sunshine. Since all windshields are treated to prevent UV rays from passing though the windshield, the change can not take place. However, the side and back windows of our cars are not treated so, UV rays do pass through to some extent. I have found that my glasses darken just enough so, driving is not a problem.

sooey

About the fitovers:
I got mine at the optometrists and they are like the link I provided above. They have a colored lens at the side for peripheral vision.
The ones at Walmart are in their optometrists dept. I don't know if they have the colored lens on the sides or not. I have seen some with solid sides, which I don't think I would like.
If you're sensitive to light, or just don't want your transitionals to turn dark for certain reasons, or don't want to pay for 2 pair of Rx glasses, then I highly recommend the fitovers.

Said that before, didn't I? lol!

Leslie/KS

I spent nearly $500 for my transition lenses. After a few months I went back and complained, that's when they told me they don't work well in cars. Would have been nice if they had told me that first! They work great outside, but in a car are worthless as sun shields. Kathy

I've had them but never again. They don't get dark enough outside and don't get totally clear inside.

Linda

Transitions are a waste of money. They don't block out much UV and aren't polarized. Plus, they don't get dark at all in the car. I bought a pair of clip ons to wear on top of mine when outside. It's a must to have polarized lenses for proper protection. It really helps cut down/out the glare.

Now, I have a pair of polarized, progressive sunglasses that I wear strickly when driving and when outside. Otherwise, I just wear my regular progressives. I have to wear glasses every waking hour of my life.

Vickey,

I had transitions years ago and didn't like them because they weren't dark enough and they stayed tinted inside.

I got new glasses a couple months ago and the man convinced me that the new transitions are much better. I really like them this time. They are clear when I'm indoors and they get dark enough outdoors. I don't have any trouble in the car, but I think if I had to drive into the sun for a long time I would prefer the cover over sunglasses. I like to have a hat brim when I'm out in the sun.

The man who sold me the transitions said there were 2 colors of tint black and brown. One gets darker and I don't remember which one but I have it. I agree with everything jel48 said and they do take a bit too long to lighten up, but I am very glad that I have these and no longer need to juggle various glasses.

Be careful when you are picking out your style of frames. The new small frame look just dosen't cover enough of the eye area to keep out the bright sun. I had a pair last year and the fact that they were transitions made no difference because they were much too small. The sun was always shinning in around the edges.

I have had them too. I gave them up, because they were annoying. Sometimes they would be dark, when I really did not want them to be.

I now stumble around with sunnies, or my glasses. That is annoying too.

Tried contacts too.

It would really be better if I could see !

Sorry, Vicky, not much help am I!

I had the transition (basically because my insurance paid for it in full), but did not care for it and had the lenses changed. I could not see well with the glasses at night for some reason because of the transition, but then had to have the lenses changed again...something about the type of lens they had used still created a problem...the pair without all that fancy stuff (except for the no line bifocal) worked great! I even had a problem with the silhouette frames that cost an arm and a leg...just the nose piece was over $100 to replace and my lens was cracked by a tech adjusting them...but I'm so near blind I didn't even know it...and a tech at another store found it, making me aware of it because she didn't feel comfortable adjusting the ear piece, fearing it would do more damage than good.

I've never had them because I want to be in control of when I wear darker glasses, I didn't want the automatic change. I always buy glasses frames that come as a set with a pair of magnetic clip-on sunglasses. They clip on- click, click- in a second and stay on tight. To remove, I simply lift the bottom edge and the magnetic seal breaks and they lift right off.

Rarely do I even need sunglasses in my car, the top of my windshield is tinted really well and it cuts the glare down considerably. When I do wear the sunglasses in the car, it's hard to see what time it is or where the radio station is set, those numbers don't show up well, so if I was wearing Transistions, I would be up a creek. I can lift up my sunglasses off the regular glasses just a tad to see them if I need to, but I wouldn't be able to do that with transistions.

I tried the bi-focal contacts a few times and couldn't ever get them to where I could really see up close without cheater reader glasses, too. So I went back to my regular, no-line bifocals.

I have had transitions lenses for about two years. Mine don't work well inside the car, I imagine because of the tinted windows, but otherwise they are effective.

I didn't like my transitions, either. They are a few years old, tho. I don't know what the new ones are like. I am very light sensitive and wear sun glasses most of the time in the car. Sometimes the more overcast days are worse than bright sunshine for me. If you get glasses, and want sunglasses also to help block the light from the sides, get a pair of frames that are sturdy enough that putting the fit overs won't knock them out of adjustment. I got the really light weight ones that don't have any "frame" to them, just the ear pieces and nose piece. They are wonderfully light, but I can't keep them adjusted. I went Wed. and need to have them fixed again. The fit overs can come around the sides to help block the light, where transitions (if they work in the car, mine didn't) will only block the light where the lenses are. When I wore contacts ( I gave them up for the same reason you are!), I always wore very dark sunglasses that wrapped around. I got Rx sunglasses that were supposed to be able to be adjusted to work the same way, but it changes the bifocal to much so they adjusted them to take out the wrap for me, which makes them too wide for my face now. I do love my no line bifocals, tho. Good luck. My insurance only pays the exam and $75 towards the rest, so I spent a fortune on glasses last year. I will probably do it again this summer just to get out of the frames I have now.

Tami

My eye Dr told me the transitions don't work in the car. The kids have transitions and DS really notices it if he is in the front seat. I plan on getting bifocals next week with magnetic clip ons, but now I'm going to check into those fitovers too.

One thing I really don't like about the kids transitions is the way they look in outdoor pictures.

I really wanted those magnetic clip ons when I got my last pair--some of them even came with the glasses, so a perfect match. But between my trifocal prescription and close-set eyes, finding frames is a nightmare, so any of the newer (smaller) styles didn't work.

I still would have gotten the transitions though. And I do have a pair of clip ons to wear over mine--if I can find them.

"These sunglasses would solve it. I'll have to look for them here in our Canadian Walmarts."

If you go to www.fitovers.com they have a dealer locator where you can type in your zipcode and it will tell you where the closest place to buy their product is. Very convenient!

In my other life, I also worked as an Optometric Assistant and at that time these lens were really just getting started...We would often get complaints, not being dark enough, and we'd send them back to the lab....And I remember before we gave them to a patient, we'd sit them in the sun to get them activated...But they sure have improved...I've been wearing them for 3 years and love them...Mine darken in the car and also cut the glare...I just got back from 6 weeks of Florida sun and the glasses were great...I haven't used sunglasses in 3 years and my eyes are very sensitive...