PAL questions

I'm 60 years old. I wore bifocals for about 10 years, getting my
first PALs at 54. The first pair failed miserably, and my optician
had discussions with her corporate support.

My present Rx is (OD -3.00)(OS -2.75, -0.75/4 degrees) with 2.25 add

My primary complaint was an extremely narrow "in-focus" area, both
near and far. As an example, in a theater with 3 people standing on
stage side by side, one was in focus from my seat half way back the
seating. I move my eyes rather than my head exacerbating the problem.

Driving, part of a car 40 yards in front of me was in focus.

She had worked for Essilor, and virtually all of her sales, industrial
ANSI requirements as I required, were lens by them. They recommended
mounting lower than she normally would and the use of their Liberty
lens. My Titmus frame supported the lower height.

I've been a "happy camper" for 5 years, adding a pair of cheap glasses
for computer use focusing about 0.75m.

The time is coming soon where I'll have to get new glasses. She was
joking with me that I need to learn something new as the Liberty has
been discontinued. She is far less tied to Essilor; indeed, AO-Sola,
Nikon, and Zeiss are now preferred ($) to Essilor by her employer.

She has been doing this for over 30 years and is quite competent; I'm
a dumb engineer and hard to please. But she has no suggestion YET.
I've not been to the doctor yet.

What's the closest thing to the Liberty with excellent clear
peripheral distance vision. Darn near everything else can go by the
wayside; I remove the glasses to read, so the dashboard is the only
near issue.

Mike and Robert, you guys seem to be a major presence here; what would
be your first try for me?

Thanks, George in upstate South Carolina

On Mon, 4 Jan 2010 15:26:29 -0600, "Mike Tyner"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Zeiss and Varilux do a pretty good job. I'm wearing varilux but it isn't
>$700 better than low-end Essilor.

The first pair were Varilux Panamic ... but set too high for sure. The
Liberty was marketed in Europe as the "cheap to get into progressive,
ideal for present segmented bifocal users". It seems that Essilor
(who I think have Varilux as their premium brand(?)) doesn't charge
different prices for different products in the US ... at least her
cost for them in poly (ANSI safety) was identical.

>> Thanks, George in upstate South Carolina
>
>Anywhere near Lancaster?

2.5 hours west in "Greenville"; mailing address is Greer. Lancaster
is almost a bedroom community of Charlotte, 30 miles south of it.

Thanks for the suggestion on getting "golf" or "hiking" optimized
lens. I understood that the lower add would widen the between far and
near corridor, but didn't realize it would help the distance
peripheral clarity too.