When it comes to driving sunglasses, there are a number of criteria that you should look for - all of the following are met by Rapid Eyewear's sunglasses:

• Choose a wrap-around frame to ensure you block sunlight when it's coming in from the side windows
• Select a pair with interchangeable lenses to ensure you can handle low evening glare and the dark as well as bright sunshine
• Make sure they are comfortable for those longer journeys
• Consider polarised lenses, for removing glare from the road and other cars

Rapid Eyewear's Drive package is absolutely ideal for all motoring conditions, because it includes not only a Category 3 polarised lens for sunshine, but also Category 2 polarised lens for light cloud, hazy sunshine or early 'setting sun' glare conditions. Further to that, you can turn Drive into a pair of night driving sunglasses by adding the impressive Category 0 light-enhancing lens.

How Do They Work as Night Driving Glasses?

So, how can you see better in the dark with a Category 0 yellow lens set fitted? Well first of all, note that you cannot see objects at night using a yellow lens that were completely invisible before - what you can do is greatly improve the definition and contrast of barely visible objects, and reduce the glare from headlights and street lamps, by filtering out blue light from the spectrum. This is what yellow lenses do, and why they are so effective.

Prescription Driving Sunglasses

If you are a spectacle wearer, Pro Performance will give you all the benefits of the three interchangeable lenses, plus your prescription, housed in an Rx insert. We will be happy to add your prescription for you - simply select the appropriate option from the drop-down menu on the Pro Performance product page (select below).

Altius sunglasses are suitable for any strength of prescription, but please make sure you provide an accurate PD for greater strengths (for information on PD, see below).

NEAR ADD

This is the distance between the centres of your eye pupils, as measured across the front of your glasses. PD is measured in millimetres, and will usually be in the range of 58mm - 70mm. 

Although your PD is measured as part of a standard eye test, it is rare for opticians to put it on the printed prescription they give you. Opticians will often withhold the PD in order to discourage customers from buying eyewear elsewhere. Because the PD is not considered to be part of a basic dispensed eye test, opticians in the UK are not obliged to reveal your PD on demand (if you are not in the UK, your local laws may vary).

If you do not know your PD and your optician will not give you the information, you can easily measure it yourself. with your regular glasses on, ask someone to hold a ruler across your glasses and measure the distance off, in millimetres, from eye pupil centre to eye pupil centre. Don't worry about accuracy too much as an error of a millimetre or two will not make much difference.

If you have a fairly small prescription requirement, i.e. under plus or minus 2.00, the PD has a very wide tolerance of up to 8mm. It is more important for us to know your PD if you have a stronger requirement. If your prescription is very small, you don't know your PD and you do not have anyone to help measure it, do not worry - we will set the PD at the national average of 63mm and it will work in the vast majority of cases.

WHAT IF MY PRESCRIPTION DOESN'T WORK?

In most cases, even when a PD has not been submitted, we will be happy to fix any problems free of charge. It is our view that opticians are wrong to withhold the PD from loyal customers, and so we will always fix matters free of charge when we can.

Problems with our prescription eyewear are extremely rare, and are getting rarer! In the last year, less than 2% of all prescription sunglasses we made had problems.

MY PRESCRIPTION IS JUST OUTSIDE 4.5 - CAN YOU DO IT?

We often get asked and our answer is that we'll do it at your risk. What this means is, if we make them and they do not work, we will only provide a partial refund. This is to ensure we can cover our costs of paying the lab to effect the optical work. The refund will vary depending on the cost of work carried out, but as an example, for a single-vision pair of Rx sunglasses you will lose around £23.00.

We will only allow the above if the prescription is very close to our suggested limits, and the customer PD is not greater than 68mm.

WHY DON'T YOU OFFER VARIFOCALS (PROGRESSIVES)?

In order to make progressive lenses, the exact vertical centre of your eye pupil needs to be marked on the lens. In other words, you would have to put on the sunglasses you buy from us and then have someone put a mark on the blank lens at the point that corresponds with your pupil centre. Obviously this is a process which cannot be carried out remotely, hence we do not offer the service.

CAN MY OWN OPTICIAN MAKE THESE INTO VARIFOCALS?

The simple answer is 'yes.' If you feel you really varifocal (progressive) lenses, buy the glasses only and take them to your optician, who should be able to help.

MY OPTICIAN DOESN'T WANT TO DO THE WORK

Then go somewhere else. there is absolutely no reason why a reputable optician should refuse to add your prescription lenses to our eyewear.

One thing to look out for - opticians and optical labs often use alcohol-based cleaners (e.g. Solution 30) to finish lenses. Such cleaners will damage and crack a plastic insert. If you buy the glasses only and take them to your optician, please make a point of asking them not to use an alcohol cleaner.