New PAL from CZV - Sola Elan

[rdcoach5]

EVERY single Sola One we tried became a remake! No one liked it and went back to their previous progressive or anything else. I would hope they didn't too closely follow this sola One design.

[MarySue]

Originally Posted by rdcoach5

EVERY single Sola One we tried became a remake! No one liked it and went back to their previous progressive or anything else. I would hope they didn't too closely follow this sola One design.

Do you take monocular PD's and heights before recommending a lens design? Also - 8-12 degrees of pantoscopic tilt will help. The Sola One isn't a lens I would choose outside of these parameters, as the front surface design will limit the width of the intermediate and mess with the reading.

Also - you might want to try the "Mirror Method" when dispensing also known as the "Lewis Method" for measurment. It will indicate how far the client's eyes move down the corridor to read - if the movement is assymetric, and also spot assymetric convergence.

[Darryl Meister]

EVERY single Sola One we tried became a remake! No one liked it and went back to their previous progressive or anything else.

I'm sorry to hear of your negative experience with the product, which I honestly find very surprising.

In addition to winning the Optical Laboratory Association's Award of Excellence in Lens Design, SOLAOne has been one of our most successful SOLA lens designs since VIP was launched in 1987.

In a market acceptance survey conducted among over 300 eye care professionals, over 97% were satisfied with the performance of SOLAOne. And keep in mind that there are now hundreds of thousands of satisfied SOLAOne wearers out there.

[jefe]

There actually is a Zeiss lens sold though Walmart -- the Zeiss Experience. From what I've been told, it's the Brevity. So if we were to exclude companies or product lines which show up in retail chains, we would have to dump both Sola and Zeiss (and others). I'm not prepared to do that.

[jefe]

I tried it a couple of times and didn't get the impression it was well-received by the patient.

The Sola One HD had markings so obvious I could see them from several feet away.

[KITT]

In the UK/Ireland at least the Sola 1 is most popular in the Specsavers chain. I would say around 80%+ of all the Sola 1's sold are done thru Specsavers.

[rdcoach5]

Originally Posted by Darryl Meister

I'm sorry to hear of your negative experience with the product, which I honestly find very surprising.

In addition to winning the Optical Laboratory Association's Award of Excellence in Lens Design, SOLAOne has been one of our most successful SOLA lens designs since VIP was launched in 1987.

In a market acceptance survey conducted among over 300 eye care professionals, over 97% were satisfied with the performance of SOLAOne. And keep in mind that there are now hundreds of thousands of satisfied SOLAOne wearers out there.

Darryl, I know the GT2 is a digitally surfaced glass mold design and has had Great acceptance in our practice but I can't believe Sola One comes close in design. When we tried it and saw all those remakes, we immediately dropped it as would any dispensary. Surely the Sola One is an older design? The GT2 on the other hand got wows from the start.

[Darryl Meister]

SOLAOne was launched in the last quarter of 2003, so Yes, it is an older lens design than GT2. Still, we have had a great deal of success with SOLAOne over the past few years.

Assuming that the lenses were fitted and fabricated correctly, your SOLAOne non-adapts could be due to the wearers' use of a previous progressive lens that differed significantly in design from the SOLAOne.

Also keep in mind that, as the wearer's addition power increases, the "bad stuff" in the periphery of progressive lenses also increases, which can trigger a complaint from unsuspecting wearers after a new eye exam.

[MarySue]

Originally Posted by KITT

In the UK/Ireland at least the Sola 1 is most popular in the Specsavers chain. I would say around 80%+ of all the Sola 1's sold are done thru Specsavers.

In New Zealand - SpecSavers use only Pentax lenses - interesting.

[Aberdeen Angus]

Mary Sue, i think you should investigate this more closely. Specsavers have bought the right to use the name pentax for marketing purposes, but this does not mean that the lenses are actually manufactured by pentax. You can receive a lens in specsavers by any manufacturer and it will be called pentax. It just depends on who is giving them the best deal at the time. Apparently this is all entirely legal.

[MarySue]

Aberdeen - I'm gutted! So how does a dispensing optician who works for them know what they are selling?

[Aberdeen Angus]

Oh it's not that bad, from what I've heard you do get a choice of a few lenses to order under the pentax name. In addition, depending on your JVP, you can order any lens you wish ( although this takes the price out of the price range specsavers likes to advertise). The problem I have is when sometimes you phone to ask for the details of a previous varifocal dispense for someone and all I get is "It's specsavers elite!" to which I ask "yes, but which lens is it?", "Specsavers elite!" is the reply. Of course you can always check the engravings..... I must say, I have NEVER seen an actual Pentax varifocal from Specsavers. Usually it's sola, and for a while back there was lots or rodenstock life XS. What annoys me is the the public perception. If they think they are getting pentax, they SHOULD be getting pentax, not just anything (no matter how good) that has had a nice name stuck on it. (I'm not even a great fan of pentax lenses!)

[IntoEyes]

Originally Posted by Darryl Meister

Often, sucessful older-generation progressive lens designs continue to enjoy distribution after the introduction of more advanced lens designs in order to service eye care professionals or retail chains seeking to offer "value" or "budget" progressive lenses to certain patients who are more price conscious.

Generally, as a progressive lens design matures and becomes obsolete, the cost of the lens steadily declines. Consequently, it's just basic economics, not snake oil.

agreed! Since all BC/BS has been monopolized by DV....we have to still offer a premium product to those insurance pt's even if that lens design is 15yrs old. I would much rather give myself a piece of mind fitting them in a Zeiss-brand lens even if it is an old-school design. chances are it's better optics to begin with....perhaps Zeiss could just do 3D surfacing on their VIP and all the "antiqued" jewels os the past and rename it w 3D behind it....just food for thought

[FVCCHRIS]

Originally Posted by BMH

I think you've coined a new phrase for the industry!!!!

Do you think I could file for disability with Social Security for that.

I think most Optical Professionals are suffering from PDF.

And which company do you think will come out with that New Design for us Presbyopic Optical Proffessionals suffering from this malady? We'll call it the POPPDFing lens.