your preferred anti-reflective coatings

[Mizikal]

Most of the time I find that people want glass because it is more durable and I find that the A/R coat tends to scratch easier then the lens.I usually advise against it.

[Cyborg]

It's funny you mentioned that, Mizikal. For those who want it, glass is hard, abrasion resistant and durable. A quality photochromic glass lens to the consumer seems to already have some AR qualities engineered into the product due to the photochromism. At least they think so.

I'm not sure you want to put on coatings that will scratch more easily, require more care and eventually go bad if not kept up properly. If you put on a quality basic AR, that may be enough, though going without anything might be simpler for them.

If they want a premium multi-coat, what would you go with that has the least potential for trouble down the road? I've considered suggesting the big names like Essilor's Crizal Alize, Zeiss' Super ET or Carat Advantage, HOYA's SuperHiVision EX3 or smaller independent names like iCoat's Stainless (all of which are compatible with glass to my understanding), but I'm still not settled on any of these. Any suggestions? Further, would you only front-side coat the lens?

[RT]

Cyborg:

Premium AR coats such as HOYA SHV EX3 are engineered specifically for organic (i.e. non-glass) lenses. As such, they are generally not available on glass. In addition to the anti-reflective stack, those premium AR coats include layers designed to enhance adhesion, hardness, impact resistance. Some coatings match the physical properties of the coating to the underlying substrate, eliminating some of the old historical issues that Chip mentioned.

As noted by another poster, you may be limited in your choice of AR coats to using a coating lab and process that allows for the lens to be edged prior to coating if you are in the US. Hardening of the lens has to occur after edging, but before coating.