your preferred anti-reflective coatings

[Ecliptic]

I have access to zeiss (teflon, carat, etc), kodak (cleAR), and essilor (crizal, crizal alize) anti reflective coatings (at least this is what my lab does in house).

in terms of premium A/R, the kodak cleAR is the cheapest, followed by the alize, with teflon being the highest.

My lab go-to-guy prefers the cleAR irregardless of pricing. What do you think is the "best" A/R (out of all A/R out there... and out of these that are available to me).


Thanks :)

[For-Life]

I have tried most. Several years back, I started to try Crizal. I was shocked in the fact that, where before we had about one or two crazes a month, we were not getting crazed lenses. So I have stuck with it. Now I use alize. I have tried other easy to clean, but I prefer Alize.

[Happylady]

My personal favorite is Crizal Advance with Scotchguard. I have it on my newest glasses and it is much easier to clean the Crizal Alize. It is not VSP approved so for those jobs I use Alize. If I am using a lens I can't get Alize on I use Carat Advantage or Hoya Super High Vision.

[Chris Ryser]

It boils down to which manufacturer has made the most impressive product advertising thsat affects your liking it............and then it has done the job it was intended to.

And never forget that you are paying the advertising in your purchase price included.

And when the time comes to strip them, they all come off in 10 secinds because they are all made with the same ingredients.

[bob_f_aboc]

It boils down to which manufacturer has made the most impressive product advertising thsat affects your liking it............and then it has done the job it was intended to.

And never forget that you are paying the advertising in your purchase price included.

And when the time comes to strip them, they all come off in 10 secinds because they are all made with the same ingredients.

Buzz Kill! (Thanks for the reality check)

Personally I like the HOYA Super HiVision. Easy to clean and I like the light green residual color and no problems with crazing.

[Happylady]

It boils down to which manufacturer has made the most impressive product advertising thsat affects your liking it............and then it has done the job it was intended to.

I like Crizal ARs because they are very durable and almost never craze. I like the Crizal Advance because it is extremely easy to clean and stays clean for a long time. I have also had excellent results with Hoya Super Hi Vision and Carat Advantage as far as scratching and crazing.

I have dealt with many ARs over the years that crazed and were horrible to clean. I like the ARs that I do because of my experiences with different ones not because of the advertising.

[ajboon]

I have been happy with Crizal alize, and Super Hivision

[DragonLensmanWV]

My favorites are Carat Advantage and SHV.

[Jedi]

It boils down to which manufacturer has made the most impressive product advertising thsat affects your liking it............and then it has done the job it was intended to.

And never forget that you are paying the advertising in your purchase price included.

And when the time comes to strip them, they all come off in 10 secinds because they are all made with the same ingredients.

Can't say that advertising influences my decision. Personally i thought Essilor had gone off the deep end when (in Canada) the introduced Crizal D' Alize with AST. That doesn't mean anything to me. It's about patient satisfaction, less warranties in the office, and less headaches. For me Essilor has nailed it. A good solution to prevent lenses from slipping on the wheel, virtually zero warranties and excellent service from our reps when there is a problem. We are a fickle bunch in the office and do not hesistate to drop a brand when then don't live up to the service they should (we have dropped Essilor in the past). I hope others manufacturers follow suit and pull up there socks because they are losing our $$$.

[Chris Ryser]

So far out of 7 post's none has a a favorite outside the big business circle.
Are all Optiboard members that favour their local independent AR coating lab too shy to post ?

[For-Life]

So far out of 7 post's none has a a favorite outside the big business circle.
Are all Optiboard members that favour their local independent AR coating lab too shy to post ?

I have had far too many failures with independent coatings. Not to say that there is not one out there that works. I have only heard good things about Vivex Stainless. But for most of them, it is hard to know if you can trust them or not.

[john-atlanta]

Although it is limited to only SV poly made by them, I happen to love the Color Free AR from Resolution.

My local lab uses an independent coating, but I found it too green, especially compared with the colorfree, but even compared with Synergy from Nassau, which is basically Crizal.

Don't have experience with SHV, but will try it! Carat advantage is decent, but doesn't blow me away. Just started doing some teflon too, to me they are all quite similar excepting the colorfree.

Rumor has it that resolution is testing color free with other materials and may make the formula available for other lenses in about a year. :cheers:

John

[ajboon]

I have tried transdura, which is supposed to be comparable to crizal alize. I haven't had any complaints

[optigrrl]

So far out of 7 post's none has a a favorite outside the big business circle.
Are all Optiboard members that favour their local independent AR coating lab too shy to post ?

Vivex stainless is good but you still can't beat Super Hi Vision from Hoya!

[MarcE]

It boils down to which manufacturer has made the most impressive product advertising thsat affects your liking it............and then it has done the job it was intended to.

And never forget that you are paying the advertising in your purchase price included.

And when the time comes to strip them, they all come off in 10 secinds because they are all made with the same ingredients.

Just not true. Some come off like crepe paper. Some are "integrated" with the hardcoat and take much longer to strip. These with "integrated" hard coats can not be removed except by removing the hardcoating also. That's just my experience.

Sure they are all basically the same, except:
1. Some labs don't apply a backside hardcoat first
2. Some ARs don't include a slick coat
3. Some are compatable to the hardcoat.
4. Some have the hardcoating stripped off and a compatable hardcoated added in the process so that the AR is actually part of the hardcoat.
5. Some scratch easily and some don't
6. Some Craze easily and some don't

Other than performance, they are exactly the same.

[MarcE]

So far out of 7 post's none has a a favorite outside the big business circle.
Are all Optiboard members that favour their local independent AR coating lab too shy to post ?

I'm not too shy. These are good:

HPV from Hawkins in Topeka, KS. It comes with the blue anti-slip stuff
ARx and ARxHP from Interstate, also comes with the blue stuff. (Although Interstate was recently "partnered" with the Empire)
Allure from KC Ophthalmic (Zeise/SOLA lab), no blue stuff - too slick to edge.
Synergy is great stuff from Nassua, no blue stuff
Sharpview - GREAT value from the Empire, also w/ the blue stuff.

This is far cry from what I would have said even 18 months ago. The lab applied ARs have increased in quality tremendously lately. I don't have a problem using any of these are even some others.

Incidently, I had lots of problems with the few pairs of CleAR that I dispensed. The all peeled off. I think it was the lab, not the product. Because many here have had good luck with it.

[john-atlanta]

I'm not too shy. These are good:

Synergy is great stuff from Nassua, no blue stuff
Sharpview - GREAT value from the Empire, also w/ the blue stuff.

My understanding is that these are virtually identical, other than the name. Anyone else know?

Haven't seen much on Teflon. In a stock CR39 lens Crizal Alize and Teflon are very, very close in price from my lab. Sounds like most would choose the Crizal?

My other lab calls Synergy poor mans Crizal (not Alize). It includes the TD2 two sided scratch coat.

John

[Happylady]

On stock lenses I have used Synergy with good results.

[specs4you]

My favorite is Duratough EZ. Then I like Vivex Stainless, crizal alize',
and you know I have never had failures with the old Zeiss SET and GET if you like Gold hue the GET is nice, looks nice with a fancy golden frame.
Wish I had a job so I could retain my knowledge...after nearly 4 mos I am
getting desperate...............................HELP................ .........:hammer:

[nevio]

just so happens i put on an old pair of eyeglasses that are about ten years old,(progressive over contact lenses ) and I'd like to know if anyone knows where I could get a single layer of magnesium of fluoride coating, this was the precursor to modern multi layer coatings and kindly excuse me if I posted in the wrong Group,
TIA

[ArielJG]

When it comes to stock SV lenses form my company that I work for JG Optical.
I like to recommend my customers for Premium AR's:
CR-39: Teflon, PentaxAR Slippery When Dry, & then Crizal Alize
Poly: ResolutionAR & Resolution ColorFreeAR (Resolution has grate optics), Teflon & then Crizal Alize. & we have some other ones in stock.
1.67: PentaxAR Slippery When Dry, Crizal Alize and we have the new
1.67 PentaxAR TranGray SV in stock ,
1.70 HoyaAR
1.74 NikonAR

[MarcE]

1.67 PentaxAR TranGray SV in stock ,

I didn't know that was available w/ Stock AR. Does you lab apply it?

[Crazy-bout-Optics]

I've only worked with the Big Lens Co's A/R products.

I love the new Crizal Avance w/Scotchgaurd, and I did like Crizal Alize w/Clear Gaurd.

However my Favorite is Hoya Super HiVision. It is the best I have worked with. In 2 years of dispensing it, no crazing and very few scratch returns. I know it is one of the more expensive ones.

I didn't like the Teflon A/R that much, still smudgy when cleaning it.

I would love to get my hands on Vivex's A/R for comparison. I know a Higher $ doesn't mean a better product. So if anyone is in a giving mood, Id love to compare them, and don't mind paying for it, just dont have wholesale access to them.

I also would love to try stock A/R lenses from say Lehman Optical and apply Chris R. coating to it to see how it stands up to the Big Boy's A/R. Again, if Chris is in a giving mood, I'd love to try it out! ;-)


Let me see if I can get any more plugs in. LOL, Ok just kidding. But just in case . . . .

Cartier,Cartier,Cartier,Cartier,Cartier,Cartier.

Hope that made someone chuckle at least :-)

[Lee Prewitt]

Vivex stainless is good but you still can't beat Super Hi Vision from Hoya!

Thanks for all the wonderful endorsements! Has anyone noticed that Stainless (iCoat) has the most mentions? SHV is a very good coating but it has so many limitations as to what lenses it can be applied too. Stainless is compatible with all materials and lens styles and yes Virginia, that includes FT. It was mentioned earlier that you are paying for all the marketing hype that goes with the corporate brands. Stainless will definitely surprise you! Here ends the plug! Notice not shameless!

PS/ PM me if you want to try Stainless. I will be happy to let you see for yorself what a wonderful, independant coating can be.

[Ecliptic]

hmm... anyone know the bayer rating of crizal avance with scotchgard? :)

(and the ratings for kodak cleAR and some of the other coatings as well?)