The Transitions Challenge

[Joann Raytar]

Gave my Transitions a pretty good test this past weekend. I took a trip to the beach and forgot my sunglasses in my car. It was 83 degrees and we had hazy sunshine that day - the NG's still got as dark as any sunglass outdoors; they were actually a bit darker than my polarized lenses. The Crizal coating even lived through a day in the sand.

I finally sold a couple of pairs of Transitions NG Brown and it looks like we have another winner. A co-worker liked my NG Grays so much she got a pair of the NG Browns for herself. We haven't recieved our demo cards yet so the two of us are demonstrating the lenses ourselves; its an excellent excuse to get out in the nice weather for a bit. As soon as folks see how dark both lenses get they want them. Now, only if there was a way to make them change in the car short of buying a convertible. ;)

[bren_03825]

To be honest I haven't held much faith in transitions, but these NG's are very good. The ONLY solid negative side to the family of Trans products I have seen, and heard, is how they don't change (or not much) inside of a vehicle. Not to hype another product but Rodenstocks Colormatic does seem to work better in that respect, and they have an average "works the same" life of 3-4 years. But to say agin, these are the best Transitions product I've seen since they came out.

[Jim Schafer]

Hello Jo and Bren_03825,
I am happy to hear how much you enjoy the Transitions 1.50 Gray and Brown. Now that we are hitting the heady hot months of the year, your patients will be very impressed on how a clear lens can change to a dark comfortable lens in seconds and have the staying power to remain dark for the duration and not wilt in the heat.

As for working in a vehicle, no product will match a polarized sunlens. If a patient spends a lot of their time driving, that is the product for them.

Last summer I put a demo tool for our Solutions Team that call on ecps together. This tool is only to be used when questioned about the Colormatic Extra windshield claims.

We placed a Transitions III 1.50 Gray lens in the left eye and Colomatic Extra (claims to darken to a 50% LT behind a windshield) in the right. Both lenses are 2mm CT planos and placed in a generic looking set of Clark Kent looking frames. This piece was to demonstrate to ECP's that the darking in a car claims are way overstated. The ecp is asked to get into the car, put the lenses on and look into the rear view mirror... Guess what...TIII 1.50 not only changed faster but got slightly darker. Many ECP's who believed the CE claims were taken aback by the demonstration.

Transitions Next Generation 1.50 and all of the Transitions Mid Index, Poly, Trivex and High Index, has the same activity, but again, the performance is nowhere near a polarized driving lens.
regards,
Jim

[Pete Hanlin]

I haven't worn a photochromic product in over ten years (tried the original Transitions and found the performance laughable compared to the PGX I had growing up). That said, having seen the performance of Transitions latest offering, I have a pair of Transitions Next Generation on order.

The chemists, designers, etc. have done a great job- I hope they all received bonuses! ;)

[Jimbob]

I did like the NG lenses, UNTIL i actually placed a T3 and a NG lens in the UV together, the NG has a very un-natural colouring of purple, not very nice at all, i thought something never quite looked right, but could never pick it!!!

actually i never really like transistions that much, on cloudy days they darken like you wouldn't believe (cloudy days in Australia usually are higher UV days - go figure) and there is still the old car thing.... and there is that whole look like a nob, with your tinted lenses, every time you walk inside, coz you CAN'T take your glasses off or your blind!!

perhaps i'm overcritical of product?? but i do like the idea of LCD films... not likely for a while, idea was that the LCD film on the frame would go dark at the touch of a button, like in your digital watches..... but hey when might that actually happen?? not only do we have to be dispensers but also electrical engineers.. not likely....


James

[Jim Schafer]

Hello Jimbob,
Purple activation?? Are you sure you received a Transitions NG 1.50 lens??
Weird things can happen with photochromic color but it is usually with altitude, temperature and latitude extremes. We have operations in Lonsdale (outside of Adelaide). It is pretty much the same latitude with Sydney. We did not have reports of purple during the NG 1.50 development, in which all of our regions had a hand in final formulation and color.
You mentioned UV exposure, was this an outdoor comparison with the Transitions TIII 1.50 product or with a UV blacklight? If so what type of bulb (346, 351, 365, 370nm???) The lower the wavelength the "bluer" looking the product may activate.
As for Electrachromics, several iterations have been around for a while now. The big problem (or opportuntity for improvement) is battery storage causing limited frame choice and pricing. PPG Industries Inc.(Transitions parent company) suspended their EC project about a year ago. It was a great product but ahead of its time. It was fun to wear them at trade shows, activating and fading them while talking with people about new products.
regards,
Jim

[harry a saake]

:D I noticed several of you mentioned about the lenses not turning dark inside a car, as the windows tend to block out the UV. I wrote a post about this on the tips on dispensing section in the general discussion forum.
.....If you want them to darken in the car and assuming the patient is driving, tell them to roll down the drivers side window slightly. The uv will now enter the car and the lenses will get darker. However you will usually notice the left lens to be a little darker as it is nearer to the window.

[Jimbob]

i'm not too sure about that latitude thingy, i recently drove to adelaide, it was only 1400km.. (nearly 1000miles- Australia is a big place) i have tried both the sun, and the lamp supplied by Transitions Australia, the lenses i used were supplied to me from SOLA Revesby, so i do hope they were NG, as they were my own lenses... basically i tried them in T3.. first photochromic lens, then TNG, 2nd photochromic lens... i wasn't too happy with either, but did still prefer the old T3.... go figure....

i do admit that NG is a lot clearer , but does take about 3minutes to lighten up, T3 took a bit less i thought, but i will have to measure acuratley........


The car thing, did annoy me, the best thing you could do was take off the specs, hold them on the roof while driving, and wait... ho hum....

[Jim Schafer]

Hi Jimbob and Harry,
Nothing wrong with Transitions III technology, it was a great product with many attributes that competitors have still yet to match or beat.
The lack of extreme density when driving is a given for all photochomics. No product will achieve sunlens dark in a closed car and also be be clear indoors. If a person spends a lot of time driving they need a good pair of polarized lenses. Same as if they spend a lot of time on the water or on snow trails.
Returning from the OLA, I landed at Tampa airport at 11:30 am, it was sunny and in the low 80's (27-28°c). Humidity was low so I left the air off and had the windows open. I drive a 1989 Buick Roadmonster for my leave at the airport car, a lot of PPG autoglass in that baby. As I left the airport and was heading south and then west for the Clearwater highway exit (about a 3 minute drive from the parking deck), I looked in the mirror and realized how dark my lenses were. I could not see my eyes. It amazed me at the moment. It pretty much shows how directional and outside conditions govern activation.
regards and have a great holiday season,
Jim

[Jimbob]

something has just come to my attention... the east coast of Australia is really quite humid, (except sometimes, if you watch the news you would know about the fires... and yes i was 2 km from them, pain in the ....)

adelaide is quite the opposite, very dry heats, as is most of the west coast, and well actually most of australia is quite low humidity.. excpeting a 500km radius of sydney, near the cost anyways....

anyway this is actually a question, ... how much would the humidty affect the lens properties, as does altitude, and temperature??

James

[Jim Schafer]

Hi James,
Much of Transitions products final development and scale up work is done here in St. Petersburg on the central west coast of Florida. Sometimes I think God invented humidity here. Very few humans lived here during summer months before the invention of AC.
Humidity (despite the lens fogging you get walking from our 68°F/20°c building in mid summer), will not affect activation or color.
I have read about the brush fires, stay a safe distance!
regards,
Jim

[Joann Raytar]

Jim Schafer said:

The lack of extreme density when driving is a given for all photochomics...
Returning from the OLA, I landed at Tampa airport at 11:30 am, it was sunny and in the low 80's (27-28°c). Humidity was low so I left the air off and had the windows open. I drive a 1989 Buick Roadmonster for my leave at the airport car, a lot of PPG autoglass in that baby. As I left the airport and was heading south and then west for the Clearwater highway exit (about a 3 minute drive from the parking deck), I looked in the mirror and realized how dark my lenses were. I could not see my eyes. It amazed me at the moment. It pretty much shows how directional and outside conditions govern activation.

I would guess temperature plays a big part in density as well. Lately, it has been colder in New England than it has been in years. Last week, I looked up into my rear view mirror and realized that my lenses were at 20-25%; not too bad for a photochromic.

[David Wilson]

Hi Jim,
Just made my father a pair, He has always liked photochomic lenses and just loves these (he lives in Sydney).

Regards
David