Garmin/other watches, contacts and old folk reading vision

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/garmin-edge-530-gps-bike-computer

Yeah, I've got an Edge 510. I got the watch partly to get away from having a gadget on the bars😄.

Can you download new faces to the instinct? I downloaded one with larger digits for my fenix

Yep I struggle to read my Forerunner 45 in anything other than perfect conditions even with my glasses and having changed the display using their custom shizzle store stuff.

Once I press the back light its OK but soon chews into the battery.

I have a similar issue, tried varifocal sports glasses but they have issues, takes a while to get used to them, the bike feels about a foot taller when I first put them on, a very weird effect.  I mostly just use something like these https://www.eyekeeper.com/products/tr90-unbreakable-sports-half-rim-bifocal-sunglasses-th6186 .  Gives enough magnification to allow me to read my Garmin.

For a really cheap option to try a search for bifocal safety glasses, for a few £ you can see if they are an option.

Yep, I nearly pressed the buy it now on a nice Garmin watch,then I realised that I’d probably need varios on top of the reactolite and thin lenses that would probably cost more than the watch 🙂

As Scotroutes says get a dedicated bike computer strapped on.
(I love my Karoo 2 for navigation and it’s hill profile maps)

Can you download new faces to the instinct? I downloaded one with larger digits for my fenix

Was going to suggest that too - I downloaded a nice big clear one for my Forerunner 55.

[IMG] [/IMG]

Plus

Edge 1030 plus or similar.

Job done 😁

I too have this problem. My fix is posh bifocals made by Rad8 which are also photocromatic. The bottom of the lens is +2 and the rest is 0. I now wear them for riding, running and hiking and have no problems reading my various gamins and maps. I actually wear them all the time and don't care that I look like Joe 90 - that's ageing me!

Fenix 6x Pro using a face with large digits here.

Longer arms! 😆

I suffer from the same problem - I have a simplified face on my Garmin with just 2 sets of digits, time and distance and worry about the other stuff when I get home. I used a bar-mounted GPS for navigation.

Move my arm back and forth hoping I can see the time before I need to grab the bars and avoid a tree..

you can't download new faces for an instinct (well you can't with the 1, assume its the same with the 2) but you can choose from about 8 "watch" faces and about 5 layouts for the exersize mode, one of which is just the text in large font. So you could (I think) set your "bike" exersize so there's 6 (or whatever) "pages" of data, each one contains one item in large font.. ie heart rate, then speed, then distance, then time, etc. It can be set to etiher auto-rotate between them or just change when you press a button. You can also increase the backlight strength which might help?

you can also get a little bar mount thing for garmin watches that may help, if you can lean back to be riding without hands for a short stretch the watch will be further away? https://www.wiggle.co.uk/garmin-wris****ch-bike-mount

Kryton57
Move my arm back and forth hoping I can see the time before I need to grab the bars and avoid a tree..

Kryten as a human zoom mode, move your head back and forth😄

5lab
you can’t download new faces for an instinct (well you can’t with the 1, assume its the same with the 2)

The 2 does have downloadable faces. There are limits compared to some other Garmin watches though and there's always the round thing in the top right, but many are compatible.

Though I think only for the main face. When tracking a ride, I think you only have a small selection of fixed layouts. You can customise which fields are shown in which area though and choosing a page with only a couple of items does make them bigger. Or maybe I can put some of the tracking data fields on the main face. I need to have a play.

Fenix 6 and varifocals here...seems to work far better than when my glasses slide off my head due to sweating - I then can't see anything other than very fuzzy shapes!

Fenix 6 with custom faces and a tweak to the font to make them bolder helps a lot. I have some varifocal riding glasses which work well (plain lens with a reading lens at the bottom).

Also, an easyish back-up trick (not suitable to use while riding) is to make a pinhole lens with your finger. Bend your index finger, push your thumb into the V leaving a tiny hole and hold it right up to your eye. Works surprisingly well.

I wear varifocal glasses for riding, but have the same problem with contacts when skiing or paddling. I have the lens in my non-dominant eye slightly detuned which just about works. Varifocal contacts are available and I know people who use them and find them good. They aren't graded top to bottom like glasses, the close and distance zones are in multiple concentric rings and your brain sorts the picture out.

I have exactly the same problem, with the same watch. Old age is a bugger. Search for "big instinct" on the Garmin Connect IQ app and you'll find some easier to read watch faces. When it comes to data I have just the one main data field and set up a number of pages, each with different data. It's not ideal having to scroll but at least they're legible...

But really, the best solution on your bike is the one everyone else has mentioned: use an Edge.

I've a Fenix and now use it instead of my 810 (when I don't need mapping) but TBH look at it rarely during a ride, and next-to-never while actually riding (mainly now as it's covered by sleeves).

I did also reduce the main riding screen down to basics - distance, elevation climbed, time and HR.

A riding pal though always carries a pair of glasses - mainly in case of breakdown so he can see to fix, option?

My ancient Forerunner has a nice big display for the numbers, but also I ride in these:
Voltx Bifocal safety glasses. I have the "Constructor" version in plain and yellow. Means I can see the Garmin display as well (I can only read the biggest type on it otherwise not everything on a busy screen). Only issue is when it is really damp and they get misted up. I used to think they would interfere with seeing the trail for off-road riding, but they don't really.

ETA just read the above, these mean I don't need to go with a pair of readers for cafe menus/beer pump labels/puncture fixing.

ETA2 I have had cataract operations in both eyes (ie bionic lenses) so my distance vision is spot on without specs, but I need glasses for reading.

varifocals all the time, incl riding. For pool swimming I wear contacts, and have recently swopped to mono vision ones - dominant eye has a distance lens and non dominant has a reading one. It takes a few minutes when I put them in to adjust and thereafter they are great, and I can easily see the padlock combination on the locker door ! Mine go in when I am getting changed and then goggles are worn throughout, with lenses then removed after showering - need to be careful on lens hygiene and swimming, so only use them in a pool, wouldn't risk in a loch or sea.

Multifocal contacts would be the answer if you are already wearing contacts anyway.

I'm having cataract surgery next week so have been looking into this too! I can't have multifocal lens implants (they don't make them to fit my prescription) so I'll have monofocal eyes. Once my eyes have healed I'll probably try multifocal contacts, but meanwhile I was thinking of getting some of these for my cycling glasses (I've worn contacts plus clear/sun glasses forever so always ride with something over my eyes anyway):

https://www.sunglassesforsport.com/item/optx-20-20-hydrotac-stick-on-magnifying-lenses/

There's also always the biological pinhole camera option:

https://www.vuity.com/about-vuity

(Dunno if that's approved in the UK yet though.)

A riding pal though always carries a pair of glasses – mainly in case of breakdown so he can see to fix, option?

I always take a small pair of folding reading glasses (I think I got them in Boots). I wouldn't want to use them all-day, but they're perfect for emergencies. Not much use for the OP's problem, though.

I just needed reading glasses, but as my eyesight got worse I got some bi focals for cycling which worked well.
Later I moved to varifocals, they took a long time to adjust to and they are still not great any time you need depth perception.
So for walking down uneven ground I normally take my specs off.
For cycling down hill I just cross my fingers and hope for the best.
Overall I would suggest varifocals but everybody is different.

Varifocals plus the biggest bike computer I can get (edge 1000) on an out front holder so it is in my line of view s bit better

Another mono vision contact lens user here. I thought it sounded like a ridiculous idea when my optician suggested it, but they’ve been brilliant .I use them for all sporting things…they just work. Unfortunately my eyes are getting less tolerant of lens in general so varifocal riding glasses are on the horizon now.

I have exactly the same problem, more or less fixed with multifocal contacts.
Not 100%, but good enough to see my AW and phone ok.

Thanks all. Many choices.

Varifocals are no go. They do my head in, as in actually cause eye strain and headaches. It's distance vision along the top that's not as wide an area as I'd like or mid/reading in a narrow band in the middle (and I paid for the widest band possible). Everything else is blurred glancing at the sides unless I move my head and reading means holding head high and peering down which hurts. Maybe less of an issue for quick glance down riding. Still though I don't really want expensive prescription glasses for riding. Been there and it got costly after smashing them up regularly. As short sighted and got astigmatism it's not just an off the shelf prescription.

Don't know about multifocal contacts. Opticians (Specsavers) said they weren't quite "there" yet and weren't offering them until better ones came on the market, a couple of years back that was. It's faff enough with toric lenses though.

Bifocal safety specs though might work. The bulk of the area is clear so would get distance vision with contacts looking everywhere other than down and I think wouldn't irritate me. Reading is still a small area at the base but with riding it's a quick glance down to the wrist.

I suffer badly from this when wearing contacts on wet MTB orienteering events. If I wear my full prescription I simply cannot read the map. My optician gave me the solution of wearing my correct prescription on my dominant eye but a much weaker lens for the other eye. For far vision when riding the weaker eye barely registers, but if you close your strong eye to read the map it is all good. Works for me anyway.

Thanks all. Many choices.

I just use my phone with quadlock and Komoot ... I can't actually read it without stopping and taking my glasses out (or getting arm extensions) but I can see enough of the colour and big arrows etc.

You're welcome to pop round and try the quadlock and phone ... before you buy something. Give it a try if you like down Westfield Common .. see if it works for you

You’re welcome to pop round and try the quadlock and phone … before you buy something. Give it a try if you like down Westfield Common .. see if it works for you

I'm trying to declutter the bars really, hence the watch. I suppose the phone would be locked onto the watch if I used Garmin Connect app so can see what it's showing. Though my phone is almost terminal and battery knackered. Need new phone.

Westfield is running surprisingly well despite the rain. Considering how much of a bog it can get in there 😄. My favourite route towards Whitmoor.

Got some new prescription contacts arriving after the current set run out, and think I'll try the bifocal safety specs. Not sure how to work out the dioptre required.

Don’t know about multifocal contacts. Opticians (Specsavers) said they weren’t quite “there” yet and weren’t offering them until better ones came on the market, a couple of years back that was.

Boots are doing a free trial and I pick mine up on Wednesday to see how I get on with them for a month.

Dunno what the options are like on the instinct 2 but I have an instinct and set it on positive display (black text rather than black background) and made the main field (the biggest on the watch screen) the time one.

There's no downloadable dials AFAIK for the instinct (V2 may differ now), but the default 'negative dial' layout is definitely less legible IME.

Also you should be able to set it to do auto backlight when you raise your wrist to read the watch, more contrast and illumination might help...

That's what mine looks like (shot in low indoor light), you can set even bigger characters too: