neck strap for glasses?

I am wondering if I should wear my shades with a strap around my neck. I will lose them in an upset if I don’t, but the strap can snag and get me into a dangerous situation as well. What to do?

Buy Croakies and they will float
believe me they do come off the glasses long before they choke you.

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I started wearing them on the water
and found it so convenient I have them on all my shades and safety glasses at work. Even if the strap wouldn’t come off, which it would, I imagine I could break the little hinge on the earpiece in an adrenalin rush.

Don’t buy the $5 rubber tube looking things at Wal mart. They’re too stiff and the floaty hits the collar on your shirt every time you turn your head and it get’s a little annoying.

Croakies ARC system
is a very thin wire with articulating swivels on them to keep the wire off of your neck. Best $10 I ever spent on keeping glasses. You do not know you are even wearing them and as an added plus I do not have “strap tan lines” on my neck in addition to my pdf farmers tan.

Got them from my eye Dr. office.

The old Zebco flip up fishing shades
were, for me, the start of a successful non-prescription eyewear for paddling. I only wish I could have had them in a sturdier form. Their polarized lenses were great when reading rapids going int the sun. If I flipped and had to roll, the lens panel would pivot up rather than pulling them off my head. I did have to install a “keeper” thing at the lens panel hinge.



When I started needing correction for presbyopia (a late affliction of ordained Presbyterian elders) I wished there were a way to put corrected lenses in the Zebco frame. But there was enough room to wear prescription lenses underneath.



I gotta see if those Zebcos are still around…

WE BOTH USE STRAPS
We use straps because our shades are Rx, progresive, polarized sunglasses we’d rather not replace because they fell off.



Now we don’t do whitewater, so I can’t address the potential for problems in that environment, but we do paddle in the ocean down here off places like Key Biscayne, and in the Atlantic and the Gulf off the Keys. and even in whitecaps, I don’t worry about entanglement.



AS far as styles go, we both currently use semi-longish fluorescent tube-like floats that attach to the temple pieces of our eyewear. Yes, it hangs on the back of the neck -or the collar, if we wore collars (which I do when I’m out in friend’s power or sailboats, where there’s an even greater possibility of them coming off in the winds) -but that doesn’t bother us much at all. The tubes will float our glasses should they become separated from us, and that’s good.



I have, in the past, used tighter-fitting straps, similar to those athletes use to hold their eyewear on tightly, but I found them too confining and tight-feeling.



So I’m happy with those we have, and am glad to have them hopefully securing my glasses from loss when I



PADDLE ON!



-Frank in Miami

Croakies and velcro tether
I have a velcro tether around the croakies strap

attached to my PFD so prescription polarized glasses

aren’t lost.



Floating is nice via Croakies, but finding them

in seconds via the leash/lanyard/tether is better.



Example

http://www.flashwear.com/online_store/solar-cap-tether.cfm

floating sunglass holder
check out Floateyes, I found a pair of sunglasses attached to this croakies type of holder and have used it many times as my prescription glasses are too expensive to lose. Usually I leave mine in the car but if I need them on I always wear these.

I have a “HAT TAIL” type of cap to
wear on the water. It has two holders to fasten to your glasses, one to attach to your shirt, and it dries fast should it come off. I’m not sure if they’re still made. I have two. One is dark olive and the other an off white. So far they’ve worked for me. But then, I wear wire frame/plastic lens type glasses.

Croakies that float
I use these in Class II to Class IV whitewater

http://store.croakies.com/lycrasuiterfloater.aspx

That’s smart
Thanks for the tip. I never thought of attaching my glasses to my PFD.



A worse problem is for people with really bad eyes and prescription glasses. If I lost my glasses I would be lost for sure.

Sting or Para-cord

– Last Updated: Jun-13-13 12:58 PM EST –

I used to use the simple elastic Croakies (the ones with the tight fit, not the ones with a strap that's 10 times longer than needed), but many modern glasses are now so slender along the temple pieces and the part that curves behind the ear that slip-over sleeves just don't grip tightly enough. I even tried that while swimming, and rapidly raising my head from being submerged simply pulled the glasses free of the strap. Nowadays I just use string or parachute cord. The trick is getting the adjustment right.

For metal frames, I tie it tightly just in front of where the plastic for the ear piece is molded on. There's a slight "step" there and a tight knot can't get past that point. On "my particular head" (no guarantee that other heads will be the same, but they will probably be similar), if I make the string such a length that I can put the glasses on with the loop of string just snug over the top of my head, that loop can then be pulled down behind my head, low to the top of my neck, and the glasses can't slide forward more than half an inch or so but the string also is not tight unless the glasses get yanked by the water I'm swimming in. Perfect fit. The string in that position goes across my ears, but I'm used to that now.

For those who actually prefer those extra long foamy straps that float, have you ever actually tried to spot them floating down the river? You won't ever see them again unless someone in your group happens to paddle right alongside them later on. Oh, and I did that once. I found a partner's glasses floating down the river and grabbed the strap and pulled, and since the lenses provided a lot of water resistance when I pulled, the glasses simply slipped free and left me with an empty strap (same thing would happen if they'd have been worn on one's head at that moment too). Might as well not have spotted them at all.

always use a strap
I had a friend who refused as he never rolled his kayak.

Then one day he pulled up to shore, stepped out, slipped and went into the water.

His expensive perscription sunglasses went into the water and he could not find them.

His back-up glasses were at home so he could not see to drive.

At a minimum, make sure they float
I was at a paddling clinic down in LA, had croakies on my prescription glasses and went over backwards out of my boat. The glasses very elegantly floated up over my head and then rapidly sank to the bottom of a twelve foot deep, dark brown water lagoon, never to be seen again. I was scheduled to drive back to Chicago that day, did not have a spare, and could not see my way clear to leave the parking area much less get on the highway. Fortunately there was another generous soul who drove me to New Orleans to purchase another pair of specs. Make sure they float!

PAWALT retainers can stretches to adjust to the glasses handle just be gentle. The straps are okay.it works great no glasses slipping especially with covid and glasses fogging up less now that I am using it. They work great! Comfortable, easy to put on and take off my glasses.

Make sure they float. Test them before using them on a paddling flip.

I prefer the what-looks-like hi-vis surgical tubing with a closed cell foam float. They may bounce a bit on your neck, but they float and are usually a highly visible color. Avoid the camouflage colors = you want to find them.

Also, I like to replace the tubing every year or two as it deteriorates probably from contact with sunscreen.

I picked up a floating eyeglass retainer at Bass Pro Shop. Bright Yellow so they are easy to spot if they come off of your head. They have flotation built into the strap not just neoprene. I even tried them out in the store. The clerk asked what I was doing at one of the fish tanks. I told her if they didn’t float my glasses I didn’t need them.

Saltwater fishermen just tie on some 30#- 50# fishing line to the ear pieces. Works.

Depends upon the glasses too. My “avaitor” glasses stay on better. My sport wrap around have a strap but more side pressure. I have capsized with both (different times) while wearing a hat and come up still wearing hat and glasses. Twice in the surf.

My modern stylish soft nose piece glasses fall off when it look down to see if my shoes are tied.

Chums. com is a good place to look at several styles. I use an elastic Croakies pull tight to my head.