Although I normally wear corrective lenses, I have discovered that one of the few benefits of aging has been an improvement in my distant vision.  My distant vision has improved so much in the past couple of years until my prescription sunglasses are too strong (while my close vision has gotten increasingly worse).  So I decided to buy some cheap drug store sunglasses to replace the prescription sunglasses.  It only took one wearing to find the wavy plastic lenses caused eyestrain.  So I started shopping for some good quality sunglasses that would not cost a fortune.  The Ray-Ban brand was a major player in sunglasses when I was growing up.  My dad had the Outdoorsman models with the adjustable earpieces and a considerable number of family and friends wore Aviators and Wayfarers.  Back in those days, Ray-Bans were a staple in every drug store, just like the cheap $5.00 sunglasses are today.  Looking at today's Ray-Bans seemed a logical approach.  Which leads me to the New Wayfarer I eventually purchased.

Past experience with the metal frame in one pair of Ralph Lauren prescription glasses showed me that I can develop a nasty skin rash if I'm allergic to the metal formula content--apparently nickel is the culprit.  Other than the Flexon by Marchon metal frames, I generally favor plastic.  I like the look of the classic Ray-Ban sunglasses and the Wayfarer design looked like the top choice for me.  After reading a good bit about fit and sizing for the Ray-Ban Wayfarers and New Wayfarer designs online, I decided to go with the New Wayfarer, tortoise frame, G-15 XLT lens in the 55mm size.  For my face, it was perfect fit.  These are very comfortable glasses.  The clarity of the lenses is astonishing when compared to cheap knock-off sunglasses I initially tried wearing.  These sunglasses cut the brightness a lot--minus 85% of the visible light, according to Ray-Ban.  The glasses appear to me to be well-made.  Ray-Ban makes a bewildering array of options in frame and lens materials, colors, sizes and models. It's very confusing and I'm still not clear on the difference in some of the materials.  I think the difference between the original Wayfarer and the New Wayfarer is very subtle and has to do with the angle and depth of the lenses.  Whatever, I'm happy with the glasses I bought.