Foster Grant: Choosing a Reading Glasses Strength, Reader Styles, and Sunglasses

Foster Grant is an American eyewear brand, famous for its sunglasses since the mid-twentieth century and now best known for non-prescription reading glasses. The Foster Grant website sells readers, reading sunglasses, sunglasses and screen glasses, usually with frequent multi-pair offers.

A Foster Grant order goes well when the strength is right, the frame style matches how you read, and you buy enough pairs for every place you need them.

Readers are not a substitute for an eye exam

Foster Grant readers are ready-made magnifiers with the same strength in both lenses. They work well for the common age-related loss of close focus, but they do not correct astigmatism or a big difference between eyes.

If you have not had an eye test in the last couple of years, or if your vision changed suddenly, see an optometrist before buying readers. An eye exam also checks eye health, which no pair of glasses can.

Choosing a Foster Grant strength

Reader strength is measured in dioptres, shown as +1.00, +1.50, +2.00 and so on. Foster Grant sells a range in quarter or half steps depending on the style.

The simplest test is the Foster Grant strength chart on the website: print or view it at your normal reading distance and choose the strength at which the smallest comfortable text is clear. Use the lowest strength that works; too strong and the focus distance becomes uncomfortably close.

Different tasks need different strengths. A book held close needs more power than a computer screen at arm's length. Many people buy a stronger Foster Grant pair for reading and a weaker one for the desk.

Full frame, half-eye or multifocal

Full-frame Foster Grant readers magnify the whole lens, so distance looks blurry through them. They are best for sitting and reading.

Half-eye readers sit low on the nose so you can look over them to see across the room. They suit anyone who glances up often, such as at a meeting or a counter.

Foster Grant also sells bifocal and multifocal readers, with a clear or low-power top and a reading zone below. They take some getting used to but avoid swapping glasses all day.

Screen glasses and blue light filters

Foster Grant sells readers and non-magnifying glasses with blue light filtering lenses for screen use. Evidence that blue light filtering reduces eye strain is limited; screen comfort usually depends more on the right strength, distance and regular breaks. Buy them if you like the tint, not as a medical fix.

Sunglasses and reading sunglasses

Foster Grant sunglasses list UV protection and whether the lenses are polarised. UV protection is the essential; polarised lenses cut glare off water and roads and are worth it for driving and beaches.

Reading sunglasses combine a tinted lens with magnification, either full-lens or with a bifocal zone at the bottom. They are the answer to reading a book or phone outdoors. Do not drive in full-lens magnifying sunglasses.

Frame fit and buying multiples

Check lens width, bridge and temple length on each Foster Grant product page and compare them with a pair that fits you now. Narrow faces tend to suit smaller lens widths; wide faces need longer temples.

Readers get lost, sat on and left in cars. Buying several Foster Grant pairs at once, one for each room or bag, is the practical approach, and it is where multi-buy offers and codes help most.

Keep each pair in a case. Foster Grant lenses are coated plastic, and most scratches come from glasses dropped loose into a bag or pocket. Clean them with a microfibre cloth and a little lens spray or soapy water, never a paper towel or the hem of a shirt, which grinds grit into the coating.

Where the Foster Grant savings are

The 35% code is the strongest general discount on file and the first one to try on a basket of Foster Grant readers or sunglasses.

The buy one get one free code works out to 50% off when both pairs cost the same, which beats 35%. If prices differ, the free pair is usually the cheaper one, so compare both codes on your actual basket.

The 20% code is the fallback for when the others have expired or are excluded on a particular line.

Foster Grant codes usually do not combine with each other or with bundle pricing already shown on the site. Try each and keep the one that gives the lowest total.

Common questions

What Foster Grant strength should I buy?

Use the strength chart on the site and pick the lowest power that makes small print clear. See an optometrist if unsure.

Can I use Foster Grant readers for the computer?

Yes, but usually at a lower strength than for a book, since the screen is further away.

Are Foster Grant sunglasses UV protective?

The product page lists UV protection for each style. Check before buying.

Can I drive in Foster Grant reading sunglasses?

Not in full-lens magnifying versions. Bifocal styles are clear at the top, but check the product details.