Strength guide
OptiReaders Pro strength guide: find your power in two minutes
Presbyopia strength maps closely to age, but the fastest way to pick correctly is a short print test at your own kitchen table, not a guess from a birthday. Here is the age chart, the test, and how to set a different power for each pair.
Official store pricing
1 Pair $29.99 · 2 Pairs $49.99 · 3 Pairs $69.99
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Direct answer: use the print test, not just your age
Hold a paperback or a medicine label at your natural reading distance, about 35-40 cm (14-16 in). If letters are readable but tire your eyes within a minute, start at the low end of your age band below. If you have to push the page further away to focus, go one step higher. OptiReaders Pro ships in eleven powers from +1.00 to +3.50 in +0.25 steps, so there is almost always an exact match.
Age-to-strength chart
| Age | Typical starting power | Common symptom |
|---|---|---|
| 40 - 44 | +1.00 | Fine print blurs by evening, especially in dim light |
| 45 - 49 | +1.25 to +1.50 | Restaurant menus and food labels need more arm's length |
| 50 - 54 | +1.75 to +2.00 | Phone text and small fonts need a step back |
| 55 - 59 | +2.25 to +2.50 | Threading a needle or reading a pill bottle is hard even close up |
| 60 - 65 | +2.75 to +3.00 | Most close work needs help, not just fine print |
| 65+ | +3.00 to +3.50 | Print is difficult at any comfortable distance |
These are starting points, not prescriptions. Individual eyes vary, which is exactly why the home test below matters more than the table.
The two-minute home print test
- Pick a page of normal book print (10-12 point font) and a well-lit room.
- Hold the page at 35 cm (about elbow to knuckle) and read one full sentence aloud.
- Note whether it was comfortable, tiring, or impossible to resolve.
- If comfortable but you notice eye fatigue after 30 seconds, pick the lower candidate power.
- If you had to extend your arm to focus, pick the higher candidate power.
- Repeat with a phone screen at the same distance - screen text is smaller than book print and can shift your pick by one step.
- Write down the number you land on and order that strength; you can always exchange within 30 days.
Choosing a different strength per pair
On the 2-pair ($49.99) and 3-pair ($69.99) bundles you set the strength for each pair separately at checkout. A common pattern: order your print-test strength for a desk pair, and one step lower for a pair that lives by the couch where lighting is brighter and reading material is often held a little further away. There is no rule that every pair in a household or a bundle has to match.
Why stronger is not always better
The single most common ordering mistake is choosing the strongest available power on the assumption it will "definitely work." Excess magnification forces the eye to focus at an unnaturally close distance, which produces exactly the strain and headache that readers are supposed to fix. If a strength feels like it needs the page held closer than your elbow, drop down rather than up.
Screen work changes the calculation
If most of your near work is a laptop rather than a paperback, favor the lower of two candidate strengths. The lens's intermediate zone (see how the lenses are built) already adds power for that middle distance, so a high base reading power can push the intermediate band too strong for a 50-70 cm (20-28 in) monitor. Full detail is on the computer work page.
Limits of a home test
This test finds a good non-prescription reading power; it cannot detect astigmatism, a meaningful difference between your two eyes, or a distance-vision problem. If print stays blurry at any power up to +3.50 held at a normal distance, if one eye is noticeably worse than the other, or if you notice sudden blur, pain, flashes or floaters, stop testing and book an eye exam instead. See the full OptiReaders Pro glasses page for how the powers map to the product, or head straight to pricing and bundles once you have your number.