gauvins, did you know that Essilor now owns Luxottica right ? Now a 900 lb Gorilla. Two of the other photochromatic lens manufactures Zeiss and Hoya also produce excellent optics and product line but they have never been what you would call moderate in cost.
As to Transitions vs. a solid tint, it really is an individual thing. For myself, I only ride during sunlight hours and don't need the correction indoors so a solid polarized tint is much better for me. If you are reliant on your glasses full time, then the Transitions makes sense as long as you can deal with the slight shortcomings. That being, that they won't lighten up instantaneously when walking indoors, it takes a while and as the lenses age, they won't lighten up as much so you will have a slightly tinted lens indoors which some find really annoying. When going from cold outside to indoors they remain darker longer and in some cases the lenses outdoors will actually darken greater in cold vs hotter conditions. One last consideration is if you plan to use these eyeglasses while driving, the Transition lenses do not darken up as well for the most part while inside your vehicle, as they need UV rays from the sun in order to darken, and now all windshields and auto glass have UV filters built within (so as to reduce the damage to your dashboard and such). A simple solid tint or a gradient tint is always cheaper. If you do go with a solid tint, consider having one that adds a true polarizing filter, great for removing glare off water, snow, roads and other conditions. And now that I've probably bored you to death, I'll shut up.