Buying eyeglasses online

Zenni Optical link at op and Payne Glasses link here.

These are the two online places I've checked out.

Yes I have. The only drawback I found was that you couldn't try them on first. I dunno if you can upload a photo of yourself and then superimpose the specs over the photo to see if they would suit you?

Yes, last year I bought an expensive $150.00 pair at Lenscrafters, then I took the prescription and bought a couple pairs of cheap ones from Goggles4u, just to have around. The cheap ones are more comfortable, and the lens are just as good.

I've mostly bought frames (Classic Specs and Warby Parker), then had my local optician do the lenses, as I get progressive lenses, which they didn't offer at first.

I bought a pair of single-prescription sunglasses from Classic Specs. They were having a ridiculous sale, $49 per frame IIRC. They're so wonderful to wear, I wish I'd bought Rx sunglasses decades ago.

Yes, I've bought 4 pair from Zenni's and been very happy. Each under$100 with progressive, UV, chromatics, and easy clean. Highly recommended.

r5 What are "chromatics"?

Oh yes. I get mine from eyebuydirect.com I found them to be the best and cheapest. Because they are so cheap I now have about six pairs of glasses and love it. I got nice frames, ground down really thin, with protective coating, I've also gotten glasses with the eye protection for when you are on the computer, and sunglasses. Love it. I never paid over $75.00 a pair. The $75.00 was for the special computer lenses. The rest were 50 bucks max.

R3 funny you mention that. A friend of mine did the same thing.

He purchase a pair of $500 glasses from his Optometrist and then decided he wanted a few back up pairs to have around. He purchased from Goggles4U, I think GlassesUSA and Walmart Online (I didn't know there was such a thing).

Anyway, he has a really tough prescription and was shocked that he could get them from the online places for under $30/pair. The ones from Goggles4U, I think were under $15, with the prescription, etc.

Turns out he never wears the $500 pair because the cheaper ones, especially the $15 pair are not only more comfortable, the prescription seems to be a more accurate.

Yes, from $39 glasses, paid significantly more for Transitions though. I'd buy from them again.

OK I'm not the OP but I'm glad to hear good things about Zenni because last week I snapped my four year old Lenscrafters glasses in half and ordered two pair from Zenni because they're cheap. Nervous but hope they look good and I can see!

R6, the generic for Transitions, where the lens darkens or lightens in response toconditions.

Thanks, r11.

I've bought them from $39 Glasses. They were fine. The main thing you have to be careful about is measuring the correct distance between the center of your eyes so your lenses will line up with them.

My friend wears high index lenses, they are expensive. where you you buy them online?

Love Zenni, they are so reasonable. The lenses are always accurate and they ship pretty fast

I've a very high prescription, -15.-16. For lenses alone (high index, etc) I was quoted 420 euro. This is in Ireland. I decided to look online. Frame, lenses, coatings, etc about 80-90 dollars. From Zenni. The lenses were fine, the frames were pretty good quality if a little bit plasticy or brittle. Make sure you get spring hinges.

Checked out this thread, and now all my Facebook ads are for online glasses stores.

Big Brother is watchin' us, y'all.

Costco has a very good reputation for glasses. However, their selection of frames is somewhat limited.

R16, 420 is indeed a rip off.

R17, yes, happened to me many, many times.

Eyebuy direct has always been great. You can upload a picture and try on as well.

Zenni has been pretty reliable. They buffed one lens too hard in one pair I had, which they will replace but only if you notify them within 30 days of receipt. I discovered this when I waited too long to call, having forgotten the fine print. I think I'll check out Eyebuy Direct, based on what you all are saying.

As mentioned, the main thing to have besides your prescription is the pupillary distance measurement. Many optical shops won't provide it, since they know what you're going to do with it. One shop I knew would measure it and give it to you for $10, no exam required.

Here's the thing about glasses - most of it is polycarbonate now and really easy to mold or carve to a prescription.

So I don't think there's a quality issue. It's just the eyeglass market in the U.S. has been overtaken by a rapacious company.

I purchase many different styles and moved around a lot, so I've used Zenni and never had a problem. You can get prescription sunglasses too by adding the darkest tints to the lenses. Most have lasted for quite some time. It's useful to also have a cheap pair as a potential 'throwaway' to take on trips just in case, and even the $10 - $20 ones lasted a while. The only thing is the wait time can be up to 2 weeks or more to receive the shipment even with 'expedited shipping'. Sometimes you need to have the fit adjusted, but simply take them into any nearby eye clinic (such as the dreaded Walmart or inside malls) and they will adjust for free or a few dollars.

[quote] The main thing you have to be careful about is measuring the correct distance between the center of your eyes so your lenses will line up with them.

My optometrist told me that's the biggest problem with ordering them online, because you can't accurately measure that.

I can’t say enough about EyeBuyDirect. A work buddy suggested them and now I’m hooked! My most recent pair of glasses were super expensive, even after my insurance. I got two extra pairs from EBD, and the final cost was half of my original frames. So now I can switch my lewk, every day. 😮😍😉

SEriously I know. For a while I WAS HOOKED on buying from eyebuydirect. I even bought a pair I only wear at home and they crack me up. The big honking homer simpson glasses.

I don't see ads on Facebook - or anywhere else. I use Adblock Plus.

Bump for sight

....

What's the smallest letter you can read?

Costco sort of splits the difference. Full-service optical but for a good price. I think my last pair were $110. Would have been $160 if I wanted the most expensive frames from the case. Glasses were delivered back to the store within a week. Last time I bought, you could get a second pair for $35 if bought on the same day.

Same style and options would have been $300-$400 at LensCrafters. I think my last pair there was $385 for single vision lenses (and that was 4 years ago).

Is anyone else wanting to revert back to regular bifocals? So-called progressive lenses have never really worked for me. If I need to read anything close-up, like a book, a magazine, or a menu, I have always needed to take my glasses off.

I'd only do it if their shipping/return policy was like Prime or Zappos where you can just order a bunch, receive them quick, try them on and return for a quick refund.

I actually did this 6 or 7 years ago and I will never go back to buying full priced frames and lenses from an optician or eye wear shop. I too purchased an expensive pair from a shop nearby for around $600. I like having backup pairs but kinda shot my wad on that one. One of my acquaintances suggest globaleyeglasses. Hers were ugly as sin, but the kicker is that you could find eyewear, prescription and frames, for under $20. If you wanted trendier, cuter frames, the price did go up, but not significantly, and rarely over $100. So I bought three sets, including one pair of prescrip. sunglasses just to test them out. The regular eyeglasses were fantastic, super comfortable, surprisingly cute and very wearable for the longterm purposes (I am currently wearing one pair right now with cute wooden temples). The sunglasses (which were around $10 I believe) were a miss. The lenses weren't done right, so when I put them on, my eyes need to adjust for about a minute to be able to see properly. But once they do, I can see fine. I also noticed that the sunglasses were actually labeled with the H&M logo on the inside, so they basically just took a cheap pair of sunglasses from a cheap store and put in lenses. I also grossly misjudged the look so they basically look like giant Elton John glasses. But all in all, it was a win. I don't know if Global is still in business, but I had great success there.

I actually spoke to an optical person about the experience once (I do get kind of embarrassed for wearing such ridiculously cheap frames), and she actually told me that the process of making eyeglasses really isn't nearly as complicated or personalized as one would expect (albeit more severe prescrips do require a bit more work). So she said that those websites run in Asian countries are perfectly capable of doing what your optical shop does (apparently it's all computerized). Thanks for all the recs, I need to look into getting more frames soon.