3 ms·

I quite literally just got my first pair of glasses (bi-focals, no less!) yesterday, at the age of 41. This whole article and thread has been super helpful, bu

I quite literally just got my first pair of glasses (bi-focals, no less!) yesterday, at the age of 41. This whole article and thread has been super helpful, but I have to say thanks so much for the Zenni tip! I was on that site all of 5 minutes before rushing to make an account. The pages are super easy to read and informative, they tell me instantly whether the frames can go with bifocals and whatnot. It even helped search by face type and let me do a virtual try-on. In person places here all seemed hell-bent on upselling me, seemed to be bothered by my questions, and the prices were outrageous! So now I can buy several cheap pairs, see which I like and then buy several copies to have stored for when I inevitably break my first pair. I almost never say this these days but holy shit was I impressed all around! Reading what people do for clean glasses (and as a person with OCD who sometimes gets infuriatingly distracted by the little shapes on my eyeball, much less dirty/scratched lenses), I was already not looking forward to needing these things.

mmh0000 4y ago
I've worn glasses most of my life. Back in my 20s, after I got my first good job, I paid for the $500-super-duper-fancy glasses. And, I can say they were higher quality than the $30 Zenni pair but not better enough to justify a >1000% markup. As someone else said further down, Zenni glasses have more chromatic abrasion; I've noticed this too. However, constantly babysitting glasses and worrying about scratching/breaking them is not worth the effort for slightly improved image quality at the far sides. With that being said, I do pay for quality sunglasses. In my experience, Zenni sunglasses are lacking.
- effingwewt 4y ago
  I can definitely appreciate paying more for good ones, but for my first few pairs I feel it would make it more of a hassle to babysit some expensive ones. For sure once I've found a pair I like and are comfortable I will get a nice pair or two. I was looking into transition lenses so I'm not swapping my sunglasses for regular glasses. Quite a bit pricier but worth it, I hope. I've also seen some lenses that are supposed to help with glare from having an astigmatism and that would be a Godsend, especially at night. So I didn't want to spend $800+ for trial frames and lenses and whatnot. This whole thread has made me feel so much better about the process, and the timing could not have been better!

mmh0000 4y ago

I've worn glasses most of my life. Back in my 20s, after I got my first good job, I paid for the $500-super-duper-fancy glasses. And, I can say they were higher quality than the $30 Zenni pair but not better enough to justify a >1000% markup. As someone else said further down, Zenni glasses have more chromatic abrasion; I've noticed this too. However, constantly babysitting glasses and worrying about scratching/breaking them is not worth the effort for slightly improved image quality at the far sides. With that being said, I do pay for quality sunglasses. In my experience, Zenni sunglasses are lacking.

effingwewt 4y ago
I can definitely appreciate paying more for good ones, but for my first few pairs I feel it would make it more of a hassle to babysit some expensive ones. For sure once I've found a pair I like and are comfortable I will get a nice pair or two. I was looking into transition lenses so I'm not swapping my sunglasses for regular glasses. Quite a bit pricier but worth it, I hope. I've also seen some lenses that are supposed to help with glare from having an astigmatism and that would be a Godsend, especially at night. So I didn't want to spend $800+ for trial frames and lenses and whatnot. This whole thread has made me feel so much better about the process, and the timing could not have been better!