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There are lot more strip mall opticians than there are expert craftspeople of lenses. Apple's lenses will be fine... probably much better than fine.

sangnoir 3y ago
You make it sound like opticians hand-hew lenses from blocks of glass with various levels of craftsmanship. AFAICT, they take measurements and send the prescriptions off to be made by specialist manufacturer. Glasses are regulated medical devices with real oversight, not some rinky-dink industry that Apple can waltz in and be the best manufacturer by default.
- unsupp0rted 3y ago
  Recently my optician kept getting me the wrong (Zeiss) lenses, i.e. I could see much worse with the new lenses than I could with my 3-year-old lenses. I got excuses like: "oh, these are better for computer work but worse for distance". Great... why are my old lenses more clear for both computer work and distance? I went home with the new lenses and tried them for a night and a day. Unusable. I went back and the optician's second attempt failed too. Now for computer work they were better and for distance they were still worse. Attempt #3 was a match for my old lenses. Neither better nor worse. Mission accomplished? $500 well spent. I'm sure in all 3 cases Zeiss made impeccable lenses. But it comes down to the optician's interpretation of the prescription I brought in (from a laser eye center's 8-machine exam I got the previous week) and their clinical examination of my eyes. I expect that whatever Apple's Standard Operating Procedure will be for supplying the right lenses to people, it'll be mostly superior to your average optician.
  - FireBeyond 3y ago
    > I expect that whatever Apple's Standard Operating Procedure will be for supplying the right lenses to people, it'll be mostly superior to your average optician. I love that your anecdote has determined that most opticians will be worse at their job than an Apple Genius who might get two-three hours training on fitting the headset.
    - unsupp0rted 3y ago
      Apple is a 2.8 trillion dollar company because they're good at process. They don't expect or rely on the Apple Genius to get the fitting right. That would be their biggest ever blunder. Getting the fitting right is built into their products from years earlier in the design process. The Apple Genius is perhaps the last or second-last step in an SOP that results in their customers not angrily returning hundreds of thousands of headsets and swearing off the entire ecosystem. Now sometimes Apple get things woefully wrong (e.g. butterfly keyboards, antenna gate) and refuse to admit defeat for years. But on average, across years and dozens of product variations, they have a good hit/miss ratio.
      - FireBeyond 3y ago
        But yet a poor experience at an optician for you leads you to the claim that "strip mall opticians" are generally poor at fitting glasses. But somehow we don't have mass revolt and complaints about optical care.
        unsupp0rted 3y ago
        My story was illustrative, not exhaustive.
FireBeyond 3y ago
This doesn't make sense. Most strip mall opticians don't grind the glass themselves. Measurements are taken and sent to a specialist facility. On the other hand, how much training does the Apple Genius fitting your headset receive?

sangnoir 3y ago

You make it sound like opticians hand-hew lenses from blocks of glass with various levels of craftsmanship. AFAICT, they take measurements and send the prescriptions off to be made by specialist manufacturer. Glasses are regulated medical devices with real oversight, not some rinky-dink industry that Apple can waltz in and be the best manufacturer by default.

unsupp0rted 3y ago
Recently my optician kept getting me the wrong (Zeiss) lenses, i.e. I could see much worse with the new lenses than I could with my 3-year-old lenses. I got excuses like: "oh, these are better for computer work but worse for distance". Great... why are my old lenses more clear for both computer work and distance? I went home with the new lenses and tried them for a night and a day. Unusable. I went back and the optician's second attempt failed too. Now for computer work they were better and for distance they were still worse. Attempt #3 was a match for my old lenses. Neither better nor worse. Mission accomplished? $500 well spent. I'm sure in all 3 cases Zeiss made impeccable lenses. But it comes down to the optician's interpretation of the prescription I brought in (from a laser eye center's 8-machine exam I got the previous week) and their clinical examination of my eyes. I expect that whatever Apple's Standard Operating Procedure will be for supplying the right lenses to people, it'll be mostly superior to your average optician.
- FireBeyond 3y ago
  > I expect that whatever Apple's Standard Operating Procedure will be for supplying the right lenses to people, it'll be mostly superior to your average optician. I love that your anecdote has determined that most opticians will be worse at their job than an Apple Genius who might get two-three hours training on fitting the headset.
  - unsupp0rted 3y ago
    Apple is a 2.8 trillion dollar company because they're good at process. They don't expect or rely on the Apple Genius to get the fitting right. That would be their biggest ever blunder. Getting the fitting right is built into their products from years earlier in the design process. The Apple Genius is perhaps the last or second-last step in an SOP that results in their customers not angrily returning hundreds of thousands of headsets and swearing off the entire ecosystem. Now sometimes Apple get things woefully wrong (e.g. butterfly keyboards, antenna gate) and refuse to admit defeat for years. But on average, across years and dozens of product variations, they have a good hit/miss ratio.
    - FireBeyond 3y ago
      But yet a poor experience at an optician for you leads you to the claim that "strip mall opticians" are generally poor at fitting glasses. But somehow we don't have mass revolt and complaints about optical care.
      - unsupp0rted 3y ago
        My story was illustrative, not exhaustive.

FireBeyond 3y ago

This doesn't make sense. Most strip mall opticians don't grind the glass themselves. Measurements are taken and sent to a specialist facility. On the other hand, how much training does the Apple Genius fitting your headset receive?