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Both the eye exam and the glasses can be optimized to save a lot of money. For eye exams, I used to pay the optometrist $153 ($117 refraction + $36 dilation).
by jasode 12y ago
Both the eye exam and the glasses can be optimized to save a lot of money.
For eye exams, I used to pay the optometrist $153 ($117 refraction + $36 dilation). I later found out that Costco often has an optometrist on site in a tiny office and will charge just $50 (and add +$20 for dilation). That's less than half the cost of most other optometrists. A bonus is that the tiny Costco office has no frames so there's no sales pressure to guide you towards his limited selection of frames. Therefore, he always just prints out your Rx and gives it to you without any dirty looks. Costco (the warehouse) has frames but you have to walk next door into the main retail floor to try them. The optometrist has no idea whether you buy glasses from them. You don't need to be a Costco member to use the optometrist at Costco.
For lenses, I used to always pay ~$400 for 2 pairs of glasses. For Eyemasters, Lenscrafters, Visionworks, etc, it didn't matter if they had "2-for-1 sale on lenses" or "2nd pair frames free". The total (when including desirable features such as AR coatings, etc) always came to ~$200 for each pair. I've come to believe the sales promotions at eyewear chains are as meaningless as the "sales" at mattress stores.
Now, I buy from zennioptical.com. Each pair is always less than $35. That's even cheaper than Costco and Walmart.
I think my recommendation won't work for people who are very sensitive to fashion and want to try all the stylish frames at their fingertips. (Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, etc.) At my age, eyeglasses are just functional things and I'm fine with picking out a no-name classic style from zenni.
- gertef 12y agoI tried zenni and I didn't like the way the glasses affected my vision. Since it's mail order, I felt stuck. As a new glasses-wearer, I don't know if zenni gave me bad glasses, I told them the wrong interpupillary distance, or I got a bad prescription from my doctor, or I just have confoundingly weird eyes.
- shonn 12y agoTry adjusting the angle of the lenses with respect to each other, more -- instead of /\. A few that I got had a strong angle but were much better after I flattened them out. Of course it could be other things like getting astigmatism wrong but it's a quick thing to try out.
- dangrossman 12y agoThere are a lot of people that don't feel comfortable wearing cheap polycarbonate lenses, which is the default kind a lot of places will sell to you. If you felt like the world looked distorted, and you didn't adjust after a day or two of full-time wear, then you might be one of them. The solution is usually to upgrade to a high index lens (they're made from different, higher density plastics) for a bit more money. I've never been able to tolerate poly lenses; I got them once at LensCrafters (which calls them "Featherwates") and had to return them.
- pppp 12y agoZenni seems to be moving away from Acetate frames to plastic which aren't nearly as nice.
- kazinator 12y agoAcetate (Polyvinyl acetate? What are you referring to?) is a thermoplastic.
- Jedd 12y agoAs someone who only just (6 months back) started wearing prescription eyeglasses ... this information is eye-opening (sorry, I know this pun was done to death in the original article). I'm in Australia, so the options are not quite so wide. 'Name brand' frames, as well as grinding the glass, suffers the same, seemingly artificial, premium that everything else does on this side of the pond. My first eye test was free, but the frame + lenses were upwards of A$300. Yes, it seemed horrendously expensive at the time. (Trying to find an online retailer of the same model glasses that I bought - with a view to buying a slightly different style or colour - is next to impossible. i-spax (brand), colin (model) ... I can find it on the company web site, but evidently no one sells these things online, which in 2015 just seems perverse.)
- joshuapants 12y agoZenni will give you glasses that are functional, I suppose, but they do cut corners. I've tried a handful of the online glasses shops and have never been terribly happy. The frames are cheaply constructed and not terribly durable and the lenses seem to be of poorer quality. If I needed a spare pair to take on a canoeing trip I'd get them from Zenni or some other cheap place so I wouldn't have to worry about losing an expensive pair. In terms of comfort and vision I'll pick the expensive glasses every time.
- caw 12y agoI've purchased Zenni glasses for my last 2 prescriptions. The first pair I got I found much more comfortable after replacing the nose pads with a kit from Walmart. Otherwise the glasses are pretty good - lightweight, double hinged and everything. I reordered the same frames this past year and they seem to be fine, so I don't know if they changed up the nose pads in any way or if I managed to adjust the frames properly this go around. For sunglasses I go with with Luxottica because of the premium polarized lenses. I wear sunglasses 11 months out of the year so I definitely agree on getting a quality pair.
- Vendan 12y agoI got 2 pairs of glasses from zenni for a total of $40, including shipping. First pair lasted 2 years, still using the second pair 3 years after I bought them. Better quality then any other pairs I've had, including a $400 pair from the optometrist.
- bluedino 12y ago>> The total (when including desirable features such as AR coatings, etc) always came to ~$200 for each pair. I'm guessing you have a strong prescription. I was always jealous of people who had a comparatively 'weak' prescription being able to get glasses from PearlVision or what not for $99.
- ChuckMcM 12y agoI have bought glasses from Zenni and they were fine, although they really really don't like to make bigger lenses (the last time I asked for frames with 40mm lenses I got exactly 3 choices). I expect that this has something to do with the lens making equipment they use. I'm looking forward to the flat optics future when a holographic lens gives you the same correction but without the weight, depth, or chromatic abberation of a "normal" lens.