I’ve been going to VisionWorks but I want to shop around this time. I don’t want to go to any Luxottica store.
I’ve never bought online. Is that a good option now? How do you know how the glasses are going to look on you?
Thanks for any ideas.
ETA: Thanks everyone. Great tips and info!
ZenniOptical. My prescription is pretty strong (-6) but they manage to make the lenses pretty thin. I think a usual pair costs me $50 versus $500 at the optician’s store.
I’m -7 in one eye and the thinner plastic to deal with that can get kinda expensive (even at Zenni) compared to the crazy deals folks with better eyesight can get…but it’s still something like $70ish, compared to the $300/pair it was at brick and mortar stores.
So yeah, Zenni all the way for me.
(I also haven’t found them to be junk like another poster suggested. I suppose it’s true I’ve never had a really high end pair of glasses, whatever that comprises, but I’ve worn Zenni for years with no unusual breakage.)
Edit: The one downside to Zenni is there’s no good way for me to find sunglass-capable frames for my small PD and high prescription. I’ll see a frame and go, “That’d be cute as sunglasses!” and once I enter my info in it tells me my prescription is too strong or my PD too small. :(
Like, why can’t they auto-filter frames out using my info? They FINALLY added something like that for PD, but not prescription. It sure would be nice to hide glasses I can’t buy b/c of my prescription.
How do they deal with progressive lenses, like top top is for long distance gradually further down is for closeup like reading?
I think that is what had prevented me from trying the online stores. Has that been addressed?
IIRC, my dad bought progressives from Zenni and said they were as good as the ones he got from an optician.
I mean, they need to measure where your eyeball lands on the glass when looking straight ahead. This isn’t part of the prescription, from what I understand. Usually, a salesperson will do the measuring. In light of this, do you have any further information as to how your father obtained that information and how he provided it to the online store?
How are they still only $50 for you at Zenni despite having a higher prescription? My prescription wavers back and forth in the -7 to -7.5 range and it’s always way more money than their average price to get high index lenses. I think the last time I tried plugging in my prescription it was more like $100, but I can’t recall exactly.
Because of my strong prescription, I’m also wary of using a place like Zenni because if the lenses are made slightly imprecisely or if they don’t get the PD just right or have it fitted to my face correctly, it’s significantly more noticeable and impactful for me. Have you noticed any issues with your relatively higher prescription and buying online?
To me, while I pay more like $300 at the optician, at least I know they will be correct as opposed to gambling with $100. If my prescription wasn’t as strong and the price was lower, I’d probably be more inclined to try Zenni.
Bought a couple of pairs from Costco.
Costco is amazing. Even my optometrist agrees that their quality is great. He said if I wasn’t going to buy from him, then go to Costco
Zenni has really good prices. I bought some prescription sunglasses from them for about $50. The site suggested I spend an extra $70 on high-index lenses but I ignored it. Glasses work great.
Either Zenni or EyeBuyDirect.
My last ones are from Zenni. No complaints.
In fairness, my optometrist has reasonable prices and good selection. And I’ve had good luck at Walmart in the past.
I’ve gotten my glasses at Walmart for years.
May not be as cheap as those online places, but at least they have glasses that dont look like they belong on a chainsmoking grandmother in the 1970s, lol.
Also, what really sold me on Walmart is that a couple times while traveling I had an accident with my glasses…took them to the local wal-mart and they fixed them without issue, just asked “You got these from walmart?” and “Would you say you got them in the past few years?”
Yep to both, and they go into the back, fix them, give’m back, no charge and i go about my business being able to see again.