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.
Thirding the Zenni recommendation. I have bought 3 pair from them now, both regular Rx and sunglass Rx and they are always fast, cheap, and well made.
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?
Do you mean pupillary distance? It isn’t part of the written prescription when I get my exam, but if you ask they usually don’t have a problem giving it to you. When you’re ordering Zenni just has a field where you enter the number they give you for PD. They also have instructions for DIY PD measuring, but that seemed too error-prone to me.
No, it isn’t PD.
I’m hoping someone answers you. I need progressives too.
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.
For that I’d go with an opticians, my dad had issues with his from Zenni because they didn’t get the lenses quite right. He did have issues with his eyes though that required some complex glasswork though, so that could have contributed.
Been using Zenni for years. Hell of a lot cheaper than any brick and mortar and I’ve never had any issues.
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.
A bit pricier than the other options listed in this thread but I’m really happy with my glasses from warby Parker. I like having an in person store to try on frames and the customer service is pretty great
I keep meaning to take a look into Warby Parker. Them having physical stores is just so much less risky with a strong prescription.
Edit: Never mind…for my prescription, Warby is basically the same price as the optometrist. Did they go up in price recently? I don’t remember that being the case prior.
Ditto. I used Zenni for a few pairs but the frame quality is noticeably better on my Warby pairs. That said, I have a very high prescription, and Zenni did a better job on a lightweight high-index pair of prescription sunglasses than Warby did. The highest index sunglass option from Warby Parker still came out fairly hefty.
deleted by creator
I’ve been buying from Zenni for the past few years. You can’t beat the prices for prescription glasses.
I use EyeBuyDirect. The only thing I don’t like about them is that it’s kinda hard to get a refund from them
Zenni is pretty good. My current pair is from Firmoo and is also pretty good. Goggles4u has also worked fine for me, but they took ages to ship.
Had amazing luck with Warby Parker. Way cheaper than Walmart out of pocket for much, much higher quality than any of the vision stores I’ve been to
I’ve been going with EyeBuyDirect the last few times I’ve gotten new glasses. I’ve used Zenni a few times, and they’re definitely on the list of places I check, but EBD has a better selection. I save so much money on frames I can afford better lenses, and they run 2 for 1 deals pretty often. So I get a pair of regulars and a pair of polarized sunglasses.
You can upload a picture and then try on the glasses virtually and judge that way.
Zenni, until I learned the V.A. makes glasses.
Bought a pair from Zenni some 3 years ago for literally pennies (15$ for the frames, 10 for lenses). I have since carelessly snapped them (but keep elongating their lifespan unnaturally with super glue). Gonna buy my next pair from Zenni. I swear by them now for how cheap and durable these are, rarely had a pair of glasses survive 2 years before, and these were so much cheaper.
They also have regular people levels of quality, but I’m poor so it’s nice they have shit for people like me too.
Zenni their prescription sunglasses are really good
Bought my current pair from Zenni. Getting the pupilary distance was a bit of a pain, but I’ve been happy with them. And the price was much better than the wallet rape by Luxottica.
Did you measure your own pupillary distance?
Ya, and I’m not entirely certain I got it right. My optometrist provides the prescription, but not the PD measurement.
Zenni as well here. Overall I’m happy. To answer your question: the website has a semi-functional “virtual try-on” that works well enough for checking the look of glasses. I only used to it gauge the size of them, because I have a big head.
Worth noting that if you have a strong prescription, you’re going to pay more wherever you buy them. I have a -4.5 cyl number, and the glasses I wear now cost around $100, despite the frames starting at like $25
