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.
Been using Zenni for years. Hell of a lot cheaper than any brick and mortar and I’ve never had any issues.
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.
Used Zenni for years. Cheap enough that I can even have sunglasses! I did Warby Parker one year and the try-on experience and quality was good. But Zenni price wins the day.
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.
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
Came here to say Costco, too.
I didn’t want to prompt this but I was thinking about going this route. I’ll check them out, thanks.
Costco really is the best
Got two pairs from Costco recently. Definitely impressed with how quickly they were ready and the overall quality.
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.
I know people who have good luck shopping online because of the price and variety, but I prefer in person because I’m so incredibly picky about my glasses.
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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.
Eye Buy Direct was half the cost of even the cheapest store bought glasses in our case, and I really like their order status tracking! Don’t sign up for their emails though, you’ll get like five a day 😳
Depending on how picky you are about how glasses frames might look or feel, you may want to consider finding frames separately and mailing them in to get lenses added. It will still save you money! But if you’re less picky they do have both virtual try one and measure your pupil distance so your chances of liking them seem good!
I use EyeBuyDirect. The only thing I don’t like about them is that it’s kinda hard to get a refund from them
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.
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.
EyeBuyDirect and Firmoo.
Eyebuydirect is my go to also. I am very picky about glasses and they have better variety than most in person stores. And if you don’t like them you can swap
I’ve been buying from Zenni for the past few years. You can’t beat the prices for prescription glasses.
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.
