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!
We’ve tried online but had bad luck figuring out the PD number at home. Not sure if anyone has tips to measure it more accurately
There are apps that will scan your face and tell you your PD
Ask for the PD when you get your exam.
Zenni will ship you a PD ruler for free and I think has a pdf of one.
I still get eye exams at my Dr. I make sure they send me with my rx including PD.
My wife is bad at using the pd ruler
I feel like they have tried to tell us we couldn’t have the PD because they knew we were going to buy glasses online.
Just ask the optician to do it for you. Or the ophthalmologist. Or whoever you’re seeing. The medical professional has a duty to give you your biological data. That’s above selling glasses.
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.
Online. Some vendors are crazy cheap
Which vendors specifically?
Zenni is one
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.
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 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?
I’m hoping someone answers you. I need progressives too.
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.
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.
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.
Sam’s club. $60 or so for prescription glasses.
Walmart
Eyebuydirect.
Online you have to know sizes and what not, you can get a vague idea what it will look like on you, they let you use your phone camera or webcam to get a better idea. But you can’t beat the prices, glasses in the US are ridiculously priced.
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Zenni Optical. I get progressive lenses with anti-reflective coating and a nice frame for a little more than $60 US. That’s probably ten percent of what I’d pay at a mall store.
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.
Since a decade ago, I buy from a popular local indie shop that uses a nearby local lab. No complaints at all.
I’ve been looking for a new website. I need XL frames as I have a wide face and it’s almost impossible to find decent frames.
I’m getting a few extra wide frames to try for free from Warby Parker.
Big wide head people unite!
Just checking the suggestions in this thread. https://www.39dollarglasses.com/eyeglasses/extra_wide
Seems to be some of the larger cheap frames I’ve seen around
On eyebuydirect.com, you can filter the frames by XL (and they’ll give you the exact measurements as well). I also have a wide face and have found frames that work for me on this site.
Bought a couple of pairs from Costco.
Got two pairs from Costco recently. Definitely impressed with how quickly they were ready and the overall quality.
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
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
As long as you know your perscription (the three numbers) Glassesusa.com is where its at. Never had an issue with them really. If you have a big head make sure to order large frames. The medium frame is a little tight for me but I actually like that my glasses aren’t slipping off my face cobstantly which had always been an issue.
