Zennioptical.com
I got mine for $30, they can make them mute expensive, but for just glasses, it's perfect.
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Zennioptical.com
I got mine for $30, they can make them mute expensive, but for just glasses, it's perfect.
I got mine with their HD lenses, no-line bifocals with antiglare coating, and the total came to $135 shipped.
While my initial reaction to this was "wholly fuck that's expensive" I realize that all those modifiers would make it close to a grand at a glasses shop.
I have bought at least 10 pair from Zenni optical and they were just fine.
I second this, but OP says they have special lens needs. That's what stacks the price.
I used them and they were great good-enough glasses.
Have you tried Zenni?
I've had good luck with them over 3 pairs. I get the exam at Costco and then buy from Zenni. The most expensive pair so far has been $108 for progressives with anti-glare etc although that was during a sale. They are better quality and have lasted longer than almost anything I've got from the traditional optometrists places, even when I've gone higher end. Even better, you can select the distance for computer, mid or distance - I wear one of 4 pairs depending on what I'm doing - AND they don't check your prescription so you can use an old one if you know that works for you.
Ain't never going back.
I'm an ABOA advanced optician, I've helped with lens designs, I've made my own line of frames, worked with every insurance company, and know the technical details of virtually every product on the market.
If it's going to cost the same either way, do not get the online glasses. The 250 in store is discounted from probably 1200$, and the difference is immediately noticable.
The online glasses will not be measured to fit you properly, the focal point will be a best guess, which makes progressives have a ton of distortion, the frame won't be adjusted and have no standards of material and shitty spring hinges, the transitions will be an old off brand composited lens that will delaminate after some time, the antireflective will be the cheapest, smudging crap possible, and the lenses will be thicker and heavier.
Go to a local optical, not any chain you've ever heard of. No corporate execs to pay means actual paid professionals helping you see better, as opposed to collision salesman trying to rip you off.
Online glasses are for single vision rx's for children, not anybody who really needs glasses.
Man, I wish this was always true.
Here in BC/Canada, our healthcare doesn't cover glasses, and our 3rd party providers only cover $2-300 every 2 years for glasses.
My last job had a $500 yearly flex-spend coverage, which I used to buy $600 glasses (mainly lenses cost-wise) with all the options/coatings/transitions/blue light filter/etc from the local eye clinic, and honestly the lenses are not great, and after less than 3 years the coating is bubbling in horizontal lines across the entire lens.
Honestly though, been regretting getting glasses with the blue light filter for the past 2 years anyways, nothing feels vibrant anymore and i swear it has been negatively affecting my mood, and i have noticed zero difference in eye strain levels.
Blue light filters have a purpose, but it isn't eye strain. That's just marketing bullshit from people who don't know it's purpose or can't be bothered to translate it to laymen.
It's purpose is to protect your retina from damage that accumulates throughout your life. It's to protect you from developing macular degeneration. It does nothing anyone will notice, it's more like sunblock, except you can't feel the burn.
Also if someone sells you shit products, go to someone better if possible. But avoid chains at all costs.
So life loses vibrancy, but my retinas stay in slightly better shape when I'm 80? Sounds like future me problem then, definitely have no interest in trying again with a different pair after my next eye exam.
Unfortunately every eye doctor in this province (or at least not a 13 hour drive away) is associated with a chain, with I think a single exception that is referral only. So the best I can do is get an eye exam, demand my detailed results, and do my best to order glasses that fit comfortably.
the frame won't be adjusted and have no standards of material and shitty spring hinges
They're the same frames sold in physical stores, though
the transitions will be an old off brand composited lens that will delaminate after some time the antireflective will be the cheapest, smudging crap possible, and the lenses will be thicker and heavier.
My old glasses that I don't even wear anymore are 7 years old and never had issues and still aren't delaminated at all, never had issues with smudging or glare
Go to a local optical, not any chain you've ever heard of. No corporate execs to pay means actual paid professionals helping you see better, as opposed to collision salesman trying to rip you off.
And yet you still spend way more than you would at somewhere like Zenni. So you're getting ripped off for someone lower down the ladders benefit.... Yay?
Online glasses are for single vision rx's for children, not anybody who really needs glasses.
Complete bullshit. Not surprised that someone "with their own line of frames" would encourage people to go the pricier route, though.
I'm honestly not sure which frustrates me more. That teeth and eyes are not considered important enough aspects of health to be covered under normal health insurance. Or the shit insurance that's available even when you pay for additional policies to cover them.
The lack of coverage of teeth and eyes in standard health insurance is because of dentists and optometrists opting out when insurance was becoming a thing.
Seamless bifocals=Progressives. I got mine at Zenni Optical for like $145 all in.
Yeah, sorry, that's what I meant. They used to be called 'seamless bifocals' back in the 90s and I still think of them that way.
Okay, I'm going to go against the grain here and say "Don't go with the really cheap online glasses".
I used eyebuydirect, Zenni, and a couple of others for many years, and was pretty happy with them, especially for the price. However, one thing I'd always noticed is that they'd wind up being pretty beat up with some large scratches in the coatings, or they'd just fail and start flaking off by around the 1 year mark (I'm pretty hard on my glasses, tbf) and I absolutely had to get new ones. I just kind of accepted that I was very hard on my glasses, and that's what happens.
However, I started going to Costco just because my insurance wouldn't cover any of the online places, and the quality of the lenses and coatings are absolutely night and day. I've had 10 pairs now (sunglasses and normal lenses), and only had one with a single scratch in the lenses, after having them go flying across a cement floor due to me doing something quite stupid.
I don't think you need a membership for their optical center either, but I'm not 100% sure.
I've had the exact opposite experience. Last time trying glasses at a local place, they hurt my eyes and couldn't figure out how to adjust them properly. Every pair I've purchased on Zenni has lasted multiple years of me sleeping in them or doing contact sports in them. I still have multiple pairs kicking around my house or car as spares.
Yay the conglomerate that owns glasses production and distribution.
It's not just the US, Essilor is a virtual monopoly.
That said, my glasses are 50% less online than at a local shop.
Also, thank insurance companies for inflating prices
Essilor monopolizes lenses, Safilo monopolizes frames – neither offer direct sale
Why is it always luxottica
If you have Costco membership, their optical department is pretty affordable. Frames are $50-80. Lenses another $80 or so, but depends on complexity and of you get transitions and whatnot.
It’s the same for Sam’s Club. My eye doctor said glasses would be $800 AFTER insurance. I went to Sam’s Club and got two pairs for $200.
eyebuydirect. You'll need to measure your pupillary distance if your prescription from the doctor doesn't list it.
$250 for glasses like that is very cheap. I also have bifocals, not the thinnest lenses either, IIRC they were one step up from the standard ones. A light frame but nothing special, the frame was like €100, the entire set of glasses was around €650. The lenses only have a cylinder in them; no prisms or anything like that. If you need more complicated or stronger/thin lenses they can easily go over €1000.
Even if you have the optional insurance for it, that doesn’t really help you. The amount they cover is basically the same amount you pay for the additional coverage. You’re better off putting the money in a savings account earmarked for your next set of glasses.
Also, if you need anything but the most basic single focus lenses without any cylinders or prisms, get them at a real optician. The online store can’t properly measure where to place the lenses in the frame (they need to be properly centered in front of your pupils).
Canada doesn't win here. Our opto care is embarrassing, it's mercenary, it's predatory.
I have decent insurance, so my c$1300 single pair was only $400. (Edit: Zenni for complex myopic astigmatic presbyopic thin lenses is about c$500)
Woo.
I feel ya.
We're fixing dental care, slowly, but opto's gonna be forever.
eyebuydirect. I got my first pair from them for $11, shipped, just to test if they could get my weird prescription right. if you want all the bells and whistles, you can get one up to about 150, but I basically got a dozen pairs for what Target wanted for a single pair.
Just to give you a little something:
My glasses cost around 500€ to 700€ per glass (so around 1200€ plus frame) and I have to pay them myself.
Comedian Kyle Ayers has Trigeminal Neuralgia as well. He's about to do the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with his show (Hard to say) all about how he's been dealing with it. I know that doesn't help you with your glasses, but maybe his comedy can help alleviate some of the pain and worry.
Good luck.
I understand your frustration. This sucks major league. I know a fairly cheep German glasses company who ship worldwide (production for most glasses worldwide is Thailand, that's where the company gets their products as well). They've got a very generous refund policy as well. If you want to, I can pm you their website.
Brille24.de
Unless they hiked up their prices or went out of business in the past 2 years, the link should be grand.
If you need help regarding navigation around the website or how to put in the data for the glasses, please let me know.
If you have a membership, check out Costco. They often have really good prices on this sort of thing.
If you do buy them online, make sure to submit the receipt to your insurance- they should cover at least some of it.
I tried bifocals, and they are just not for me. I work on a computer all day, and having to jog my head around in order to have appropriate focus sucks.
So ... when I go to get an eye exam, I have them give me two prescriptions. One for distance (driving, movies, whatever), and another for about six inches past arm's length - how far away my main monitor is. Then I get two pair of glasses online for ~$40 each, and a pair of distance sunglasses for $50.
I like the distance sunglasses better than transitions lenses, because they're darker than the transitions would ever get. Adding other fancy coatings will certainly increase the price of the lenses, but I think I only did scratch resistant on my regular distance pair, since I'm not doing somersaults while on the computer.
Zenioptical it's like 75 for every option and I wear them more than the glasses I paid hundreds for
Get Kaiser Permanente!.... I got new $150 for my $20 copay, which I was told I didn't need to pay!
Weeks later they started sending me daily reminders to pay my copay and the extra 100 I owed on the frame!
Surely I don't understand healthcare.
Fub fact: they both cost $250
Very fub indeed
I bought glasses out of insurance from a company that I don't think sells out of insurance glasses anymore. But it cost like $120 (getting glasses the normal way would've probably been a 4 digit number, so I consider $120 cheap for glassss), all I had to do was find my old prescription numbers then increase them by like 1 increment. Saved tons of money. Your eye doctor will refuse to tell you your prescription numbers if it's been more than 1 year since your last appointment but there are ways to measure the lens curvature using light and shadows. You can't get them any cheaper without becoming a glass blowing expert and doing it yourself, and you'd have to diy a lot of other far fetched stuff while you're at it, so good luck with that
I think Costco glasses are a good deal, even if you have to buy a one-year membership to get them. Don't know if they're available online, but don't you want to try glasses on in person to make sure they fit and are comfortable?