Has anyone ordered prescription glasses on line? Can you please share your experience?
After having done Lasik close to 20 years ago, my vision has been slowly changing, last month I went to the eye doctor for a regular checkup and he said I should start considering using glasses again (Since I Don’t want to redo Lasik) I have –1.00 SPH, –0.50 Cyl and around 20 degrees axis, not too much! but still would be a good idea to get myself some glasses.
Checking out the prices some stores charge, they are seriously WTF high! Have they gone mad??? around $300 - 500!!! Seriously?
I also noticed that now you can order Chinese prescription glasses, here is an example of one I liked, looking for rimless glasses
With the thin lens options they are about $41 shipped, or around 10% of what the US stores are charging. I wonder how good would they be…
No, I haven’t purchased glasses online but I did find a deal on frames about ten years ago. I did the necessary measurements and found a bargain for solid titanium frames on ebay. Five frames were $36 shipped. Also found solid titanium nose pads. Still using the first pair. Frames are a big money maker for companies that sell eyeglasses and finding your own can save you a LOT of money. Local eyeglass places wanted $175 or more for frames similar to what I got for about $7 each.
edit: the ones I have aren’t rimless but the titanium with polycarbonate lenses are very lightweight.
With a script of –1.00 SPH, –0.50 Cyl you won’t get enough benefit from high index (thin lens). And high index has the downside of a lower clarity or abbe value. This causes chromatic aberration, slight rainbow bleeding of lights and at edges. Different people have different tolerances for it. It can cause eyestrain or headaches. But even in people who experience problems, they may not visually notice the rainbow bleeding. So they don’t associate their problems with their lens material.
But if you want rimless then you really should get either PC Polycarbonate or Trivex. Rimless puts stress on just a few dilled holes or slots, PC and trivex are the only two that have the strength to really tolerate that. The better eyeglass makers will highly recommend only those two materials for rimless or semi-rimless frames, some will not even make those frames using any other lens material. Some places don’t list the material name, just index. Trivex is 1.53, Polycarbonate is 1.586 (or 1.59 rounded). Trivex costs more but has better clarity, abbe.
Got another question are PhotoChromic (lens darkens when exposed to UV light) lenses really a plus or are they just hype? Any negatives about using them?
I’ve bought several pairs of glasses from Zenni. No issues and no complaints. They’ll send you a PD ruler if you request it. Best I can recall every order I’ve placed with them included a couple in the box, too.
Thanks Emarkd for your input about your experience with Zenni, I might order from them since they have the type of glasses I am looking for at a good price, the ophthalmologist gave me the prescription for glasses, he already measured PD but just in case I looked up how to measure it and the doc was spot on the measurement.
Do you remember how long it took them to send you your prescription glasses?
I pulled my email history. The last pair I bought from them was in June. From order confirmation email to shipping email was 6 days. From there I guess it depends on how fast you want it cause I’m sure they offer several shipping options. So add a few days for shipping and you might be at 9-10 days from start to finish.
I also have gotten glasses from Zenni, I think it was 2 or 3 weeks, slower than Walmart getting me my safety glasses for work, but faster than getting the Walmart ones fixed.
i haszet notisct any diffabce in the ones ii payied 3$ four verses te onews \ i paied forte4 4for . I’d justtttt by teh ons frum zzzeennnniii thay are OKAay uuill like um /Git too. pares
You got walmart to fix glasses? I bought a pair from their in-store shop a few years prior to obtaining the frames previously mentioned. A bit over a month after getting them the glasses were damaged (a friend’s daughter was assaulted, I defended her, got beat on by a group of thugs, and suffered a skull fracture but remained standing) and walmart refused to do anything to remedy the damage. When sold they cited a one year scratch warranty. When they were damaged I was told the warranty was one month.
edit: I’m not a big guy, I weigh about 180 lbs. In that situation it was a matter of staying on my feet or getting kicked to death or run over if I fell. In the process the eyeglasses were knocked off, stepped on, flattened, scratched, and a lens popped out. When the police finally arrived I was bending them back into shape so I could make my way home. No sympathy from the Cleveland police or WalMart.
I have purchased from Zenni. I was not thrilled. The first pair took much longer than advertised, (2 weeks or so) and they were bad. The right lens was fine, but the left lens was cloudy, due to poor coatings. I had to return them and wait two more weeks for them to replace the glasses.
The lenses are fine now, but the coatings that are supposed to be anti-glare, are just the opposite. More glare on everything than my previous Wal-Mart glasses. The frames are very cheap and flimsy and I have requested another set of frames, as I know these will not last.
Overall, I will pay more money next time and order from a retail shop. It was a negative experience for me.
I went to a regular store and tried different sizes, found the right size and then looked at one of the frame legs, there are 3 numbers: lens size, bridge size and leg size and just measured distance to pivot screws, all lenses online have these 3 measurements, so its easy finding the right size glasses.
Width of face, pupil distance, lens width, lens height, arm length (frame to behind ear) and nose (bridge width) were critical measurements for my frame selection.
