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Eye glasses wearers in the US, where do you buy your glasses from these days? (lemm.ee)
submitted 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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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!

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[–] 53 points 3 years ago (6 children)

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.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 years ago*

    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.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago

    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.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    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?

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  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    IIRC, my dad bought progressives from Zenni and said they were as good as the ones he got from an optician.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago* (1 child)

    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?

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago* (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago

    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.

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