Somebody mentioned Zenni Optical as a good, and cheap, place to buy glasses recently. I have a constant problem with breaking my glasses; eventually, every single pair I’ve ever owned has had the earpieces break off, and eventually the wire frame around the lenses breaks too.
So I’m looking for something completely indestructible. Will I be able to find that at Zenni Optical? How indestructible are their “memory titanium” frames, really? If I accidentally step on them or roll a chair over them, they’re going to break, aren’t they? (Assuming the lenses don’t break, that is.)
How cheap is a complete set of glasses from them? Lenses and all? Would I be better off just buying something like 5 pairs of normal glasses, or is the “memory titanium” worth it?
I can’t help you with the indestructible aspect, but at the prices you get from Zenni, I’m not sure how much it matters.
A few months back, I bought two pairs of glasses from them: one with transition lenses, and the other, a pair of prescription sunglasses. The total cost for the two pairs, including lenses, frames (and I bought a fancier frame for the sunglasses) and shipping was $94. I believe (and I’m just going from memory) that if you’re just buying a basic frame and lenses that don’t require anything special (like bifocals or something), you can get out of there for under $20.
Even if you decide to buy your main pair from somewhere else, I don’t see why you wouldn’t get a back-up pair from Zenni (or any place else that can offer you a complete pair of glasses at those kind of prices – I’ve never personally used any online service but Zenni).
I bought a cheap pair from Zenni (~$15 even with the added high prescription fee) and I’m pretty rough on them. They’ve been fine with daily wear, being dropped, worn at kickboxing class, hitting myself in the face getting in the car, etc. but I don’t know if they’re really indestructible – just flexible enough to take punishment. Get a few pairs anyway, they’re cheap and it’s good to have spares. I got a fun pair of dark blue lensed prescription sunglasses for about $25.
I’ve broken 2 pairs of memory metal frames from zenni, in both cases it was the same frame, the nose bridge metal was really thin and I snapped it, each after about 6 months.
However, I really love the frames and they whole deal only runs me around $15 a pair, so I just decided to buy several pairs and expect them to break. On another pair, the screw joint on the hinge became permanently a little loose (I think I may have stepped on it or something, can’t remember) and so the arms hang a little unevenly.
I don’t think the build quality is inferior to what you get retail, it’s just that you don’t get free fixes if something does go wrong. Actually - that isn’t even true - I took my (online-purchased) glasses into an optics shop to get fixed up, expecting to pay a fee, and the optician insisted on fixing them for free.
I got 3 pairs from goggles4u.com last year - lost one, stepped on another and they survived, third is still pristine. I’m about to order some more spares. I need antiglare coating and they still cost me about a hundred bucks for all three.
There are quite a few cheap online sites for eyeglasses. The difference in price for complicated or strong lenses can be considerable between sites - over twice as much for my brother’s glasses. This site has information about many of them: http://glassyeyes.blogspot.com/
I know of very few places that won’t fix your frames for free, no matter where you originally got them. I know my Walmart optometry department will, and if those cheapskates will, then anyone should.
OP: This place sounds like a good deal. If I didn’t get my glasses for free from the government, I’d probably shop there.
I got three complete pair and with shipping it came to $75. That was several months ago and no problems with any pair so far. One of the cheaper pair you can tell is a little flimsy, but they were only $8 so if they break I’m not gonna cry, I’ll just order another pair.
Do make sure to pay attention to measurements. The cheaper pair I mentioned above, they are just a tad too wide for my face. I went back to the sight and noticed they have the same pair in a smaller frame width, I should have chosen that size. But that’s my fault. But anyway, for $8 I may just toss the bigger pair & get the smaller ones.
When I think of the thousands of dollars I have spent over the years on glasses I could just cry. I could buy ten pair a year for the rest of my life at Zenni and still not spend what I wasted on glasses in the past 30 years.
I also love the ones I got from Zenni, and many times I’ve thought to PM you, fluiddruid, to thank you for bringing it up in the first place. I got a pair of single-vision glasses to wear in my water aerobics class, because I didn’t want to wear my $400 bifocals in the salt water. They are wonderful - my vision is clear and sharp through them. I think they were something like $17 because of the prescription. I also got a pair of the cute reading glasses for $7, which are better quality than the $12 reading glasses you get from the drug store.
I bought two pairs of glasses from Zenni, for under $70, one pair is a rigid black titanium frame, the other is a plastic frame. The titanium frames have held up extremely well over the past year’s use, and they fit me well. I fall asleep nearly every night with them on and there has been no bowing or breaks, I haven’t even had to adjust or tighten the screws/arms. I wake up with them on, nearly every morning.
The plastic ones, I underestimated the armature length and they don’t fit over my ears well, and my rough use have made them loose and sit slightly lopsided on my face.
As far as style, I really like the plastic rims that I have a bit more aesthetically than the titanium ones that I wear everyday. The particular frame style that I chose in the titanium rims were advertised as bold, trendy, and angular… or some such… anyways what I have come to realize is that their style is meant to highlight and frame Asian eyes much better than my Laowai eyes… other than that I am thinking of getting some different ones with more accurate temple ear measurements, if they have them… I have a big head… I am not quite sized for the average and limited asian fit of glasses that zenni offers.
To answer that question, my Mom got some memory frame titaniums from Zenni, and there is no way in the world you will bust those frames… they are exactly as advertised. She got the memory titanium ones with no “UnderFrame”- “half frame”, I think they are called?- anyways she accidentally popped out a lens… the under, non-frame half is basically held in place by a really heavy gauge fishing line that fits in the groove (unbreakable)… she took them to a local optometrist and he basically latchhooked it into place, no charge. The frames will not break, guaranteed… you might have a problem eventually… but it won’t be the frames.
I find that peoplehave a hard time wrapping their mind around the idea of “new-fangled” Memory titanium, in general- doesn’t break, doesn’t bend… indestructible- can’t be? The memory titanium is real memory titanium in the Chinese glasses, same as American Memory Titanium… Hell, they might even import it from us… The thing is, the actual parts of the frame that are actually constructed of the memory titanium will not fail… integerally, it will be joints that will fail… and then only possibly. The half frame seem really forgiving and engineered to have the lense pop before any actual overall failure.