I’m looking at a local ad for 2 pair of glasses for $59 with cr-39 SV lenses (Vision Value). They also offer a package for $169 that includes exam, contacts, glasses, solution, 3 month supply of Acuvue2 and non-RX sunglasses.
Or you could go the Clark Howard route and pay $8 for glasses.
I wouldn’t get the transition lenses or glare option but anti-scratch coating might be worth it. You might look for frames that offer matching magnetic clip-ons.
FYI, I priced glasses at Sam’s Club after I bought them through my vision plan and it was cheaper to just go to Sam’s. I have every bell & whistle and supposedly it costs something like $900. Yah, I have the indestructible frames but I rarely get into a bar brawl so I would certainly opt for a much cheaper pair.
I do wonder if I went the online route - if I go to a regular optician to get a prescription if they’d help me measure the various things you need to measure to get proper fitting frames to assist in getting a decent pair online, cause I’m pretty sure I’d screw it up.
I’ve never had problems (scratching or otherwise) with the anti-reflective coatings, and not having them really sucks for me. With the coatings, the glasses seem to not really be in front of my eyes, they’re like soap bubbles; without, I feel like I have a window pane on my face. YMMV.
SenorBeef, if you’re really unsure of what it is that you want, I suggest buying the glasses in person rather than online. You can have all sorts of questions answered that way, and if you’re unhappy with what you get, it’s easier to resolve any problems.
After too many bad WalMart experiences and being not really happy with places like JCPenny’s (mostly lack of selection and attention to detail), I’ve sworn off commercial optical shops in favor of a trusted independant opthamologist. I’ve been going to him for years, and I trust him to give me exactly what I want in a pair of glasses. Unfortunately, that’s not the lowest cost option by far, and I don’t have vision insurance. (and I work for a company heavily involved in the industry - the irony, it burns!)
Are there any glasses wearing persons in your local area that you can ask for a recommendation? Prices shouldn’t vary too terribly much between LensCrafters, Sears, and CostCo. One might be slightly cheaper than the other, but I don’t think that any of them are a terrible choice. They’re just a little more of a gamble with the level of service you get, and you could take some of the guesswork out by going to a place that other people you know have been happy with.
Well I ended up going to Costco for an optical exam and to check out their stuff. They’re really cheap - most frames fell in the $50-70 range, they told me plain CR-39 plastic lenses with my prescription would be $20 with UV/scratch resistance coats and polycarb would be $50. Very reasonable prices.
Not too much of a selection though - I have a fairly wide face and I dislike those double bar aviator style glasses, which most of the wider frames are, which left me with about 5 or so frames that might work.
And I’d have probably ordered one on the spot, except that in my research it’s looking like buying online may be the way to go. Some ridiculously good deals there - I can get a complete pair off 39dollarglasses.com for around $50 shipped with expedited shipping - 3-5 days compared to Costco’s 2 weeks. All their frames except the aviator style though are about 4mm or more smaller than my current ones - and my current ones are pretty small on my face. Goggles4u.com has a nice looking pair with the same dimensions as my current glasses, and they’re $26 (!) shipped with CR-39 lenses, but take 10-12 days.
Before I felt like I was going to get ripped off no matter what I did, but now I feel like I have too many good options to choose easily. Thanks for all the info.
Ben Silver of Charleston, S.C. has a lot of very handsome retro-style glasses, although they’re a bit pricey. Check out bensilver.com. I have a pair and have been very pleased.
I ended up going the online route. My glasses were broken and I wanted something quicker than Costco. I ordered a pair off 39dollarglasses.com Thursday morning and they arrived Tuesday - all for $45 (I got 2 day DHL, but also a 10% discount code from a review site).
They seem to be of good quality. They fit fairly well right out of the box, but they seem to be slightly bent in some ways - the frame isn’t perfectly shaped and it sits on my face so that the right lens is a bit higher than the left. Something seems slightly off about them in terms of visual acuity. It was worse yesterday when I got them though so I think it may be simply adjusting to a new prescription. I can see things more clearly sitting still looking at something, but when moving around and focusing on different things I sometimes get a bit of a feeling that things are shifting around me subtly. It also seems like sometimes I focus, then get unfocused, then focus again.
I’m going to call the optometrist tomorrow and see if their office can see if the prescription of the lenses is correct. Do they usually provide that service?
I need to bend them a bit so they sit more evenly on my face. That’s a big downside to ordering them online. Could I go to a random optical shop and have them fit the glasses to me? What does that sort of service cost? Is it practical to do it myself? If I recall correctly, they heat the frames to make them more malleable, right? Could I do that with, say, a hair dryer and try it myself?
Oh, something else I wanted to ask: There’s a very slight graininess in the lenses (polycarb) when examined under a light. Is that normal? It’s nothing I can see when they’re on.
I guess you already found your solution but I got my first nice pair of glasses the other day at Lenscrafters. They’re DKNY, I upgraded to the higher quality lenses and the total cost was $240 AFTER my AAA discount. Which is my larger point here. Lenscrafters gives you a 30% AAA discount although they will not mention it to you at the store (they just asked me if I was going to use insurance).