Ordering Eyeglasses Online? Thumbs up!

August 4, 2008 / filed in recommendations
29 comments / add yours

For far too long I have gone without sharing the great experience I recently had ordering eyeglasses online. Time to get the word out, at last!

The Past? It’s a blur…

Rewind a few months back, when a gathering forever of accumulated eye strain had finally pushed me to the limit. I bit the bullet and went to see my opthamologist. After a few visits, he advised I get glasses. Fair enough! I’d be able to see, right?

My next move was a stroll on down to a few nearby retail eyeglass shops, where I was consequently shocked. Glasses are expensive. Really expensive. Even the ones on the lower end of the scale at the cheapo store. Throw in some extra lens fees and not much help from my vision plan? The final count was way up there.

Looked like I didn’t need glasses that bad. And so it went, week after week of me refusing to give in so easily. But then it happened — a happenstance reader comment at the bottom of a random blog, and my glasses life was changed forever!

But wait, there’s hope!

I had found a post titled Adventures in $40 Eyeglasses, and leaving me hugely intrigued. I read the post, scoured the comments, followed the links, rinsed and repeated. This was exactly what I had been looking for.

Long story short? You can order glasses online. The very same glasses you’d get at any of the chain/retail places. And they’re cheaper… so much cheaper. Reading comment after comment and post after post, I was as good as sold. Glasses for $40, give or take? Where do I sign up.

Too good to be true?

In actuality, this all sounded like a great idea, but part of me was hesitant. Enough so, actually, to not jump to action for a few weeks. The obvious drawback to ordering glasses online is not being able to hold the frames in your hand, try them on, and extending your trust to some random online store to get your prescription right.

When all was said and done, it all happened for me over the course of a wave of sudden motivation one Saturday afternoon. I was suddenly determined to just do the thing: get online, find a pair of glasses, make the order, and let the chips fall where they may.

Placing the Order

I ended up settling on $39Glasses.com, which I chose because of a 10% off coupon (and excellent reader feedback, of course). I dove into the glasses catalog, picked literally the first cool pair I saw, and hit check out. I wasn’t messing around.

The first test was entering my prescription. I wondered: would this website’s order form have all of the necessary input fields? After all, a prescription looks kind of scary. Bunch of strange words and degree measurements… and yet, upon loading the web form, they were all accounted for! Good sign. I entered my digits and proceeded.

The second trial was that of deciding upon lens quality. It works like this: if you get the default (cheapest) lens, there is no extra fee. Above it, there are all sorts of ways to supersize your ocular aids. I was going to keep it simple and go with the default. I hoped it would do.

The final trial was that of measuring the distance, in millimeters, between your pupils. This sounds scary, easy to mess up, or otherwise a nuisance — but it was in fact the easiest trial yet. I grabbed the ruler, put it on my forehead, and looked in the mirror. A quick confirmation of my measurement from my wife and I was set (even alone, you really cannot mess this up).

Deliverance

That was it. The order was placed on a Saturday afternoon. The total cost, after saving 10% but adding on a small shipping fee, was right around $40.

The package arrived on Tuesday. I opened it up and was at once surprised. The glasses came with a carrying case that was not a piece of junk. Solid, sturdy, and strong… alright. But what about its contents?

I opened the treasure chest to reveal my new glasses. Upon picking them up, my first thought was wow: they actually have some weight to them! I was half-expecting the cheapest plastic known to man, but this was certainly not the case. I put them on and have been happy since.

Whole Lotta Recommendation

Nearly four months later, I have only good things to say. The glasses have held up extremely well, even with the relative rough use I put them through. Even with their plastic lenses, there are no scratches or blemishes as of yet. All screws are still tight, nothing loose or wobbly. In fact, I’m wearing them right now!

In the end, I would have to whole-heartedly endorse the online-glasses course of action. Though I used 39glasses.com, countless readers elsewhere have had similarly glowing things to say about other online retailers.

So, do yourself a favor! If you need glasses anytime soon, check out either of the links below as a starting point to locate the best retailer & product for you. You will find plenty of links to retailers within:

Adventures in $40 Glasses (blog post)
Glassy Eyes (blog, forums, reviews, etc)

Comments

Jason said:
at 3:07 pm on August 5th, 2008

Daveus, I should let you know: you have unleashed a monster.

After discovering glassyeyes.com, I now (1) refuse to spend more than $60 for glasses and (2) have developed a ridiculous addiction to shopping for glasses online. I slink into glasses shops at lunch and take notes on frame sizes, comparison shop styles, and sketch details for my next purchase. I spend far too much time at work uploading cell-phone camera pictures of myself in different poses to use the “try on” features of different frame purveying websites. I browse through the hundreds of online selections for – literally- hours without fatigue. “You know what I bet would look amazing?” I ask myself. “Big square plastic red frames. I’ve always wanted fire engine red frames.” Two weeks later: VOILA.

I won’t lie, my initial forays indulged my avant-garde side. Thick black and red plastic rectangles. In fact, I’ve since needed to expand my wardrobe slightly to match my glasses, rather than the other way around. I’ve since decided to dial it back a bit; my next purchase will be slightly more business-casual. Nonetheless, I think I’ll come home with all three frames for under $100. Please insert here the sound of my mind being blown. I’m never going back.

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