After frying varis and bis, I find a lower reading prescription allows me to focused on stuff as close up and as far away as I need.

I find opticians in shops are first and foremost salesmen.

Can anyone provide impartial advice? Happy to provide prescription later.

You are right. Tell your optometrist which working distance you require and the rx will be tailored for you in the test room. Or buy from a dispensing optician who can make the necessary amendments. Buy where you had the test carried out.

They are at least qualified in the opticians . As above.

OK, I’ll bite! without seeing prescription I’m guessing your short sighted with a fairly low reading add (+1.25 or less). Onthis assumption your eyes own ability to accomodate is basically ‘overriding’ the help given by glasses, this might be fine for now but as you get older the ability to accomodate is going to get less and less. While you can ‘getaway with’ the lower prescription now its not always going to be the case so at some point in the future you will need

1. Laser and a pair for reading to use as and when

2. Two seperate pairs for distance and near (possibly a third for computer also)

3. A pair of Bifocals (no intermediate here)

4. Varifocals (1 pair does all)

Now for all of the above none are the right or wrong thing to do they are personal choice, however, if you are heading into the vari/bi direction getting used to them while the difference between distance and near prescriptions is small is alot easier than trying when you have put it off until there is no other option.

I find opticians in shops are first and foremost salesmen.

I’ve what’s termed a “complex” prescription (you know things are bad when the test is free!) with a couple of associated problems and I’ve always had very good experiences with the actual opticians in the big chains, very thorough and professional.

Then it all goes horribly salesy when they hand you over to the front-of-house monkeys with pound signs in their eyes at which point my back goes up.

Thanks, here’s my prescription, any more advice?

They’ve supplied you with a distance, intermediate and near RX, get the intermediate ones made up as they are effectively for computer working distance, they’ll aid your near vision but will not be as good for extended periods of reading or use in poor light.

Do you know your current spec rx? Is it actually any different?

I’m sorry any other advice is not free……as you’ve said

I find opticians in shops are first and foremost salesmen

and this infers they are incapable of giving impartial advice and so you prefer to buy your glasses on line, so I suggest you contact your retailer for advice!………oh wait…….

I’m sorry any other advice is not free……as you’ve said

I find opticians in shops are first and foremost salesmen

and this infers they are incapable of giving impartial advice and so you prefer to buy your glasses on line, so I suggest you contact your retailer for advice!………oh wait…….

In DEM Haus…the article takes the dative since it is in the house rather than moving towards or away from it.
You really wanted to know that, didn’t you??? 8)

and so you prefer to buy your glasses on line

How did you work that out? Not the case.

Seems to me that off the shelf might work fine, but my guess is any optician will tell me no, for obvious reasons.

Glad to be proven wrong …

Your last glasses thread

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And a quote from you on it!!

Bought a few pairs from GD, no issues.

Would seem the burden of proof has been fulfilled!!

I have in the past, now looking at buying at physical shops, except advice to date has not been great.

Then why start the thread with

I find opticians in shops are first and foremost salesmen.

My wife spent 3 years at uni leaning about all aspects of vision and aids, she doesn’t remember any part of the course being related to ‘selling’!

cynic-al – Member

I have in the past, now looking at buying at physical shops, except advice to date has not been great.
Posted 24 minutes ago #

the hustler – Member

Then why start the thread with

I find opticians in shops are first and foremost salesmen.[/quote]

I’ve said my experience in shops has not been great, because I have found opticians to be first and foremost salesmen. Your wife may be completely different, as may many others of course.

Not sure why you are wanting to turn this into an argument? I’m just looking for good advice. Happy to pay for it.

i have no issue with the opticians . i find them to be good.

its their front of house gadges i find try the hard sell

for example last time i wanted them to change the lenses in my old frames and they were giving it all the “but these glasses are now old and might not last as long as new ones”

very good but just replace my lenses already.

Now i accept that its fair warning but this woman would not let it drop from the point i mentioned it till the point i left the shop – they also said we accept no responsibility if the frame gets broken when changing the lens which i was no happy with she said”because its an old frame” so i just said best be careful then and if they really are convinced its going to break then supply me the lenses and ill swap them my self if they are unable to.

Oh and they didnt break in the last 2 years either – so ill be doing the same again.

I’ve had glasses from The Hustler. They are excellent. I got great advice and great service, at an excellent price.

In fact the glasses are so good I can even see the irony in one of the most argumentative forumites accusing him of picking an argument.

BigJohn – Member

In fact the glasses are so good I can even see the irony in one of the most argumentative forumites accusing him of picking an argument.

Well at least we’ve established that it’s personal.

To hopefully clearthings up, a generalisation ofthe staff you will get in opticians

Optomtrist, Dispesing optician, optical assistant/dispenser, Lab technician and receptionist

Now the problems start that people assume that othr than the optometrist “they are all the same” hence your “they are all salesmen” quote.

In reality depending which opticians you walk into the way you will be treated varies massively, for instance in alot of multiples all of the staff are incentivesed to sell you stuff (Yes that can even include the optometrist)

This is actually true in some places you think are independants but are actually part of larger groups in the background!!

In other opticians I’ll generalise by saying truly independants the service can hopefully be a little different in that the patients needs are what are looked at rather than pound signs!

I hope our opticians comes in to the latter, yes we do need to sell stuff to survive, and no we cant compete with the online retailers (they dont have to pay expensive optometrists and equipe test rooms within their profit margins)

But where we hope to win is service, spending time with patients giving them details of the options available to after their sight test, now this is a two way street for instance you can have a patient who needs a taylor made varifocal due to lifestyle needs and so unfortunately needs expensive glasses, but there is also the other end of the scale such as a poorly controlled diabetic which means their prescription can alter on an almost daily basis so its acually not in their best interest to change until their condition is undr control. What I believe in is being honest but unfprtunately the whole industry doesn’t work this way. Doing it ‘our way has stood us in good stead for many years!

For trail rat its common practice to warn of breakages on reglazing frames as it does happen! More common on plastics that can become brittle over time but can happn on metals too if whoever previously glazed has ‘locktite’d (glued) screws. Its probaly les than 2% that will break on relaze but why should the cost/responibility be born by the opticians for something that will probably already be out of guarantee? We reglaze plenty but we do always make people aware of the risks!

Any way me real pointis dont tarall opticians/optometrists and staff etc with the same brush! Some of us are actually helpfull and do try to be nice!!

Back to the thread true purpose Cynic-al could probably get ‘ready readers of +1.75 for intermediate and +2.25 for close work and theycould work quite happily. Hovever this is a whole other can of worms and I suggest you google and read the which report with regar to ready readers before buying/ using them (one main issue optical centers on ready readers can be all over the place and so can’draw’ eyes causing headaches etc). As I said right at the start of the thread at the moment your eyes own ability to accomodate is letting you ‘get away with’ an intemediate prescription but this is going to only get harder as you get older, if you want to go down the bi/vari route its better to start now while the transition is easier than when oldr and harder!

Cheers, v helpful.

Free Big Hitter class voucher for you!

🙂

I haven’t been to a chain opticians for about 30 years, so I’m not sure what they’re like, but for the last 20+ years I’ve gone to a relatively small family owned opticians. Whilst they’re not cheap (I don’t pay for eye tests so I don’t worry about that), I do get service from them. Years ago my frames cracked and when I called in they then immediately contacted the manufacturers in LA and insisted that they courier over a replacement frame as it was unacceptable. This arrived 2 days later – I didn’t pay a penny.
For this kind of thing I like having someone who knows me and will do things for me. I understand that I have to pay for it, as I wouldn’t be able to go there if the people who use my services didn’t pay me either.