[Closed] Glasses, spectacles, over priced bits of glass and steel

count yourself lucky. I have short and long sight so a multifocal; high prescription so need high RI lenses (otherwise they look like bottle ends) and astigmatism.

Mid range frames and lenses to that prescription - close on £550

To answer your question - if I knew they'd get my prescription right, I'd be tempted, but I do value my LGS above the chains.

Ive just ordered a set of 4 demo frames from glasses direct.

Try em on, pick what you want or send em back for more samples.

Once you find what you want you can order the proper ones by imputing your prescription details.

They seem to be priced about the same as specsavers depending on how many options you choose, ultra thin lens, anti glare, anti scratch etc.

I shall let you know how i get on.
I'm just short sighted but if you want veri-focals for close up and distance that will probs add a bit to the lens cost.

Ordering online is fine if you know what you want and it's not an unusual prescription. You'll probably have to measure your pupillary distance yourself (distance between your eyes) because opticians generally don't provide this value with the prescription. There are lots of guides online explaining how to do this.

Bricks and mortar opticians are generally charging a hefty premium for their service, which is fair enough, but if you don't need that service you can save a lot of money going online. I've purchased several pairs of specs online without problems.

Varifocals are a bit special. I didn't like them at all when I tried them, and much prefer to switch between full reading and distance specs. I spend a lot of time using a computer and varifocals just restricted my area of useful vision when working. Some people love them.

I always tend to get a nice pair and keep them until the frames are knackered. I’m wearing them all the time so might as well get something comfortable. Current pair are Ti Oakleys with thinned down lenses. Not cheap, but very light and forget I’m wearing them. I’ve tried cheap ones and I either break them, they get uncomfortable quickly or I end up with the classic nose marks. You can save a fair bit by trying on the ones you like in store and then ordering online.

I spend about £3-500 on glasses every two years, usually a pair of reactions and an untinted pair with anti glare. Not varifocals though!

I've had glasses from loads of different brands in the last few years all of which around £100-150 for frames excluding lenses and a few budget no name pairs too.

All of the branded stuff has survived multiple droppings, bashings, bike crashes etc.

The few cheap generic frames I've had have broken at the first sign of trouble and they tend to be sloppy and fall off more easily in the first place.

I don't wear contacts but last time I had them priced for my odd prescription it was about £15 a month = £360 over two years on top of which I'd still need a back up pair of glasses so it's actually not bad value vs. that option.

By all means buy online to exploit lower prices but don't buy crap frames if you're going to be wearing full time.

I have a colleague who buys online for just that reason and has no issues.

VisionExpress are anything but these days their USP of making in-store in a couple of hours has been gone for years. I guess VisionItWillBeAFortnight isn't quite as catchy.

Ive tried to measure my pupil distance with a stanley tape measure, lol!

I reckon I'm about 64mm or 65mm, slightly above the average default of 63.

Quick question if anyone knows: what does that affect? the lens or the frame?

This seemed nice and soothing until she mentioned the £350 price tag (Vision Express)

Whoah... That's a lot.

I went to the local opticians here after Specsavers sold me the cheapest things they could with mrs_oab encouraging...

After a year we discovered that the specavers specs were not right (widths of pupils or something).

I've got a nice pair of occupational lenses (varifocals for reading to screen work, 30cm-3m) with special posh coating to reduce screen glare, made by Nikon. They're in a frame that's a different shape from what I choose at Specsavers, at the advice of local optician, and they look so much better.

They were £200 and transformed work and evening reading.

I went into vision express about a year ago and the ticket price on just the frames was very expensive, so I didn't enquire further.

normally use specsavers and haven't had an issue, this is my first time doing it online.

I buy my Oakleys from the Glasses Shop https://www.theglassescompany.co.uk/

Cheap, do a decent job too. Sorted.

Well technically, mine are carbon fibre, titanium and high density plastic with some complex coatings and dual focal length grinding. And they are my first pair of Oakleys. If I wear them for three years, that will be the cost of a daily newspaper. £350 would have bought one lens and an arm of the frame. The £188 on that webpage for my frame (Tincup but not pewter) is better than cost price but they have limited sizes and are discontinued (family used to run opticians and BIL still has a practice - list price everywhere was £300 frmae only). My lenses were £245. Each. I'm +5 and +6 with additional varifocal and double astigmatism. The lenses are the thinnest I've ever seen. Of course my eyes look as big as golfballs - and different sizes.

Like this?

Optical Express for me but I am tempted to try a couple of internet pairs for riding as they gave me all my prescription details.

Try Asda. I've a pretty chunky prescription (-10ish in both eyes) and got 2 pairs for £120 including thinner lenses and coatings. Seem pretty decent too.

I've generally had quite good service from the high street opticians. One of them - can't remember which, the expensive one in the shopping centre in Dundee - even did me a replacement pair free when I stood on the originals.

Specsavers did me free replacements when I just couldn't get on with my new prescription (although they do bring it up every time I go back) and they gave me my PD to order sunglasses online (in the end I bought normal frames and tinted lenses in store).

So my experience is that you get better after sales service on the high street.

what does that affect? the lens or the frame?

It's where the centre of the lens is. Getting it wrong can result in anything from no noticable effect to (as happened to me for a 1.5mm error) crap ballance and migraines.

My prescription is pretty hefty. My high index varifocals are around £600-800 depending on frames. I go to my local optician who has been looking after me for years and keeps an eye (ha ha) on what's going on inside the eyeballs. Oh I also visit the local eye clinic every year as I have high pressures and there is a family history of glaucoma.

I've had pretty good luck with selectspecs.com but I am a pretty basic distance only prescription.

Mrs Seadog and the youngster Seadog both need supe-duper grade spex.
Meaning £300~£600 each time. Gah!
Luckily I only need very mild varifocals for a bit of long sighted, so I don't have to keep taking them on and off. Even with the bestest lenses and tip top coatings I get two pairs for £200.

This makes for interesting listening if you need to know why they cost so much.

Discover the Familiar: The Spectacular Power of Big Lens - podcast

https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2018/dec/24/discover-the-familiar-the-spectacular-power-of-big-lens-podcast?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

A blo knew who was in the bike industry at the importer/distributor end once told me that if he had his time again he'd get into the glasses industry, mark up of 800% anyone?

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slowoldman
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My prescription is pretty hefty. My high index varifocals are around £600-800 depending on frames. I go to my local optician who has been looking after me for years and keeps an eye (ha ha) on what’s going on inside the eyeballs. Oh I also visit the local eye clinic every year as I have high pressures and there is a family history of glaucoma.

Posted 35 minutes ago
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I was just about to write virtually this. Age 54 and 2 pairs of identical varifocal titanium Oakleys.

Okay and thanks for lots of insight.

PD is normally 63mm. I have measured mine and got MrsWCA to check and it is 80mm which is beyond any acceptable value on the online ordering sights. I think a trip to SpecSavers when I can and get the PD measured is in order. I will probably buy the first pair of Varifocals from them based on price, aftercare and being able to give them back if I don't get on with them.

Thanks All

I had a bit of an argument with Specsavers years ago as they wouldn't give me my PD. But then a few years later I told them I was getting some safety specs made up for work and they gave it to me that time.

I've had cheap frame online and a few pairs of Oakleys as well. Lenses were fine in all of them but Oakleys fit better. I can't have Oakley lenses though as they don't make my prescription.

Last time I just got some cheaper ones from specsavers and even though I had them fitted twice in the shop they still slide down my face. Oakleys next time again....

Lenses aside, the frames are hillariously over priced as the makers (Luxotica) are a monopoly. Better still, a monopoly run by a pantomime villian called Del Vecchio. More on his antics when buying Oakley: https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2002/0204/060.html#73ebd4fa3d1c

Like an LBS you’ll miss your local optician when they are gone, and you are left with Specsavers (equivalent of evans) and online (equivalent of planetX).

For something you will wear every day the price is actually not that bad compared to a fancy waterproof, a lightweight tent or some bike parts.

I would use the online places for spare glasses, fashion choices (if you want to change your style regularly - with the primark equivalent of frames) or to keep a pair in the car in case you lose the normal ones etc [ive done none of those things but mrs p has used online for this sort of stuff].

I really like my local person, seeing the same optician, getting advice on styles, discussing lens materials, and knowing if I get a wobbly leg I can pop in and he’ll fix it, etc. I’d be sad to see them go. As I get older I expect to need them more and be less appreciative of the high staff turnover in the big chains.

There’s an irony that people will pay more for oaklies that get worn for a fraction of the time than normal glasses.

I'd definitely agree with your last comment WCA, get the first set at a high street branch, they need to fit the frames as well as cut your prescription lenses so the PD and the vari bit is all in the right place.

If you bought online it would be practically impossible to sort out any mistakes, but you can just pop back to a high street place a few days later, and either they correct it, or reassure you just to keep trying a bit longer.

As mentioned above, PD is pretty easy to get if you say you want cycling glasses or something, they do have safety glasses instore so you might have to ensure 10 minutes trying them on before saying no thanks, I'll take the PD measurement!

Once you are happy, the lense position can be read off your glasses, definitely PD can be measured, so I reckon the varifocal could be measured too. Might have to send them off to the online supplier though.

this might be a dumb question, but with PD.

So, when I've been measured before they get me to look at something like like the tip of their nose and then either hold up a ruler or sometimes put a dot of marker on my glasses and measure that. Easy enough.

Are your eyes always equally spaced either side of your nose? What if you're Lofty Wiseman, or Steve Ogrizovic, are they destined to have ill fitting glasses as a result?

I used to buy lenses online when standard lenses but now I have varifocals I wouldn't go online as the measurements are very critical as to where the change happens in the lens.

Don't find lens prices that bad but frames are as much as you want to spend really. I only wear Moscot frames and they are around £250 but they are well made (last over 5 years) and I really like the look of them (which is important as they are permanently on my face)

My optician uses a combination of an app that measures eye separation, pupil location, and frame position, as well as physical marking on the blanks. It doesn't always work but they've always been good about getting new lenses made up of something isn't working.
My prescription is quite strong, and now I'm on progressive lenses.
A new pair of glasses costs me about £1k which it's a bind but as I can't function without them seems quite cheap.

The way I see* it,

Glasses eye tests are about £20-25 which involve about an hour of my time, lots of expensive equipment and several different qualified/semi-qualified professionals.

The cost of the glasses must subsidise the cost of the eye tests.

When I was wearing contact lenses all the testing was "free" as that was included in the price of the lenses.

*in my reasonably priced varifocals and free pair of sunnies

A new pair of glasses costs me about £1k

£1000, wow. You must have some seriously ****ed up eyes!

[i] I went into vision express about a year ago a[/i]

Don't use them. Bunch of cowboys.

I have a pair of cheap glasses I bought from Speckyfoureyes online, so long ago I can't remember how long ago it was!
That said I'm a contact lense wearer so they don't get a hard life, but all the pairs I've had from opticians have broken in some way, and these just last. I think they were about £20.

There’s an irony that people will pay more for oaklies that get worn for a fraction of the time than normal glasses.

the day my local optician stopped selling oakleys was the day i stopped buying glasses from him.....

as i wear them every day i find oakleys to be comfy.

I've bought stop gap glasses in the past from other brands and they just dont have the comfort factor.

my old keel blades had three sets of lenses go through them before the leg piece fatigued at the frame end.

Bought from black and lizars

currently wearing Crosslink fits.

I went online for this set as the above co didnt stock crosslink fits at the time - it took them 2 attempts to get it right - they got the prescription the wrong way round in my lenses..... which given i have only one prescription lense meant i couldnt see shit. that was glassesdirect - and i did check the sheet was filled out correctly they eventually sorted them out.

I've found the chain opticians to be expensive and often poor. Boots took 3 gos to get a pair of specs right. They only give the optician 10 minutes per appointment and rely on an automatic machine that couldn't cope with my astygmatism (this was 15 years ago).y mate who works as a contact optician hates the big shops. Some specsavers are OK as they are a franchise but can be hit and miss.

Our local independent is really helpful and much cheaper (my Bolle safety specs were cheaper than the internet) they take the time to fit them and when I looked shocked at £300 for varifocals (getting old too) we discussed lenses and managed to nearly halve that using the same frame. The specs are great and the reader bits in exactly the right place.

In short find a small independent, usually found on a the high street of small towns.

My prescription is quite strong, and now I’m on progressive lenses.
A new pair of glasses costs me about £1k which it’s a bind but as I can’t function without them seems quite cheap.

Ap, do you know what lenses you have? I am just about to see a specialist optician again, after a decade of ordering online my last specialist glasses were worth the difference IMO.

By progressive, do you mean Varifocals? Am hopefully still on single vision, Optician does Zeiss lenses and a few other alternatives. Am expecting to go 1.74 index Digital lenses, as I do a lot of screen work. Scared that lenses might be £500 on their own!

Being terminally vain I imagined that shelling out a load of money would make me look like the guy in the adverts. I don't. Nice glasses though.

A few years ago I bought some mid-priced varifocals from Specsavers. I couldn't get on with them, the reason seemed to be that cheap lenses have small zones where the long/mid/near focus points lie. the rest is just distortion. In fairness Specsavers refunded the money and let me keep my free second pair of reading glasses.
I then went to The Hustler's shop (from this forum) where they sorted me out with a set of Essilor varifocal lenses in a nice frame at a sensible price. Marvellous glasses, I never had a problem except when re-wiring a ceiling light (the near bit is at the bottom) but putting them on upside down fixed that.

Specsavers have been hit and miss for me, as have Vision Express. My local independant is great but I was short of money last time I needed glasses, so used Asda Opticians - £120 for 2 pairs of varifocals. They've been fine.

@RichPenny
Err... I have a pair with Essilor 1.74 progressive lenses with Transitions coating for that special look 🤔 and another pair with Zeiss 1.74 progressive lenses without any photochromic ability.
As the lenses are expensive I tend to have them glazed into reasonably interesting frames. Currently Mykita and Yellows Plus. Some years ago I had a pair of Markus-T frames that I am led to believe were the highest prescription that the frame manufacturer had heard of being used with their frames.

I buy all mine online, so much cheaper and never had a problem.

I don't get Vision Express as they no longer are 'Express', everything gets sent off to me made centrally, so 2-3 week delay last time I enquired. I used to us them as the convenience of new glasses in less than a hour was worth it.

NB 2nd the Oakley frames thing, I used to always go for them as really comfy. Now using Gant frames as the wife prefers them.

Been thinking about when I started wearing glasses around ten years ago.

I had some really bad headaches for the first few days and went back to the shop, local independent. He explained that it's quite common if you've needed glasses and not worn them and it would be fine v soon when my brain caught up with the new images, but he also rechecked things too.
He was right and they lasted 10 years. Think I'd have been less confident in that situation with online. But have used them now for sunnies.

About those titanium Oakleys. Are they cycling specs or just "normal" specs? So far I haven't found any cycling specs at my prescription other than Rx inserts: -11.50, -9.75 and varifocal.

Mine are normal despite the arms not bending behind the ears like normal. I have RX inserts for my Rudy Rydons for cycling. Although I do wear my Oakleys under my TT helmet. I would not wear them off road. I don’t have varifocals in the inserts.

My sunglasses are silhouette titans. They make the oakleys look cheap. Ona cost per gram basis they are robbery. Like the titanium frames!

I used smartbuyglasses last month. Zenga frames, thinned down single vision lenses with the anti blue light thingy. £127 after topcashback.

I went online as all the chain opticians were trying to force you into buying two pairs for £400 - £500. Last glasses came from Vision express and I have to say I'm less than impressed. Paint / coating started to come off an expensive pair of frames very quickly.

Ok, so an update from my glasses direct experience...

Ordered a set of rimless specs after a trial pack, @ about £160 with all the lens coatings and whatnot, anti scratch, extra thin lens etc. they arrived, they are getting sent back.

The arms are not properly fitted to the lens on both sides, one side has a good 2-3mm gap with no obvious way to tighten them, as the screws appear to have some kind of plastic glue on them.

So I'm out.

Will have to go to a proper optician once I get a refund.

Had my appointment and ordered my glasses. They'll be about 4 weeks for the frame as it's custom and will be modified to fit me better, and matches the paint scheme on my main bike which is key. Then 2 more for the lenses. Gone for Zeiss digital lenses as I now have a small positve prescription.

Was impressed with the eye test, bit more thorough than normal and they took loads more time to go through the complexities of my prescription and what the options are. Also seemed more interested in my general eye health (Glaucoma) than in previous places.