Following on from a couple of recent threads about riding glasses, I'm considering getting a new pair of vison corrected riding specs. I've seen a few recommendations for online providers but as I have an astigmatism would this cause any issues with getting the correct lenses fitted?
I have a very good real world optician that I normally use but they don't have access to a great range of sportswear glasses, and what they do is (in my eyes) quite expensive compared to similar, or in some cases identical, brands available online (Bollé is the one that immediately comes to mind). I suppose I could get the frame cheaper and see if they could fit new lenses but I don't want to incur any unnecessary costs when I find out they won't/can't replace the lenses.
As ever, your advice and suggestions are greatly appreciated 🙂
Probably worth talking with your optician. I have the same issue.
A few years ago my optician, although they contracted out the work, were quite happy to fit lenses to an Oakley frame which I supplied them.
i wasn’t prepared to risk a shoddy job online.
Never had an issue, I order my glasses on line. I have an astigmatism.
I think the issue isn’t the astigmatism, that’s just coded into the prescription. Its the measuring of the location of your pupils that would concern me with onlinge glasses. But maybe that can be done with photos now?
You can get given the PD measurement in the prescription, and it's not difficult in a mirror, if you don't have it.
and it's not difficult in a mirror, if you don't have it.
Just a shame I need to put my glasses on to do the measuring 🤣
Cheers for the comments folks, I may go and have a chat with my opticians this weekend.
I've had loads of online specs, even varifocals and I have a pretty bad astigmatism. Never had a problem.
Measurements for PD can be taken from photos now, but I've measured in the mirror as well. Once got specsavers to give me my PD by telling them that I was buying prescription safety specs from work supplier.....
I was recently recommended a prism (different from astigmatism) in my prescription which would have been an expensive experiment as I wear varifocals.
I ordered a pair of distance glasses with prism from Goggles for you ( not putting the real name as I'll be plagued with ads for months) at £21.
They're excellent. Now considering buying a pair of varifocal photochromic sunglasses from them for about £50. Which would cost about £400 at Specsavers.
Measurements for PD can be taken from photos now, but I've measured in the mirror as well. Once got specsavers to give me my PD by telling them that I was buying prescription safety specs from work supplier.....
Did you find your optician really reluctant to give you the measurement, im guessing you did?
I think they have to allow you to take the prescription away if asked but it's not mandatory to tell people the PD. I mean, I get it from a business point of view but at the same time I was strangely irked by it! Lol I'd tried the mirror method and someone else doing the measurement too and both were only 1mm out from official measurement.
I finally got it from Boots** but had to jump through a few hoops including filling out a form that had to be completed and was only known to even exist by one staff member.
I get these from selectspecs and I've been using them for riding/everyday use for many years now. They are about as wraparound style as I've seen for normal glasses, far more than they look online. Boots actually thought they were some bespoke riding framed jobs when they asked about them once but of course they aren't **that much** wrap around Slim enough that I can look inside them to look at my mobile or whatever as I've not get given into varifocals for entirely daft reasons.
** Great, unrushed tests (it felt like a speeding conveyor belt as Specsavers) but my word, the frames are mostly horrible and madly expensive.
Once got specsavers to give me my PD by telling them that I was buying prescription safety specs from work supplier.....
I’m just truthful and tell them I’m buying sports glasses. Seeing as they have case full of safety specs that I get with vouchers for, that’s actually a more valid reason anyway!
I ask for my PD when I get a new pair of glasses fitted, it’s varied quite significantly a couple of times, once the lady was confused it was different to my current glasses, a colleague came over to redo it and they both agreed, 18 months later I went back and it was back to the previous measurement!!
So I need to find them all now and look for any consistency before ordering my next online cycling glasses!
Have an astigmatism and have ordered a few sets of glasses through www.reglaze-glasses-direct.com and have had no issues - for this set I just sent a pair of existing specs that were done at a high street optician and they measured the PD from them - very easy.
There seems to be some unspoken professional protection around PD. I got an eye test and ordered a new pair of glasses from a local optician but took my old frame (a slightly niche design) back to a previous optician to get lenses with the new prescription fitted by them . After a bit of back and forth, a couple of attempts at PD measurement (including a binocular like device which did it digitally) the original optician noted that his PD was a few mm different to the new optician’s measurement, but that he would be sticking to his own calculations. When I went to pick up the brand new glasses I asked the optician if they had a record of the PD and got a very defensive “why are you asking” response. Given they are obliged to hand over the prescription to take anywhere of your choosing I can only think they cling on to this as some sort of the last bit of proprietorial knowledge to justify their existence.
It does seem somewhat cheeky to be using the services of a high street retailer just to then piss off and buy from somewhere else. Maybe that's just me.
The eye test is a separate service for which you pay a fee whether or not you buy specs, although, naturally, they hope you do.
Ah, fair point.
Astigmatism is fine online. Don’t overthink it!
I have a minor astigmatism and don’t find online ordered glasses any different.
I think there’s a bit of a myth that your high street optician is grinding the lenses themselves after hours or something, they send the orders off to an optical lab, same as the online outfits. Their main benefit is in-person service and obviously providing testing, but if they don’t sell the products you need then loyalty is rather redundant.