I know a lot of them advertise identical quality but did you ever confirm that to be the case?
I've heard ...
I know a lot of them advertise identical quality
but did you ever confirm that to be the case?
https://www.zennioptical.com/glasses-lenses
When you buy glasses from a bricks and mortar optician, you're getting whatever bog-standard lenses they sell, unless they specifically mention they're high index, or have some specific feature/coating, or are from some specific manufacturer.
Just like when you buy glasses online.
There are definitely differences in lens quality, but the available range is just as wide in retail stores as it is online.
The mid range to entry luxury brands, many owned by Luxottica, use broadly available lenses and coatings, or so the discount online stores claim.
I've never been to a discount brick-and-mortar store selling the full range of Luxottica products, usually only a few styles here and there. So I can't comment there.
What I'm asking is if the claims of discount stores, like that they have access to the same lenses as full priced Luxottica stores, are actually true.
And whether they are honest with their shipped product.
e.g. How would anyone know if they in fact got a X layer coated lens (where X could be from 3 to 8) from a discount shop?
It seems trivial to ship a X-1 layer coated lens instead, with a very low possibility of getting caught.
Can I get them with a protective undercoating and extended warranty?
How do you know you're getting it from the brick and mortar?
You can wet them, shine a flashlight, put them under the sun for transition lenses, etc...
Not foolproof, but it would make it harder to substitute the lower end lenses, 3 coatings vs 2 coating would likely be noticeable.
8 coatings vs 7 coatings might not be.
So for the mid range and above it probably doesn't make sense to discount shop at all. Your entirely trusting the brand reputation or shop reputation on whether they will deliver.
How do you know those glasses on the counter touting 8 layers actually has those 8 layers?
It kind of sounds like all you can really do is see if the glasses have the features you requested. Do they transition? Does it seem like they transition as much as you were wanting? Do they seem like they don't have bad glare? Does it attenuate the glare as much as you were wanting? If not, then return them. This is entirely possible with online glasses retailers, they usually have decently generous return policies.
People don't buy glasses because they have 8 layers instead of 7. They buy them because those layers give additional features and it's the features they want. If they can do the features you want in 7 layers instead of 8, does it really matter if it's only 7 layers?
For mid range to high end lenses it would probably be impossible to confirm the actual layer count without destructive testing.
Of course it would be reputation and gut-feel-perception based for most buyers in any case.
However, for the higher end stuff, gut-feel-perception probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Human eyes can’t perceive the strength of lamination between layers, for example.
So it would be entirely reputation based at the higher end.
Which probably explains why high end glasses are vastly more expensive then Warby Parker and other discount places…
In a store you can compare things side by side. If you order something, you get what you get and have no frame of reference.
Not to mention their warranty on frames are also only 30 days...
Glass lenses cost me Rs 1000 (about $12.5) a few months back (myopia, -5) - I'd say these were on the cheaper side, and no special coating (they cost as much as the lenses themselves!!). Frames on the cheaper end also cost around this much.
I'd rather have my glasses weigh a bit more if the lenses are more durable.
The scratches are caused by particles of dust pressed by you against the lens, and then rubbed all around. A quick rinse removes almost all the dust, and then you can dry them with any clean towel, tissue or even the shirt. I also use a drop of soap to degrease them.
I have plastic lenses with zero scratches after five years of use.
It's so much more convenient (or maybe I'm just lazy!) to be able to dry glass lenses with a towel, paper towel, a t-shirt, or anything absorbent.
Sure, it's enough to pay for the materials (frames cost pennies, and cheap lenses maybe $1?).
But someone still has to cut the the lenses to size, and fit them to the frame. This requires both equipment and skill.
I don't think I've ever paid less than $15-$20 for prescription single-vision glasses. I've paid more even in the 'wholesale' optical market in Beijing.
$2 is easily achievable for reading glasses, which are mass produced with lenses installed at the factory.
india has a very weird medical economy at times, geared to the costs necessary to deliver ultra-basic care to many people who are dirt-poor, utilizing generics (occasionally of questionable quality), the ultra-cheap cost of labor, etc.
for example centchroman is an interesting case-study... the government basically paid to develop and take it through trials and it was generic from day-1, and then the generics manufacturers go to work and you have birth control that can be delivered to market for under a dollar a month (4 pills) in retail quantities, and the government distributes them free because it's cheaper than pregnancy/social services.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ormeloxifene
Not that at the high level, the care isn't great, but, a lot of india is super poor and underdeveloped and delivering core medicines cheaply is relatively effective to provide a super basic level of care, they have a focus on delivering super cheap generics that cover the basic use-cases. I'm sure the glasses are cheap shitty molded plastic or something, or at most a super basic molded glass lens, perhaps with some subsidies. I'm mentally imagining the "BCG" glasses from basic training, designed to be indestructible and unscratchable (aka the birth control glasses).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GI_glasses
But that is the 80% solution, make em cheap and polish em up with super cheap labor and with basic materials you probably can get that down to 2 bucks or within subsidy distance of that.
They might be OK, but custom lenses will almost certainly be better.
(Also, glasses ordered online in Britain start at less than $10 a pair. Once something purchased that infrequently costs less than a McDonald's meal, there's not much pressure to further reduce the price. It's one hour work at the legal minimum wage.)
I don't wear glasses, but I suppose I did I could get something that roughly works for me for a price of a coffee and a couple of doughnuts. These glasses don't look cool, but don't look ugly either, they are just extremely basic. Likely fine for reading at home.
This author is uninformed. Others have jumped in. And Warby Parker wasn't even the first.
15 years ago I would buy my single-vision prescription glasses from optical4less.com. The cost was $58 for 2 pairs, including worldwide shipping.
Today I buy my glasses from Zenni. Last month, I paid $176.75 total for two pairs of glasses, each with single-vision photochromic lenses (and one pair with additional blue light blocking).