I'm in Australia, so the options are not quite so wide. 'Name brand' frames, as well as grinding the glass, suffers the same, seemingly artificial, premium that everything else does on this side of the pond.
My first eye test was free, but the frame + lenses were upwards of A$300. Yes, it seemed horrendously expensive at the time. (Trying to find an online retailer of the same model glasses that I bought - with a view to buying a slightly different style or colour - is next to impossible. i-spax (brand), colin (model) ... I can find it on the company web site, but evidently no one sells these things online, which in 2015 just seems perverse.)
In terms of comfort and vision I'll pick the expensive glasses every time.
I reordered the same frames this past year and they seem to be fine, so I don't know if they changed up the nose pads in any way or if I managed to adjust the frames properly this go around.
For sunglasses I go with with Luxottica because of the premium polarized lenses. I wear sunglasses 11 months out of the year so I definitely agree on getting a quality pair.
I'm looking forward to the flat optics future when a holographic lens gives you the same correction but without the weight, depth, or chromatic abberation of a "normal" lens.
I'm guessing you have a strong prescription. I was always jealous of people who had a comparatively 'weak' prescription being able to get glasses from PearlVision or what not for $99.
For eye exams, I used to pay the optometrist $153 ($117 refraction + $36 dilation). I later found out that Costco often has an optometrist on site in a tiny office and will charge just $50 (and add +$20 for dilation). That's less than half the cost of most other optometrists. A bonus is that the tiny Costco office has no frames so there's no sales pressure to guide you towards his limited selection of frames. Therefore, he always just prints out your Rx and gives it to you without any dirty looks. Costco (the warehouse) has frames but you have to walk next door into the main retail floor to try them. The optometrist has no idea whether you buy glasses from them. You don't need to be a Costco member to use the optometrist at Costco.
For lenses, I used to always pay ~$400 for 2 pairs of glasses. For Eyemasters, Lenscrafters, Visionworks, etc, it didn't matter if they had "2-for-1 sale on lenses" or "2nd pair frames free". The total (when including desirable features such as AR coatings, etc) always came to ~$200 for each pair. I've come to believe the sales promotions at eyewear chains are as meaningless as the "sales" at mattress stores.
Now, I buy from zennioptical.com. Each pair is always less than $35. That's even cheaper than Costco and Walmart.
I think my recommendation won't work for people who are very sensitive to fashion and want to try all the stylish frames at their fingertips. (Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, etc.) At my age, eyeglasses are just functional things and I'm fine with picking out a no-name classic style from zenni.