As I mentioned last time, glasses are expensive.
Having previously covered Zenni Optical and 39DollarGlasses, I wanted to move onto EyeBuyDirect.com, Goggles4U.com, and CoastalContacts.com.
Similar format as last time, and please let us know if you have had any interaction with these vendors. Thus far, Jon and I have only ever used Zenni.
EyeBuyDirect.com — They seem a little more “hip” than the others reviewed thus far. They offer a Deal of the Week even have a twitter account (though it hasn’t been updated in over two weeks).
Pros:
* Frames start at $7.95
* Wonderful Catalog Browse page that allows you to easily narrow your parameters by collection, type, style, material, color, size, and perhaps most importantly, by price
* Plenty of options:
1. Differing Lens Thicknesses (higher number = smaller/lighter lenses): Standard (1.5) is included, 1.57 for $25 (Zenni defaults to this thickness), 1.6 for $42, 1.67 for $67, 1.74 for $112
* Anti-reflective Coating (basically required for anyone who works with computers) for $6.95
* UV Coating for $4.95
* Tinting (at 20, 40, 60 or 80%) available in Brown, Green, Gray, Purple, or Blue for $4.95 — Also shows an example of how a picture would look when viewed through each tint — not available with the 1.74 Lens Thickness
* Photochromic lenses (in gray or brown) for $35.95 — only available with 1.5 and 1.57 Lens Thickness
* They also offer Party Glasses which seems to entail putting a Swarovski crystal in the bottom left of your left lens… I would pass on this, but for $19 you can have a crystal in your choice of White, Blue, Turquoise, Green, Purple, or Red.
* Offering Bifocals for $19 more and Progressive lenses for $39 more though only on select frames
* They store prescriptions by name, so if you are ordering with multiple prescriptions (like if someone asks you to buy glasses for them) you can handle that quite easily without having to reenter prescription info
Cons:
* No option for Prisms (which Jon’s vision requires)
* Can’t send them your frames to have them put in new lenses
* While they have the cheapest frames, the $25 premium you pay for the 1.57 lenses is less than exciting and there aren’t nearly as many of the $7.95 frames as Zenni has for $8 frames
* No shipping cost calculator. Requires your email AND telephone number along with the usual info to give you the price for the USPS shipping option — UPS/DHL International option shows $24.95 for one set of frames.
Goggles4U.com — Almost skipped this one, because it required me to create an account BEFORE I could review their prices. Yeah, this site wins at least likely to ever see my business. Thankfully, the good people/person at 10MinuteMail helped me out there. Sorry for the lack of price info on this one.
Pros:
* Frames start at $9.99
* Moderately useful search allowing you to search by Total Width, Eye Height, Eye Width, Nose/Bridge, and Temple (all in MM), as well as the more useful Style, Color, Usage, and Material.
* They store prescriptions by name, so if you are ordering with multiple prescriptions (like if someone asks you to buy glasses for them) you can handle that quite easily without having to reenter prescription info
* First site I’ve seen that actually offered Glass lenses (don’t remember the last time I had a set made of glass — way too dangerous for a child)
Cons:
* The site requires you to create an account (full name, email, password) in order to customize a frame.
* No option for Prisms (which Jon’s vision requires)
* Can’t send them your frames to have them put in new lenses
* By far the most annoying process. First you find a frame, then they ask what you use it for and what features you want, the latter being a joke because it is a radio button and thus you are unable to select multiple “features”.
* No shipping cost calculator. Requires you to enter everything but your credit card before giving you shipping costs.
CoastalContacts.com — Not worth it. They have the same prices as my local opto, so there is very little point in shopping with them rather than going in and trying on the various glasses you might find amusing. Also, as the name suggests, they also have contacts.
In closing, it appears that Zenni is the winner in terms of the low cost alternative for glasses. If you want some better customizations 39DollarGlasses or EyeBuyDirect seems like your best bets. Personally, I plan to stick with Zenni where I can buy 3 pairs of glasses for the cost of one from anywhere else.