Eyeglass's -- where?

Well, as I approach 30, I decided to get my eyes checked. Probably a good thing I did as I find it harder to read road signs now

sure enough, I was told I need glasses.

Now, I've heard anti-glare and anti-scratch are wonderful to have, but my insurance doesn't cover them

any recommendations on where to get a decent set with out going bankrupt around the Holidays?

nope.... never heard of 'em anyways

As someone who has worn glasses for fifty years, GET GLASS. No scratch worries and photo-grey is cheaper than plastics that change. Don't believe what they say about weight either. Glass is thinner(usually) than the same prescription in plastic. Plastic, no matter what coatings, will scratch. When you're out in the field working, you're not going to stop, get out your wetting solution and lint free soft cloth, and clean your lenses. You're going to grab your shirttail and wipe. Plastics -even with coatings -will not stand up to that. If you can, maybe contacts will work for you. But if you must, or prefer glasses, get glass.

americas best

http://www.twopair.com/

Two pair glasses with exam for $70... The frames are all close outs or left overs so they are cheap.

If you really want cheap and have a prescription already

http://zennioptical.com/cart/home.php <--- Get your glasses from India.. $8 $25 for bifocals..

Costco and Sams!

i liked lenscrafters, but dont have one around here. I forget the name of the outfit i go to now.

I have plastic no-line bifocals and they have held up pretty well for me.

I have bifocals and a very odd prescription so I pretty much have to have plastic lenses, but all that has been said about them previously is true. If you don't/can't go the contacts route, go with glass lenses and get a least a polarizing coating of some kind to block the UV rays.

I go to Lens Crafters, when they run a sale, but it's a real headache as they can make a car salesman's head explode with their "conditions" and deals.

Against ALL my previous feelings, a co-worker talked me into going to a WalMart in Boca Raton for a new set of glasses. Turned out to be a very good experience. Professional staff, very good doctor, careful fitting. Not expensive. I will go back soon for my contacts. I am extremely near-sighted with the added bonus of astigmatism, so getting a good prescription and comfortable glasses was an unexpected treat.

Contacts FWT

I do prefer contacts for the most part but you do need to get a pair of glasses with them. Costco had the best prices for my contacts around here and Lens Crafters was good for my glasses.

+1000000 about contacts being the best choiceif you can wear them - I've been wearing them for 25+ years now and HATE when I have to wear glasses. If you try them and have trouble with them, ask for a different brand and/or style. I had to go through about 10 different brands/styles recently when my brand of contacts stopped making the style I used and I had to switch to a disposable type. With contacts having a good optician/fitter is worth the money up front - then order lenses online to save 50% when you need refills.

I got my last pair of glasses from Zenni as linked above - the glasses themselves are fine quality-wise and the Rx is correct, but without a professional adjustment of the frames to your face the overall result is OK at best. I too had a good experience at a WallyWorld optical. Got my boy his last pair of glasses at a LensCrafters or Pearl, I forget which, and their "deals" do definitely take some navigating to make sure the final bill isn't several hundred more than you originally thought.

For coatings, yes, anti-reflective and anti-glare are worth the money, especially for driving and especially at night.

At the end of the day your vision isn't someplace to cheap out. The only reason I went with Zenni for my glasses is I wear them at most 5 minutes per day, first thing in the morning and from the bathroom to the bed at night. The rest of the time it's contacts, with perfect peripheral vision, no fogging and nothing on my face except my Oakleys when needed.

Ah ha everyone forgets about lasik, you could do that too, yeah insurance doesn't cover it but no glasses ever! I get mine for free cause I'm in the army, the 8th of next month for that matter.

• on Walmart.

Basically, a Doc-in-a-box.....but decent prices.

I've had good luck with 39dollarglasses.com. They even have Transitions. A full on set of frames with the best Transitions lenses they have ran me about $160. That's about half what I paid at Walmart for similar product.

jg

I'd recommend the anti-reflective coating. I've had glasses without it., and at night the headlights of following vehicles reflect into the lens of my glasses. It's dazzling,

I tried Transitions a few years ago, not for me. They rely on UV light, so didn't work that well in the car. In cold temps they are very slow to change. Walking into a building from outside in winter and I was blind for a couple of minutes.

A local place (Lens Express) did 2 for $99 - one pair of regular prescription lenses, and one with tint.

I've done Wally World with good results, but I'm going to check out jg's site.

If you wear your glasses while working on your car, ditch the anti glare. The stuff is soft and easily damaged and all it takes is one wayward grinding spark etc. The anti scratch is great, do that even if you have to pay for it out of pocket.

Also, check into the 'twistable' frames. I did that, it's great. Accidents which would have had me cussing and going after new frames have no effect on the twistables.

If you have some small tool and dexterity, Zinni is the way to go. Good quality and way less $. I was amazed.

I bought the anti glare lenses one time, but, for once, I had them put into fancyass frames. The lenses were great during the day but when driving at night, something made the edge of the frames light up. It was like looking through two glowing rings. They were useless.

Oddly enough, I no longer wear glasses.

I need them for distance, like in driving. At my last update, I bought an identical pair only tinted the darkest brown available. From sailing I learned that brown cuts glare better than any other color.

Dan

1. Get glass lenses for reasons mentioned by Minimac

2. Get metal frames (twistables are nice). It is cheaper to get metal frames straightened than buy new plastic ones.

3. If you sweat very much get stainles frames rather than gold colored ones. When the lacquer on the gold(brass plated) frames wears off your sweat will turn the gold frames green along with your hair.

4. If you do get coated lenses get some safety goggles. Like Jensenman said coated lenses and grinding, welding, etc are not compatible.

5. If you do get "Photo-Gray" lenses, take them home and let them lay in the direct sunlight for 3-4 hours before wearing them. They need to be "seasoned" to get the most benefit from them.

I agree with Minimac about the scratch resistance of glass vs plastic. However, glass lenses are heavier than plastic in stronger prescriptions. Another downside with glass is that you're limited in the type of rimless frames (can't use fishingline).

Laser surgery has limitations. As well as having life-long near sightedness, I'm going to need to start wearing reading glasses soon. I've tried monovision (one eye corrected for nearsightedness, one for reading) with contacts and HATED it. Still, I would get laser surgery tomorrow if I could afford it.

+1 Zenni - their return policy is pretty awful, though at their prices it doesn't matter. Don't buy memory plastic frames; the only thing remembered is that you won't buy memory plastic frames next time.

Hal wrote: 3. If you sweat very much get stainles frames rather than gold colored ones. When the lacquer on the gold(brass plated) frames wears off your sweat will turn the gold frames green along with your hair.

what is this "hair" you speak of?

ignorant wrote: a If you really want cheap and have a prescription already http://zennioptical.com/cart/home.php <--- Get your glasses from India.. $8 $25 for bifocals..

+1 on Zennioptical

Zennioptical made Clark Howard's recomended list.

http://clarkhoward.com/liveweb/shownotes/category/11/430/

Another internet-based choice is ~$39 Eyeglasses~ (I'm wearing mine right now)

My sister bought from Zenni (mentioned above).....also a good deal.

My prescription safety glasses came from WalMart Optical.

Jensenman wrote: I've done Wally

If I had a nickel for every time I heard that!