Thursday, September 06, 2007

New Specs

I have seen the light, and I'll never go back to buy glasses the old way again.

I've been putting off getting new eyeglasses for a long time. And I mean a loooong time. I mean that my glasses were about 2 or 3 prescriptions old (which is what? Like 6 years?). The lenses were all scratched up, and the screw on one side kept working loose, so I would have to remember to occasionally tighten it or my glasses would fall apart. They were in bad shape.

But glasses are so expensive! And I had a hard time justifying the expense when I already buy new contacts on a regular basis--did I really need new glasses, too? I mean, I could *pretty much* read road signs. What's the big deal?

I really did want new glasses. But every time I thought about it, I could also think of many other things that I'd rather spend a couple hundred dollars on. And I'd convince myself that my old glasses were good enough.

Then I had a brainstorm. Which was actually very overdue, considering how much time I spend online: Why not buy my glasses online? I figured if you could get contact lenses on the Internet, then why not glasses, too? It was at least worth a shot.

So I looked around and found a ton of eyeglass vendors online. The deciding factor: Zenni Optical was cheap. Dirt cheap. So cheap, in fact, that I could get a pair of prescription glasses, plus shipping, for under $20.

At that point, I figured: why not? I ordered my glasses, they arrived in about 2 weeks, and they're great! At first I was shocked at how much stronger the prescription was than my old glasses, but it just reinforced how sorely overdue this glasses purchase was.

I chose these glasses, in blue. I like them, but the frames are a little bit wider than I was expecting. In the future, I would recommend measure the frame width/height of a pair of glasses you like, so you can compare those measurements to the glasses you find online. I'll probably do that for the next pair of glasses I buy.

And at prices that are actually affordable, I may be buying another pair very soon! Anyone driving around the Cleveland area can rest a little easier now.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Megan, you are very brave buying glasses online! I agree that the price of glasses can get outrageous. But since I wear mine everyday, I need a nice looking pair. I prefer Costco optical for mine - last year I got Burberry frame and lenses plus a pair of decent sunglasses for less than $200. That's a real bargain in my book! But maybe I'll try to find a "fun" pair of glasses online if I can get a real steal like you found! Thanks for the good idea.

Anonymous said...

I agree--that's brave buying them online. I'm one of those people who takes advantage of the LensCrafter's 30 day exchange plan because I never like any pair. And I barely ever wear my glasses. I like to be able to try them on and see how they look. That site is something to look into for my "in bed watching tv and might fall asleep with them on" glasses though. That pair is probably 3 prescriptions old and mangled slightly.

M. Lubbers said...

How funny that you guys see me as being brave! I mean, it was a bit worrisome to pick out glasses, sight unseen. (A stretch of a pun, but I'll take it.) But I figured, it was only $20. Worst-case scenario: if I hated the new glasses, I'd donate them to some vision project and stick with my ancient, crappy pair. And that's not so bad!

I will have to check out Costco, Andrea. My boss is a HUGE Costco fan, so I hear about it a lot. I keep meaning to take a look, but haven't gotten around to it yet ... but I'll remember your suggestion!

Anonymous said...

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