It looks as though I’m actually going to be able to replace my glasses in the next couple of months. That’ll come as a big improvement, I hope. Early next month I’m going to the big town about fifty miles away with some neighbors, to get an eye examination and new prescription.
My current specs are ten or twelve years old. They’re the old ones I had when I moved out here, held in reserve against terminal damage to my principal specs. The frames of the “first-line” set gave up the ghost several months ago.
Didn’t really matter. The lenses in both work fine for distance, and are complete shite for close-up. For really fine close-up vision I just take the damned things off and hold stuff very close to my face – it’s the only way I can focus. Some nights I can barely see to read.
So the plan is to get the new prescription, then buy some on-line specs. I’ve been looking at prices, and it looks doable. Money for the exam is already in the sack, and I got some good news concerning what I owe for the cinder blocks I bought a few weeks ago – it looks as though my eyeglasses fund is heftier than I feared.
Maybe I’ll even be able to see my rifle sights again!
I buy all my glasses from 39DollarGlasses.com All you need to know (other than the prescription) is the distance in mm between your pupils. Have someone measure that distance for ya as the people who make glasses locally won’t tell you the number. They don’t want you shopping online.
I’ve had good luck with Zenni Optical; I’ve been paying $10-$15 per pair.
I just got new glasses myself after 7 years squinting with the old ones, sigh..
I called WalMart vision center (80 miles away) and was treated rudely… then told that the eye exam was $89. The local optometrist here in my little town only wanted $6. more. No contest, since it would cost me $20. to drive to the city.
I told the optometrist that I would take a prescription for the lenses and buy them on line. He didn’t seem to have any problem with that… and readily gave me the “magic number” mentioned above.
But I have at least half a dozen pairs of excellent frames and can see no point in buying more of them. None of the on line dispensers I contacted would consider using my frames. All of them insisted on selling me new ones. And I kept wondering how they would get fitted to me coming in the mail.
Yes, it cost a little bit more. But I think I’ll have a better chance of a good outcome buying local.
I expected on-line glasses to be a total disaster but I bought a pair as an “experiment”. To my surprise they’re just as good as ones that cost three times as much to buy in person. All hail the internet!
Please post a link to the outfit you bought them from, Curmudgeon. Pretty please! The “on line” outfits I looked at were not that different in price and insisted on selling me frames I didn’t need. And how did you get them fitted to your face if you bought new frames?
I have used Zeni optical. For the price of a set of glasses, it doesn’t pay to worry about your old frames. I paid $25 for frame, lenses, and shipping. got them in 10 days and I have a really weird Rx. I had the optometrist measure my pupillary distance (pupil to pupil spacing) during the exam. I ordered frames that were the same width as my existing pair. The website has dimensions listed w/ the frames. Just click on the picture of the frame you are interested in.The glasses come with the temple pieces basically straight. I just compared them to the glasses I had and marked where to bend them, heated the temple pieces in boiling water and gently bent to match. It wasn’t hard and you can bend a little at a time till they feel right.