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Old 06-10-2020, 06:43 PM
 
Location: WMHT
4,564 posts, read 5,631,000 times
Reputation: 6753

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After breaking my primary pair and wearing my one good spare pair while I wait for my optician to make new glasses, I finally decided to check out online eyeglasses. While cheapest online offerings (e.g. 2 for $20!) are definitely not as fashionable as more expensive glasses, and don't come with the fancy coatings (unless you pay +$15 for the add-on), they are functional, and at that price you can have a pair in every car, boat, and BOB.

During the COVID lockdown I received orders from both 39dollarglasses and goggles4u, both took about 10 days from ordering to delivery, I ordered online the day after I got my prescription and placed an order at a local shop, and the online orders arrived first!

Note that goggles4u does most of their production in Thailand and Pakistan, while 39dollarglasses imports frames but states their lens production and assembly is all in Long Island, NY

Last edited by Nonesuch; 06-10-2020 at 07:26 PM..
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Old 06-10-2020, 07:45 PM
 
Location: Puna, Hawaii
4,388 posts, read 4,824,312 times
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Zenni Optical sells glasses (frames and lenses) for under seven dollars, including an anti-scratch coating.

Payne Glasses are even cheaper.

I've bought tri-focals with coatings, blue block, and sun darkening from Zenni. They weren't under 7 dollars but they weren't expensive either.

Many of the places listed in this thread have online coupons that can be found to bring price down further.

The wife and I have bought from 39dollarglasses and Zenni several times over the years and have found their quality to be equal or greater to anywhere else that charge 4000% more.

If one is not willing to buy online, the cheapest place I've found to get glasses is costco. Bring in your prescription, the glasses are a lot cheaper than the eye doctors.

The online places also provide (for free) a hard case, lens wipe cloth, and glasses repair kit (little screwdriver and tiny screws). Stuff that would cost you more than $7 if you bought at an eye doctor. It's almost like "buy a glasses case and repair kit, and get a free pair of glasses including frames and lenses!"

Some of the online places have an app where you can upload a picture of your face and virtually put the glasses you are considering onto it so you get a good idea if they are the frames for you. Since they all seem to sell the same frames (albeit under different names) you could use the decision making process with the app at a different online store.

Contact lenses? Many USA based online contact lens sellers have their own doctors that will "prescribe" lenses if you input your prescription and click a box saying you've been to an eye doctor in the last year. Others actually have online vision tests. There are many online UK sellers who ship to the USA (prescriptions are not necessary for contact lenses in the UK, in some European countries they are sold out of vending machines) but the main difference is that for whatever reason in the UK, you can buy a smaller quantity of contact lenses. For example in the USA the minimum purchase for monthly replacement lenses is 6 months worth. In the UK it's 3. Daily replacements in the USA is 90 days. 30 in the UK. So you don't have to invest as much $ to try a new product. Also the UK sellers, you can call and immediately talk to the optometrist for free to get guidance on what you might need. In the USA it takes a 30 day wait and $300 to get that type of service.

Last edited by terracore; 06-10-2020 at 08:04 PM..
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Old 06-10-2020, 08:09 PM
 
Location: WMHT
4,564 posts, read 5,631,000 times
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Post I initially tried Zenni, but their frame search came up with almost no options for my prescription and temple length.

Looking for a few pair of backups, inexpensive enough to just drop into a bag or glovebox and never think about again until TSHTF

First I've heard of Payne Glasses, will check them out
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Old 06-11-2020, 12:14 AM
 
Location: When you take flak it means you are on target
7,646 posts, read 9,907,565 times
Reputation: 16451
Interesting info, thanks. I've gone to the same optometrist for 30 years. LOL Probably the past ten I order two pair of clear and one pr of sunglasses when I get a new prescription. But it's been getting darn expensive. I may try the online sources.

I'd have lasik, but I shoot guns quite a bit and they said I'd need a long eye and a close eye, and would still need reading glasses - so I figured why spend 5 grand and maybe not be able to see my sights, or be able to read a book. Right now I just slide them down my nose a bit like a librarian... I have a custom dive mask and a pair of prescription swim goggles for the pool.

Regarding survival - you should have at LEAST two pair of glasses. And in a long term survival situation vision issues could/would become a major problem for many. And it's something we don't really have an answer for. Anybody know how to grind a lens - even if you could get the computerized equipment running? My prescription is pretty stable so I have a few old pair. I keep my current spare pair in my travel suitcase. And I keep a pair of older ones in my hiking day pack, my bug out trunk, my "get home" bag in the truck.

There's a lot of issues like this that aren't sexy to talk about in survival forums. And honestly all I know is for myself, I'd probably be in big trouble after a few years.
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Old 06-11-2020, 07:08 AM
 
Location: WMHT
4,564 posts, read 5,631,000 times
Reputation: 6753
Exclamation Two is one. One is none.

Quote:
Originally Posted by terracore View Post
Zenni Optical sells glasses (frames and lenses) for under seven dollars, including an anti-scratch coating.
I've been avoiding ordering from Zenni or anywhere else which has outsourced their production to China. I'd prefer a company using frames from Europe and making lens stateside, but I also want a reasonable price for my backup eyeglasses, and sometimes the frugal Yankee in me wins,

Quote:
Originally Posted by jamies View Post
Regarding survival - you should have at LEAST two pair of glasses. And in a long term survival situation vision issues could/would become a major problem for many. And it's something we don't really have an answer for. Anybody know how to grind a lens - even if you could get the computerized equipment running? My prescription is pretty stable so I have a few old pair. I keep my current spare pair in my travel suitcase. And I keep a pair of older ones in my hiking day pack, my bug out trunk, my "get home" bag in the truck.

There's a lot of issues like this that aren't sexy to talk about in survival forums. And honestly all I know is for myself, I'd probably be in big trouble after a few years.
That's exactly why I started this thread -- I was running on my last "spare", and when I got my new prescription the doc said it was close to my old prescription and probably won't change much over the next decade or so This seemed like a good time to invest in a selection of backups for my backups.
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Old 06-11-2020, 09:51 PM
 
Location: Puna, Hawaii
4,388 posts, read 4,824,312 times
Reputation: 7974
Quote:
Originally Posted by jamies View Post
Interesting info, thanks. I've gone to the same optometrist for 30 years. LOL Probably the past ten I order two pair of clear and one pr of sunglasses when I get a new prescription. But it's been getting darn expensive. I may try the online sources.

I'd have lasik, but I shoot guns quite a bit and they said I'd need a long eye and a close eye, and would still need reading glasses - so I figured why spend 5 grand and maybe not be able to see my sights, or be able to read a book. Right now I just slide them down my nose a bit like a librarian... I have a custom dive mask and a pair of prescription swim goggles for the pool.

Regarding survival - you should have at LEAST two pair of glasses. And in a long term survival situation vision issues could/would become a major problem for many. And it's something we don't really have an answer for. Anybody know how to grind a lens - even if you could get the computerized equipment running? My prescription is pretty stable so I have a few old pair. I keep my current spare pair in my travel suitcase. And I keep a pair of older ones in my hiking day pack, my bug out trunk, my "get home" bag in the truck.

There's a lot of issues like this that aren't sexy to talk about in survival forums. And honestly all I know is for myself, I'd probably be in big trouble after a few years.
I coveted LASIK for years until I got old enough that it wouldn't be worth it. Everybody I know who got LASIK in their 20s or 30s loved it until they hit 40-45 and then discovered they couldn't see anything in the room without reading glasses. Considering the risks (contrary to what the LASIK providers advertise, up to 30% of people who get the surgery later regret it, and that number may grow as people age since LASIK is relatively new) and the fact that almost everybody who lives past 40 is going to need glasses of some kind anyway, it's not the panacea advertised.

Once you get past the LASIK years the other option is Rx lens implants when you get cataract surgery. Health insurance/medicare pays for cataract surgery (does not pay for LASIK) and getting an Rx lens that improves vision similar to LASIK is closer to a nominal fee since they are doing the surgery anyway. Yet for some reason most doctors don't even offer this option, you have to ask for it.

My vision was saved by newer generation "multi focal" contact lenses. They are comfortable, easy to use, and amazingly improve both near and far vision without any weird "zones" like bi or tri focal glasses. As my eye doctor explained, contact lens technology has improved so much in the last few years they barely seem to understand how one improvement works before something else overtakes it. I have better vision now than I did 20 years ago with these miracle contact lenses.

In case anybody is wondering, multi focal contact lenses aren't the same thing as mono vision (one eye correct for near and one for far vision). Both eyes are corrected for both near and far vision. Mono vision can decrease 3D perception and has many other drawbacks.
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Old 06-12-2020, 08:31 AM
 
Location: Nebraska
2,234 posts, read 3,304,883 times
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LASIK is not all that great. I was going to get it until the doctor said that I would need reading glasses after the operation. Since I'm nearsighted and don't need glasses at home and only need glasses for driving. I decided not to get the operation.

Since I retired my eyes have gotten better and better since most get farsighted has they grow older my nearsightedness has been decreasing and my doctor said that if I live long enough I'll have 20/29 vision eventually.
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Old 06-12-2020, 09:12 AM
 
Location: Backwoods of Maine
7,486 posts, read 10,450,529 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Garthur View Post
Since I retired my eyes have gotten better and better since most get farsighted has they grow older my nearsightedness has been decreasing and my doctor said that if I live long enough I'll have 20/29 vision eventually.
Once you get past 60-65 the problem is cataracts, not near or farsightedness. Fortunately the new lenses they are inserting now, are excellent. Had mine done at age 68, and it was a breeze. I'm almost 73 now and still no problems. I can read, drive, shoot, etc with zero problems. No glasses needed unless I want to do ultra close up work, which is near never.

The natural lens will cloud up with age, and there's no way to avoid that. Just have them removed and replaced with the new inserts, and its like someone gave you a new set of eyes!
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Old 06-12-2020, 11:15 AM
 
7,264 posts, read 4,182,922 times
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so - all in all - who sells glasses for the best overall value ?
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Old 06-12-2020, 11:35 AM
 
Location: Log "cabin" west of Bangor
7,058 posts, read 9,036,929 times
Reputation: 15628
I have quite a few spare pairs, single-vision, bi- and tri-focals, safety glasses with and without darkening lenses and sunglasses. I have cataracts coming on, but since I lost one eye in the Army I'll have to put off the surgery until it gets to the point where it doesn't matter if something goes wrong.
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