Sunny Days, Sweepin' the Clouds Away

Posted by Ira at Thursday, April 05, 2007

I get comments, typically from the highly invested optical folks on ODWire, all the time about quality and getting what you pay for. I have one thing to thank them for – the crow’s feet I’ve gotten from not being able to regularly afford to buy prescription sunglasses. As the prices rose on eyeglasses over the past 20 years, and especially after my children were born, I got to a point where a new pair of standard glasses every two years was a bit of a luxury. Prescription sunglasses? Ha!

It's Spring now and one of the things I was most interested doing early on in this cheap eyeglasses experiment was to get a pair of sunglasses. I decided to go with the photochromic lenses (think “Transitions”) on the second pair I ordered. Yes, it was a bit extra, but it’s been well worth it. One problem though, they aren’t great for driving. They don’t get dark enough behind a windshield.

In the last few days, I’ve gotten two pair of (QUALITY) prescription sunglasses – one for each car. They’re awesome. Let me preemptively stop the first question from Joe Optometrist -- yes, I made sure they were UV coated when I ordered them. The pair of Smith sunglasses I have for the rare occasion when I am wearing my contact lenses cost the same as both pair of prescription sunglasses -- combined.

Two more excellent purchases. Now, maybe I should start saving for some “work” on these crow’s feet.

9 comments:

At April 8, 2007 at 2:24 AM Anonymous said...: Check out this yahoo group and you'll see that the optometry profession is about to implode and soon you won't have to worry about those high priced spectacle peddlers price gouging. They will all be like pharmacists and will be working for Wal-mart and Costco so glasses will have to be cheaper.

Read through some of the messages and you'll see a doomed profession. Enjoy!

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/optometrysucks/
At April 9, 2007 at 2:49 PM The Management said...: This is less a comment about this post and more just a general comment about your work and the blog.

THANK YOU.

I've been dragging my feet buying new glasses after I lost my last pair. They just cost so damn much for the little my weak prescription does. I mean is soft edges at the movies "worth" $500 plus dollars?

On a whim after watching the movie 300, I decided to see if I could find something cheaper on the internet. I found your site.

After a trip to the optometrist to re-check my prescription I went on line advice and bought 4 glasses for less than the cost of one. All are of decent if not great quality.

Thank you. I'm referring this site to all my glasses wearing friends.

1000% mark-up? No thanks.

Otter
At April 9, 2007 at 11:47 PM Anonymous said...: http://www.pconsupersite.com/default.asp?ID=2671

Check out this article, it shows optometrists picketing against an insurance company that would give customers cheaper eyeglasses and lens.
At April 12, 2007 at 3:15 PM Anonymous said...: The one thing that still costs a bundle is polarizing the lenses, at least in the half-assed looking around I've done.

I find that the polarizing is a huge improvement over just regular Uv + tinted glasses. But then again, when you get all that for $30 or so, the extra $80 for polarizing is STILL cheap compared to the $275 I dropped about 3 months before I found this site on new prescription shades.
At April 15, 2007 at 9:01 PM Anonymous said...: Let us know where you got your sunglasses and post some pictures please.
At April 16, 2007 at 9:44 AM Unknown said...: first of all: this is a fantastic blog!!! i found it through google.
i want to show you a german spectacles-page that makes a lot of fun (unfortunately they deliver not oversea yet), but: look reallyso fun:
http://www.sehshop.de

sorry for my "2 cent english" ;-)

greets from germany

valentin
At April 24, 2007 at 4:19 AM Anonymous said...: I am very interested in where you have found the best prices for photochromic prescription lenses/glasses.

Since I was much younger I had photogrey (when it was a free option) till later paying big $ for transitions (glass is just too heavy anymore.)

I really really need to get a new pair of glasses soon.. and I don't want to go with a one-pair-regular and one-pair-sunglasses, because I know I will never use them.

Thanks.
At April 24, 2007 at 7:49 AM Ira said...: Most of the places I've reviewed (links at the top of the page) offer photochromic lenses.

I got mine from Goggles 4 U. They're wonderful.
At June 5, 2007 at 3:03 PM Anonymous said...: Re: crow's feet etc. Don't forget the sunblock too. And hats make a big difference.