So you've got a nice pair of glasses sitting in your cart at 39DollarGlasses and you're *almost* ready to buy. This is the week. From now through Monday, December 14 Friday, December 11 (apparently), you'll get $20-off your total order.

This is probably best used in single-pair ordering situations, as you can do better with the also-excellent $12-off each pair "Twitter" promotion code.

Here are those links again:

• $20-off a single pair
• $12-off each pair

This is a biggie -- and while the kind folks at 39DollarGlasses don't want to lose brand identity, it's essentially "Twenty-nine Dollar Glasses" when you use this link.

I'm not sure how long it will stick around, but don't wait too long.

Have a great (lonnnnnnnng) weekend!

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UPDATE: Some of you have messaged me that it's not working. It is, it automatically inserts a code in "step five" of the checkout process and displays a message: "Code accepted: Save $10 on this order!"

Had a call earlier today from a gentleman looking for an option on polarized lenses. Of the sites I cover on GlassyEyes, only one carries true prescription polarized lenses as an option -- 39DollarGlasses. If you work your way through the lens choices, Package 'E' appears for an additional $49.90.

It's going to take a standard pair of their glasses up to just South of a C-Note, but if you are into fishing or just plain like polarized lenses, you'll realize that this is still a pretty solid deal.


There are polarized clip-ons available elsewhere (Walmart, Sams Club, Costco) for less money, but as far as eyeglasses go, two pieces is rarely as good as one.

(PUBLIC) NOTE TO SELF: Might be time to try out the Drivewear lenses -- probably work pretty good on the slopes, and Transitions are useless in the car.

I spent my entire childhood (adolescence, and early adult) years squinting in the sun. I wore lots of baseball caps, but when you have such beautiful hair as I do, you need the ladies to see it. So I squinted. I wasn't pulling down the allowances today's kids do for all of their video games and scooters and cell phones, so my crows feet advanced. Today, my kids (none of whom have succumbed to my vision genetics yet) wear sunglasses when it really bright out. Winter is one of those times (along with summer, fall, and spring).

I still see the bespectacled kids at their school squinting on their way from and to the buses, however. With what we've learned about eyeglasses prices at GlassyEyes, there is no reason that these children shouldn't be able to see in the sunlight like the rest of the kids -- and they can do so with better quality.

For less than $60 at 39DollarGlasses, you can protect your child's eyes from UV rays (and keep those crowsfeet at bay) while providing a nearly bulletproof polycarbonate lens for physical protection.

Believe me, I'll be looking for these the day one of my sons needs them.

I got an email a couple of weeks ago asking how "Project Dean" ended up. It has been awhile, and my first thought was to pass along the link in the previous sentence to all of the articles -- and then I realized that I had never finished the series. I stubbed in the title for this piece and it got buried under dozens of other posts.

More importantly, it's been four months of daily wear and they're still pristine. Proof that you can have success with progressive lenses online.

Part One in a multi-part series on eyeglasses-themed Halloween costumes. I know it's September, but the eyeglasses featured in these posts will take a week or two to arrive. ACT NOW!

As an eyeglasses wearer, I'm always on the look for a Halloween costume that allows me to be who I am -- without the discomfort of wearing contacts all night at a smokey bar, or look like a dork (NOTE TO SELF: Obi Wan Kenobi does not wear eyeglasses).

Also, I'm not sure about you, but the idea of buying eyeglasses for one night (or maybe two), didn't fit in my oh-so-very-tight budget. Enter online eyeglasses, and that concern goes (mostly) out the window. Not only do you get what you need to do the eyeglasses-themed costume, but you get a pair of glasses that at the very least will be great for kicking around the house after the curtains are drawn. All for less than $50.

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Dwight Schrute from The Office

The glasses are available -- mostly. 39DollarGlasses has something similar at that pricepoint. Close-ups show a silver frame, but the Dakota in Cafe will work just fine -- and if you're a perfectionist, like Dwight, buy a can of spray paint, undo a screw or two and change them.

Raid your dad's closet (or the local thrift store) for a short sleeve dress shirt, slacks and tie for between $0 and $10. Buy a dead pager or pager case on eBay for a couple bucks, make a batch of stapler jello and you're done -- apart from the patented Dwight Schrute attitude (and bear knowledge).

Brighten the lives of those around you as only Dwight can.

It's now been well over five days and I've still not heard back from Goggles4U regarding their ability to do a prism. They had their shot, now it's time to move on to the second and final option, of the Big5, 39DollarGlasses.

To reiterate, Dean is looking for Photochromic Progressives. His distance prescription is pretty weak, but he likes to have his glasses on and available for reading. He needs a large frame.

The first thing you'll notice in comparing 39DollarGlasses to Optical4Less, is that the frame prices seem high in comparison -- if you happen to click the "Progressive Lenses" link under "> SHOP EYEGLASSES". The high prices shown here scared me a bit, until I realized that they included the price of the basic polycarb progressive lenses. This is an odd way to list these frames.

I was still able to glean the costs of the progressive lenses from the price list, subtracting the typical single-vision cost of the same frames.

Lens costs and options:

• Clear Polycarbonate Sola® 1.59 progressive lenses - $50 (included in "Progressive" price)
• CR-39 Transitions® Sola® 1.50 progressive lenses - $109.95
• Polycarbonate Transitions® Sola® 1.59 progressive lenses - $148.90
• CR-39 Transitions® Varilux® 1.50 progressive lenses - $148.95
• Polycarbonate Transitions® Varilux ® 1.59 progressive lenses - $187.90

We strike the first (again), due to the fact that he wants Photochromic (I only include it at all to compare the non-Photochromic lens price).

That leaves four options, and with the very necessary AR coating going for an extra $25, I'd argue that the Sola might be the way to go. The fact that he's not going to be playing rugby in these, or riding a motorcycle, coupled with his very weak prescription, makes the CR-39 the logical choice.

39DollarGlasses charges $19.99 flat-rate for prism correction. That ends up about $14 more than Optical4Less for that service. Unlike, Optical4Less, 39DollarGlasses, charges for anti-reflective coating ($24.95), but includes UV and anti-scratch in the price.

So for a full-featured set of these with AR and prism correction, we're looking at $154.89 on top of the non-Progressive frame price (or $104.89 more than the "Progressive" frame price). Confused yet?

Frames?
39DollarGlasses has more frames that closely match the size of Dean's existing frames. Not a lot more, but more none the less (and yes, they've got the Aviator as well). That said, I'm only going to look at two frames as they both possess the 145mm temple that Dean needs.

First up, is the Moscow. It is an awful lot like Dean's current frame. Size-wise, it's very close, and it's available in Gunmetal, which makes it a bit more desirable. If Dean isn't looking for a change, this is a good option, especially with the hard-to-find 145mm temples.

Again, he's tough on glasses and prone to falling asleep in them, so titanium is appealing for durability as well as weight (especially with these large lenses). The creatively-named "Bendable Titanium 8" has the features and the stats to work for Dean (again with the 145mm temple size).



No gunmetal here, however. The Antique Bronze and Antique Gold aren't too bad looking though. A solid contender.

There is a $50 difference between the standard alloy and the titanium frames, and then there is the color difference. 39DollarGlasses' offerings boil down to this:

Feature	Moscow	Titanium 8
Frame	$39.00	$89.00
Anti-Reflective	$24.95	$24.95
Lenses	$109.95	$109.95
Prism Correction	$19.99	$19.99
Total	$193.89	$243.89

Next up? We compare the two places and look at next steps. Dean? We're getting closer.

I decided a couple of months ago that I really wanted to get my favorite frames relensed -- and then like so many other things, I let it get away from me. Having a dozen perfectly suitable pairs to choose didn't exactly push the task to the top of the list.

And then, while looking for a pair of glasses to wear, I came upon the scratched, neglected pair at about the exact time I needed a post topic. The stars aligned with my wallet contents and I started the process.

I chose 39 Dollar Glasses for this pair, as they offer expedited shipping and I had a fighting chance for a 1-week turnaround. They also offered the lenses I wanted for far less than the mall store who said they wouldn't do these as they were semi-rimless. Not much to argue as I wasn't going to use them anyway, I started the online order process.

I used the online order form (as opposed to calling them) as a test, and a necessity -- I tend to get to my eyeglasses orders outside of traditional business hours. Apart from a lens-choice hiccup that I remedied in the ample "notes" area, it went very smoothly. The emails I received with shipping instructions were very clear.

Off they went...

...and back they came with a tack-sharp prescription, clean, and better than new.

I went with the CR-39™ optical resin Next Generation™ Transitions® Lenses to replace the generic photochromic lenses I had in them before. It's an option I really like and in the bright, cold sunlight this morning, they've behaved extremely well. They went from completely clear to fully dark in less than a minute and back just as quickly.

I called them this weekend to talk about the process learned that their machines can use the existing lenses or frames to make the lens templates, so if you've got an old pair of frames (or an old prescription) you'd like to make new again this is an ideal solution.

They're out of the drawer and back to their rightful place upon my nose.

Interested in giving them a try? Click Here. Prices start at $39.


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I've been a bad boy. I haven't given the proper care and handling to my eyeglasses. I'd say that it has something to do with the low price-point and the fact that I have so many pairs, but in my soul-searching I can honestly say, I've not been easy on my lenses even when they were so criminally attached to the $350+ price tag.

It's not easy to wear eyeglasses. It's even less easy to clean and store them in the prescribed fashion. Sometimes it rains. Sometimes I fall asleep with them on. Sometimes a sneeze sneaks up on me and they fly across the table onto the sidewalk.

I'm not a robot. I don't have a small drawer that slides out of my chest with an eyeglass case and neatly folded microfiber cleaning cloths. I've been known to use my shirt-tail in a pinch.

All that said, I've got enough pairs that when one of them got all scratched up from a particularly long run aboard my nose, I put them away and moved on to another pair.

The thing is, I REALLY LOVE these glasses. I love the photochromic lenses. I love the look. Dare I say, they've become my trademark. I needed to get them re-done. I looked around and decided I'd give the folks at 39 Dollar Glasses a whack at replacing the lenses.

They're going in the mail tomorrow (with a significant amount of padding included in the box). I'll report back when they arrive.

This is also ("potentially" -- until I see the results) a great way to fill those vintage frames you just grabbed at the thrift store or off eBay without spending an additional fortune.

Here's a link to the service and price list.