Your glasses sit on your face, are an integral part of your look, and need to last for a long time while being as clear as possible. People don't want $30 glasses because they're a piece of junk and will break on you when you most need them. You can make mass market glasses for ~$100, but I think most people want a more specialized look to their face. A few hundred dollars just happens to be the sweet spot where people get to buy a product which is purchased infrequently in a store, get a high quality item, and get good customer service/support. It's sort of like an iPhone. People want to pay a premium for a device they use every day for years which will be fast and just work. Apple doesn't have a monopoly, they just provide a better service
Ask HN: Where to buy cheap but good quality glasses in Europe?
81–90 of 100 posts
Re: Ask HN: Where to buy cheap but good quality glasses in Europe?
#82Re: Ask HN: Where to buy cheap but good quality glasses in Europe?
#83Re: Ask HN: Where to buy cheap but good quality glasses in Europe?
#84It explains how your insurer or your employer can pay for your eyeglasses.
Re: Ask HN: Where to buy cheap but good quality glasses in Europe?
#85https://www.fielmann.de/brillen/
They also offer polycarbonate lenses - blender plastic. I pay extra for that because I like riding a motorcycle with the visor up. They just paid for themselves this month: there's a big dent right in front of my retina from a rock thrown by another vehicle.
Re: Ask HN: Where to buy cheap but good quality glasses in Europe?
#86Ace & Tate Beloved by hipsters all over Europe Free eye test, glasses around £100 a pair I personally love the clip on shades which have made summer actually enjoyable
Re: Ask HN: Where to buy cheap but good quality glasses in Europe?
#87Re: Ask HN: Where to buy cheap but good quality glasses in Europe?
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
After going to an expensive opticians for a good few years, I thought I'd get a "fun" second pair of glasses at one of the new optician chains, Ace & Tate. When they arrived the lenses were rubbish quality - I hadn't realised how lucky I was to have used a really good optician from the get-go. When I went back to him, tail between my legs, he explained a lot of what a sibling comment says about lightness, refractive…
Where do you find places with specific lenses? Basically nowhere in the UK seems to call out their lense quality from what I've seen - perhaps I'm just looking in the wrong places. Are you ringing each optician up individually and asking them?
Re: Ask HN: Where to buy cheap but good quality glasses in Europe?
#89In Germany two big chains for affordable glasses are https://www.fielmann.de/ https://www.robinlook.de/
Re: Ask HN: Where to buy cheap but good quality glasses in Europe?
#90I have -6 so I get 1.7x the thinnest possible.