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One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

onedollarglasses.org

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Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#41

Post by telesilla »

Arcsech wrote: post #11

Glasses are a total racket. Purchasing your glasses online is many, many times cheaper than going to Lenscrafters or basically any other brick & mortar store in the US. I've been buying online for years and they're every bit as good as usual ones. You do need your pupillary distance, but you either measure this yourself with the help of a friend, or ask your optometrist. If they refuse or tell you how evil buying gla…

I agree that mid-lower-range shops are a racket: however, don't discount the luxury and privilege of high-end options of dedicated professionals. My glasses cost in total almost $1000. I wear them almost every waking moment, they are exceptional designer hand-made frames from France with Zeiss lenses and Japanese transition technology, and the optometrist is top-of-the-line who also does an eye cancer check each year. They are a beautiful piece of art that I chose, because I find contact lenses troublesome and I enjoy taking my glasses off to both relax and for the pleasure of having a blurred world around me (other short-sighted users will understand this pleasure). When I was a student, I wore $25 government-sponsored glasses. I'm so pleased there are options for both. I'm so glad there are $1 glasses for those who need them and can avoid overpaying for low quality.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#42

Post by jobu »

Declanomous wrote: post #21
Arcsech wrote: post #11

Glasses are a total racket. Purchasing your glasses online is many, many times cheaper than going to Lenscrafters or basically any other brick & mortar store in the US. I've been buying online for years and they're every bit as good as usual ones. You do need your pupillary distance, but you either measure this yourself with the help of a friend, or ask your optometrist. If they refuse or tell you how evil buying gla…

I order my glasses from Zenni, but I don't think it's for everyone. For one thing, they always locate the pupil at the exact midpoint of the lens. Unless you wear very small frames, your pupils are probably located somewhat higher in the lens when you are wearing the glasses in the most comfortable or attractive manner. This can result in double vision, chromatic anomalies, headaches, and worse. It's far more likely…

> This can result in double vision, chromatic anomalies, headaches, and worse.

I can attest to this. My astigmatism is pretty severe, and the lenses are useless if any measurements are even slightly incorrect.

Usually when I get new lenses I end up sending them back at least once for one defect or another. Sometimes this is the frame tech's fault, but I've also seen quality issues from the lens factory.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#43

Post by jasode »

j79 wrote: post #28
Arcsech wrote: post #11

Glasses are a total racket. Purchasing your glasses online is many, many times cheaper than going to Lenscrafters or basically any other brick & mortar store in the US. I've been buying online for years and they're every bit as good as usual ones. You do need your pupillary distance, but you either measure this yourself with the help of a friend, or ask your optometrist. If they refuse or tell you how evil buying gla…

I would love to buy glasses on-line, but have a simple issue of having an absolute massive head. Unless I go in and physically try on a pair, I just have to assume it won't fit (usually the width of face, but temple length is also a pain...) :(

The zenni website shows the frame width (and other dimensions) in millimeters for each pair of glasses. I've ordered over a dozen of pairs over the last 3 years and the measurements are accurate.

Measure the width of your current pair that you like. You're may be 150mm+ in width and zenni has sizes even bigger than that.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#44

Post by rpeden »

Arcsech wrote: post #11

Glasses are a total racket. Purchasing your glasses online is many, many times cheaper than going to Lenscrafters or basically any other brick & mortar store in the US. I've been buying online for years and they're every bit as good as usual ones. You do need your pupillary distance, but you either measure this yourself with the help of a friend, or ask your optometrist. If they refuse or tell you how evil buying gla…

I've had great experiences ordering glasses from goggles4u.

I'm not sure if they still do it, but the outside of every package I received from them had a cloth wrapper that was sealed with wax, pretty much identical to this one: https://eyeglassretailerreviews.com/reviews/goggles4u_nov200...

Not the packaging matters all that much, but it was a fun little novelty, at least.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#45

Post by nyolfen »

PascLeRasc wrote: post #26
Arcsech wrote: post #11

Glasses are a total racket. Purchasing your glasses online is many, many times cheaper than going to Lenscrafters or basically any other brick & mortar store in the US. I've been buying online for years and they're every bit as good as usual ones. You do need your pupillary distance, but you either measure this yourself with the help of a friend, or ask your optometrist. If they refuse or tell you how evil buying gla…

Warby Parker ( https://www.warbyparker.com/ ) makes some really nice "luxury" glasses, even though they still cost less than the cheapest pair you'll see in a typical store. They'll even send you 5 frames to try on at your home.

warby parker frames look trendy but they're pretty low quality cheap plastic frames, and they're dramatically overpriced compared to comparable glasses from zenni or similar

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#46

Post by dragonwriter »

Declanomous wrote: post #35
j79 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to buy glasses on-line, but have a simple issue of having an absolute massive head. Unless I go in and physically try on a pair, I just have to assume it won't fit (usually the width of face, but temple length is also a pain...) :(

I have a really wide head, but a relatively narrow face. I have a lot of problems with fit as well as style as a result. I just went to Costco and tried on every pair of glasses they had, figured out what style looked best, took the measurements off the frames that fit, and used that to order glasses online. Costco's profit comes from their membership fees rather than selling anything, so you don't have to feel bad a…

> Costco's profit comes from their membership fees rather than selling anything

Membership is key both because its essentially zero cost, and because paid membership motivates choosing Costco as the place to make purchases (one reason Costco sells so,much more per unit of floospace than, e.g., WalMart), but Costco, absolutely, does make profits from sales, even if its margins are fairly low.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#47

Post by jakebellacera »

Namrog84 wrote: post #7

The site makes it look like exclusively a charity? I can donate and that means someone gets glasses. But can I buy them for myself or a friend as well? I couldn't find the answer (on mobile)

Based on this page[1], it looks like they provide the machine and training required to produce the glasses on-site in remote locations by locals so that they can operate their own businesses. This makes a lot of sense, because it's a lot cheaper to deploy X quantity of materials required to produce the glasses all at once vs hundreds of individual glasses. Also, it helps boost their local economies.

[1]: http://www.onedollarglasses.org/the-glasses/production-on-si...

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#48

Post by StephenConnell »

I have found purchasing glasses can be hit or miss weather I buy $600 glasses or less that twenty dollar glasses. I may miss a bit more with cheap glasses, but I can take a lot more shots.

I've used zennioptical.com and it has worked really well. I've run into frames that do not fit, but they were cheap mistakes and once I found something I liked, I just reorder every few years.

Paying attention to the frame measurements is pretty important if you buy online.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#49

Post by jandrese »

rtfs wrote: post #6

why are these glasses so cheap?

The pictures show what look like some very flimsy wire frames. I saw the picture of the 8 year old boy wearing those and thought "good thing they're cheap, because they'll be broken in a week."

I kind of wish there was a $2 glasses charity that used solid (if ugly) plastic frames that will stand up to some abuse. Even if the kids value the glasses (they will), it's easy to forget they are on your face when you trip and fall or take a soccer ball to the head or any number of possible calamities.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#50

Post by rogerdpack »

Declanomous wrote: post #21
Arcsech wrote: post #11

Glasses are a total racket. Purchasing your glasses online is many, many times cheaper than going to Lenscrafters or basically any other brick & mortar store in the US. I've been buying online for years and they're every bit as good as usual ones. You do need your pupillary distance, but you either measure this yourself with the help of a friend, or ask your optometrist. If they refuse or tell you how evil buying gla…

I order my glasses from Zenni, but I don't think it's for everyone. For one thing, they always locate the pupil at the exact midpoint of the lens. Unless you wear very small frames, your pupils are probably located somewhat higher in the lens when you are wearing the glasses in the most comfortable or attractive manner. This can result in double vision, chromatic anomalies, headaches, and worse. It's far more likely…

Last time I ordered from (them or their competitor) they asked for PD (pupillary distance) is that enough or are the prescription ones still better?
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