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Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

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Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#501

Post by red_hare »

mr_custard wrote: post #341
pugworthy wrote: post #19

You want to know what's outrageously expensive, yet equally important for basic ability to function in the workplace and other situations? Hearing aids. Hearing aids are glasses for your ears. But compared to them, glasses are unbelievably dirt cheap, and basically fully covered by a lot of decent company insurance plans. Hearing aids? Not the case. Imagine if glasses cost $2-3000 per lens. PER LENS. And your company…

This. The prices are unbelievable! And $3000 is for the "cheap" ones! I was about to post the same thing and then found your post. I will add, that getting access to the frequency curve adjustment software for each device is difficult (everybody needs a different adjustment curve and other params tweaked), prohibited and also expensive. They are often set incorrectly in the first instance and require repeat visits to…

My mother has been mostly deaf her whole life. Just the introduction of Bluetooth in the hearing aid (10 years after it was mainstream) was life changing for her (being able to talk on the phone better, watching movies on her iPad, etc.). But god is the hardware freaking expensive.

Fixing this is my dream job.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#503

Post by malikolivier »

bluGill wrote: post #270
patentatt wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d take issue with “not complicated.” They are very tiny, have to be very low power, and they run a surprising amount of real-time DSP. Then the whole electronics package has to be integrated with an acoustics package including multiple microphones and transducers. And the higher quality all of those acoustical components are, the more transparent the end product. And it all has to be durable enough for continuous w…

Hearing aids are sold to hunters at a much lower price (as noise protection and low noise enhancement). The same work goes into them, but they are not medical devices so they have to be affordable.

Comparing these two types of hearing aids is similar to comparing a magnifying glass with normal glasses.

A magnifying glass might do the job good enough, and I know people who decided to not buy glasses but just use a magnifying glass to read.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#504

Post by meej »

briffle wrote: post #316
arielweisberg wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another satisfied Zenni customer. The lenses are not always perfect and the frames are not always the best. Sizing is hit or miss. What I do is buy the frame with cheap lenses to check fit, then I buy it with nice lenses if I like it. They are so cheap there is no reason not to do it this way. Even ordering multiples it ends up being inexpensive.

I want to like Zenni, and I have ordered from them, but I am frustrated every time. I have a very, very large head. I need glasses at least 155mm wide, if not 165mm wide to fit around my temples. Yet finding data on the width of their frames is next to impossible. Even their sales people I reach via chat do not have the data. Sometimes I will see frames with some measurements, but not all, and its just inconsistent.…

This data is not difficult to find at all. It's listed in the details section for every frame. You can also use it as a filter when browsing. Their stock at this size is really limited, however.

https://www.zennioptical.com/b/record.type-frame/_/N-1101494...

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#505

Post by jmalicki »

LanceH wrote: post #466
pepr wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are required to get a new prescription because your original prescription expired.

It's by state.

Not for contact lenses (16 CFR 315.5):

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/315.5

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#506

Post by walterbell »

mancerayder wrote: post #453

Contacts are even worse. Did anyone notice that online vendors in the US like the 1-800 one were well cheaper, and now somehow they all have the same pricing? And that a special contact lens check is required, at a separate price, to get a prescription for contact lenses renewed, even if the script is the same for glasses and contacts, and you just did the glasses? And that while you can buy 100 years of contacts, th…

There are online contact lens providers which don't require prescriptions, regulations vary by country and state.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#507

Post by MentallyRetired »

csjr wrote: post #460
MentallyRetired wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked at Oakley when it was acquired by Lux. Oakley puts an INSANE amount of R&D into their products, particularly their eyewear. They have laser stations to make sure the optics of the lens doesnt change the perspective of things (the difference between catching a baseball in the glove and in the mouth), "shotgun" tests, weighted spikes, and even have a machine that opens/closes the sunglasses several million tim…

That’s really sad! Oakley was one of the companies that I respected. They had (have?) great products. I probably watched all those videos, you could see the amount of work dedicated to each item. I don’t believe any sunglasses company will ever put the same effort in R&D like them. Seems to me that since the acquisition they started to use cheaper materials. Maybe I’am right?

Seems that way to me, too. I'm not certain, though, since my contacts have long moved on.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#508

Post by walterbell »

evarady wrote: post #423
asteli wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious about a couple points: - How does the 3D scanning work? Presumably photogrammetry? What kind of accuracy are we talking about here in terms of typical measurement tolerances? - The frames are actually custom-fit? Are they machined or 3D printed or do you just have access to many permutationsof a given frame? [edit, formatting]

Great question: -for older devices without a depth sensor, we do a combination of pure computer vision (detect landmarks in 2D, then solve for 3D, then apply a morphable model (3DMM). After an order is placed, we'll do photogrammetry to further refine the model. -for newer devices with the TrueDepth sensor (used for FaceID), we build a mesh directly from that. -accuracy is sub-millimeter. -frames are 100% custom. For…

Doesn't Apple limit the resolution of depth sensor data for 3rd-party apps? Such scans are much less accurate than FaceID or a 3D camera connected to a laptop or mobile device.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#509

Post by rahimnathwani »

I don't understand the difficulty here, at least for people with ordinary single-vision prescriptions.

10 years ago I was buying glasses mail-order from optical4less in Hong Kong: 58 USD for two pairs including single-vision lenses and shipping to anywhere in the world.

In the UK, places like speckyfoureyes are even cheaper, and have a wide selection of frames.

Both of these places show extensive details of frame measurements, which should allow you to choose frames that suit your face, unless it's your first time buying glasses ever (unlikely if you're an adult, as most of us develop issues earlier).

Sure, if you need to have name-brand frames or want a very specific fashion statement, maybe there's only one brand that will work for you.

But the fact that a particular person is satisfied only by a particular handbag costing $10k does not mean that 'handbags are so expensive'. Because most people can be satisfied with a handbag that costs 99% less than that.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry

#510

Post by piyush_soni »

mr_custard wrote: post #341
pugworthy wrote: post #19

You want to know what's outrageously expensive, yet equally important for basic ability to function in the workplace and other situations? Hearing aids. Hearing aids are glasses for your ears. But compared to them, glasses are unbelievably dirt cheap, and basically fully covered by a lot of decent company insurance plans. Hearing aids? Not the case. Imagine if glasses cost $2-3000 per lens. PER LENS. And your company…

This. The prices are unbelievable! And $3000 is for the "cheap" ones! I was about to post the same thing and then found your post. I will add, that getting access to the frequency curve adjustment software for each device is difficult (everybody needs a different adjustment curve and other params tweaked), prohibited and also expensive. They are often set incorrectly in the first instance and require repeat visits to…

Wow. USD 3000 is a bit too much. Can you show an example of which kind of device this is (some link)? When I search on Amazon.com for 'hearing aid', the ones that show up are pretty cheap (e.g. USD 54 to 100ish)? Apologies for my ignorance.
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