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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

#61

Post by saboot »

It's pretty amazing how much extra cost most glasses cost. And this comes at a very steep cost for most people. I've worked with a charity organization called Remote Area Medical (RAM) which provides free medical, dental, and vision care. Lots of people are there because they can no longer see, cannot get a job because of it, and thus have no money. RAM can create a vision prescription, prepare the lenses on the spot, and give a patient glasses for a cost of $15 in an hour, patients dont pay anything. We really need to do more in making cheap glasses more available to people in the US.

Here is one person's struggle in getting glasses while poor (clip from 2008, but we see this at clinics constantly) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TfraBGSGg8

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#62

Post by hourislate »

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…

Luxottica is the main reason glasses are a total racket. They own every major brand, store, and even insurance companies that provide Vision coverage. There are very few companies that have such a monopoly. They will refuse to sell your brand and have done this to Ray ban, Oakley and then buying both brands when they were in bankruptcy or on the verge. Not even Walmart or Costco can undermine them.

Great 60 minutes show on the company.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voUiWOGv8ec

If you're ever in Europe that is when to buy frames. They are substantially cheaper than in the US/Canada. I bought a pair of Armani Frames for 1/5 the price I could in the US.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#63

Post by eikenberry »

nyolfen wrote: post #45
PascLeRasc wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

So you're saying that the glasses from all these places are cheap/poor quality? That is disappointing.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#64

Post by Declanomous »

rogerdpack wrote: post #50
Declanomous wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Pupillary distance is basically the horizontal location of the pupils. The issue is that pupils can also have a vertical offset from the center of the lens as well. Accounting for PD alone is sufficient for some people. I'm not a doctor, so I'm not qualified to recommend one option over another. It is something you may want to ask your own doctor about though.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#66

Post by drewrv »

B1FF_PSUVM wrote: post #32
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…

> You do need your pupillary distance, but you either measure this yourself with the help of a friend, or ask your optometrist. One site just asked for a selfie with a card (anything credit card sized) held over your forehead. Amusingly effective.

Also a great phishing scheme!

Seriously though I used a site like this to find out my IPD for playing VR and it came out slightly different each time, though always in the same ballpark.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#67

Post by randyrand »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #13
randyrand wrote: post #4

I got 4 pairs of glasses on amazon (needed the opposite of reading glasses which are hard to find in stores) for $8. I was pretty darn impressed by how cheap the free market is vs doctors offices.

Having worked in the optical business to put myself through engineering school, I know that glasses can be very expensive; there's a poop tonne of overhead at those places. That being said, be very careful of cheap glasses. If you have a strong Rx, you need the OC to be aligned properly with your P.D. otherwise you're inducing prism. This can cause severe headaches and eye fatigue. You should also make sure you go se…

Hmm. I got the least strong one they had. I think 1.5. Hopefully that's okay. I only use them sometimes.

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#68

Post by ohstopitu »

I will definitely be donating. I've had glasses since I was 3 and I understand how expensive they can be. (as a kid, I used to break mine often and my parents would have to pay insane amounts of money to get new ones).

From what I understand, the frames themselves are just overpriced[0]

[0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7H-_8UkmFU

Re: One Dollar Glasses – Help for 150M people

#69

Post by sboselli »

Why aren't these kind of hardware driven campaign fully open source?

Why is there not a pdf with plans and clear cut instructions on how to build the wire bender (which at 2500 Euros is absolutely insane)?

I understand using the money for funding more glasses makes sense, but in reality if your mission is for this hardware breakthrough to improve everyone's life all around the world, why hide and hog the design?

I'd like to build this in my machine shop in the other corner of the world, why send 2500 Euros to Germany? I just don't get it. It makes me think of ulterior motives and when that happens I quickly lose faith in the organization. Everyone loses, the cause itself being the most affected.

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