At Zenni Optical, they claim you can get a complete pair or prescription eyeglasses starting at $8, and they aren’t kidding! I saw this a few different places, and the website looks a little corny, so it took me a little while to warm up to the idea. Last summer I really needed a pair of prescription sunglasses, but our insurance doesn’t cover them, so I decided to give Zenni a try.
It was quick, easy and the glasses were much better quality than I expected. All you need is your latest prescription, including the pupillary distance, from your optometrist. You’ll also want to measure the width of your current frames and the length of the arms. Then go to ZenniOptical.com and pick out a frame you like. It walks you through all of the steps for ordering and entering your prescription information.
I chose one of the $8 frames and added sunglass tinting for $4.95. Shipping is a flat rate of $4.95, so we decided to order my husband a pair while we were at it. Our total for two pairs of prescription sunglasses was just over $30. It took about 2 weeks for the glasses to arrive. My husband and I have been very happy with the quality of the frames and lenses. The next time we need regular glasses, we will most likely be ordering them through Zenni because it’s cheaper than our insurance co-pay!
I also bought a pair and with shipping it was $12.95! I bought some funky purple frames- something I would not do if spending $100 or more. Since I wear contacts most of the time I just need them in the morning and evening. Any problems I do have I would have with any glasses just because I so use to contacts (lack of peripheral vision and something on my face getting in the way of laying down and kid kisses).
If I was more comfortable with glasses I would not hesitate to get frames I can change with my mood and look.
I recently ordered a back up pair for Brendan. They are very affordable!
I’ve got glasses from them in the past. Still wearing them. The frugal part of me wants the cheap glasses, but the business-owner part of me is against patronizing them because they were shipped from Korea and labeled as ‘vendor samples’ (which was fraud) to avoid paying import taxes. That kind of business practice makes it impossible for US companies to compete. Kind of a hard decision…
That’s interesting Valerie. When I received mine they didn’t have them labeled vendor samples. Maybe they’ve stopped this practice.