Anybody here ever buy glasses from Zenni Optical and/or Warby Parker, Glassesonline, etc?

What are your thoughts? I don't want to spend $400 for a pair of glasses right now. We're still knocking down medical debt, etc, but I desperately need some new glasses.

If you did buy glasses online, what's your prescription? Single vision? Bifocal? Progressive?

I've had two Warby Parker pairs before and each time was a breeze and the product they delivered to my door was fantastic.

My prescription is a little more complicated these days so I buy local. But I would recommend WP in a second.

I just got glasses from Zenni for the second time. 2 years ago I got a pair of prescription glasses and a pair of prescription sunglasses, single vision, and it cost like $40 some dollars total for both pairs. I like them just fine and they were great for the price. My prescription changed a little and I just got 2 new pairs of single vision glasses last week. Pricing was the same, about $40 for two complete pairs of glasses. I'm very happy with the frames, no problem with the fit, and the cleaning cloth and plastic cases are nice. No complaints at all. I can fuck up glasses easily, it would be stupid of me to have nice frames. My Zenni glasses are great and they don't feel crappy to me. The quality is comparable to the Warby Parker pair that I had and broke. The Warby Parker ones cost like $80 after insurance. Zenni doesn't take insurance but the glasses are so inexpensive that I can't see myself buying from anywhere else.

I found my Warby Parker glasses to be less durable than the pricey ones at my optometrist. Then again they were so much cheaper I could have brought two pairs.

Probably worth noting that I was doing some drywall work at the time and got those lenses covered with filth multiple times.

Worked in optics in previous life;

If it's single vision rx (just reading or just distance) that's weak (IMO within +2.75 to -2.75 SPH) than you can't really go wrong if you order online.

Stronger rxs (so outside +3.00 to -3.00 SPH) get increasingly more complicated as the rx gets stronger. Strong astigmatism (under the CYL heading, outside +2.00 to -2.00 range) is also a complicating factor. I'd approach w/ caution here.

You need to take measurements w/ a customer wearing the frames to accurately dispense bifocals or varifocals. I've not kept up w/ a decades worth of online development, but instinctively I'd say anyone selling you Bis or Varis online is going to do a bad job.

TL;DR:
Online glasses for weak single vision rx:NC
Online glasses for complex rx or varis: C

Without the insider expertise of FM MH, that’s kinda my impression as well. Warby Parker was fine when I had a basic low level nearsightedness, but a couple years ago I moved to progressive lenses and felt like that merited a little more professional guidance.

The only other thing about Warby Parker is you’ll start noticing a lot of people with the same frames as you, and it’s on you and your vanity as to whether that’s acceptable.

I've bought a couple pairs from Zenni Optical. They've lasted years, surprisingly, considering how cheap they are.

I have a single vision, but fairly strongly astigmatic prescription.

I buy mine from GlassesUSA. They have lots of actual frames (I have a massive head, so opt for Ray Bans, since they have lots of larger sizes). I've always been pretty happy with the glasses they sell me. I generally upgrade the lenses a little so I can get them thinner, but not so much that they break the bank.

The frames from Zenni and Warby Parker just disintegrate too quickly for me.

GUSA runs a good many sales throughout the year. I've paid as little as $180 for a pair of solid glasses, and never more than $250 or so.

I'm over the days of paying $800 for good frames and nice lenses. The expensive lenses always get scuffed up too much over the course of a couple of years to justify the added expense.

I did just start wearing contacts, which are AMAZING - but I still need reading glasses for up-close stuff. They tried the dual vision contacts for me, but my eyes never really adjusted.

I've had good luck with Warby Parker. I'm wearing some now.

Zenni for well-over a decade now. My vision is terrible (near-sighted, slight astigmatism, bifocals are needed but not used) and have been rocking the bare bones $7 ones for a long time. Zenni has been a real treat for me as I I grew up needing glasses since 2nd or 3rd grade and year after year breaking that new pair and having to tape them up or wear your old pair and feeling like even more as an outcast before being a nerd was "cool." I now have dozens. My partner has been on the Zenni train too & wears a lot of different pairs. She has a lot of fun w/ this accessorizing outfits and what-not.

The lenses have been fine. I usually get like 3-4 at a time & once in a while something doesn't feel like it quite lines up so those end up not getting worn. Yes the frames themselves are usually cheap AF and not very durable, the cheapest ones do not have the spring hinge, etc...but you can buy 6 pair for 1/6th the price so if your favorite pair breaks, just order the same pair again.

It offends me greatly how much a pair of glasses at the optometrist can cost. I had someone try to sell me a pair for $700 AFTER my VSP coverage. I'm all for supporting local business etc but that whole experience really made me angry, especially after I expressly told the sales person I was on a VERY tight budget at the time. I hate feeling ripped off (pretty much all of health care in America, let's be honest here) so Zenni has always felt like I'm sticking it to the man every time a little bit when after my check up when they offer to show me glasses? "no thanks, if you could just print my prescription for me please, I'll be good to go."

I do want to acknowledge that this is probably unethical in that there are probably workers being badly treated & underpaid as well as the self-hate that goes along with adding some cheap almost single-use plastic to the landfill but we're talking about $7 vs $700 and everyone has a price, fuck my ethics.