Prescription Glasses Review and Comparison

Zenni Optical, Goggles4u, Walmart Vision Center, Eye Buy Direct, and Coastal

I know that I normally post about photography, but where I live the weather hasn't been great and I'm just finishing up my last semester of grad school. I don't have a lot of time to get ready for and take pictures. I have, however, had a great need for prescription eyeglasses lately.  I bought my glasses for very low prices (the cheapest was $12 after being tinted).  I thought I would compare the glasses I received from these companies and share with you the good, bad, and the ugly of ordering glasses online.  My prescription is -5.25 and -5.50 with very little astigmatism. *Note: the glasses from Walmart Vision Center were purchased in store and were not very affordable. I am using them as a tool by which to compare the rest. 

I'll begin with my Walmart glasses. They have Zeiss high-index lenses. The brand is Covergirl. They have anti-scratch and anti-reflective coatings. I bought them about four years ago. Here's how they look on me.  

I like them. They're a bronze-ish color and half rim. They're metal, light weight, and comfortable.  They're simple and I can wear them with anything.  I have had a few problems. The lenses are discolored.  They've turned a yellowish color and it is somewhat noticeable when I'm wearing them. BUT, I've had them for four years and I still wear them.  I also noticed that the high index lenses weren't really that thin.  I'm impressed that despite my rough treatment of these glasses, they have almost no scratches. I don't remember the exact cost of these glasses, but it was somewhere around $400 for everything. 

Next I'll review the two pairs of glasses that I've bought from goggles4u.com. I didn't really like these. I didn't like their website. Part of it was my fault because I ignored the size of the glasses (even though I knew what size I should be getting) so they fell off of my face.  But I wouldn't have liked them anyway.  Here they are.

The first ones are black on the front and blue on the sides. While they did not come with those nose pads, I added them to keep them on my face long enough to take the photo.  It was that bad.  They're a cheap plastic with a wood-grain texture. I didn't get the anti-reflective coating.  The prescription was correct, but not as sharp as my other glasses (maybe because of the lack of anti-reflective, or because they're polycarbonite). They shipped quickly and I could see out of them....that's about all that I like about it. 

The second pair are also from goggles4u.com, but they belong to my husband. They seem to be better quality than the ones that I chose, but he has a mild prescription and I can't see out of them to tell you about how sharp my vision would be. They have spring hinges and are half rim. These also do not have the anti-reflective coating.  I like the way that they look on him, but the temple arms are so short that the cannot wear them.  Luckily both of these pairs were so cheap that we did not lost much since we can't wear them.

Next up are the glasses from eyebuydirect.com.  My parents have bought several pairs from them in the past so I decided to try them. I picked one of the $6 pairs and only added UV protection. I don't care much for the frames, but here they are. 

Looking back, I really don't know why I wanted these.  I don't care for oval shapes on my face, but I guess I thought I'd like to try something different.  They're super light weight, comfortable, seem to be of decent quality. I wear them sometimes, but I think that I would wear them more often if I had gotten the anti-reflective coating. I'm pretty cheap, because the AR coating is only $5. The shape of the arms is very comfortable on my ears (I'm pretty sensitive).  They're tortoise shell, and I like the color.  If you like this style, I'd recommend these.  If not, the website has many more options.  They weren't my favorite website (as far as the simplicity of the web design), but I do enjoy the glasses, and so do my parents.  We've only received quality pairs with sharp lenses.  And the 1.57 mid index lenses in these glasses was at least as thin as the high index lenses in my Walmart glasses. 

Coastal is next.  I have only bought one pair here and they are my husband's glasses.  We bought them during the first pair free promotion and only had to pay shipping.  The brand is Dakota Smith.  The style is Freedom in Gun Metal.  Here they are.

I really like these glasses.  I would have gotten a pair of my own, but since my prescription was strong, I would have had to have payed extra for the lenses. Mid- to high- index lenses were not cheap with this company.  My husband has two pairs of glasses that he actually wears, but since these are somewhat heavy, they get worn the least of the two.  I can't compare the thickness of the lenses, because his are going to be thinner than mine with his mild prescription.  They arrived quickly and the customer service was friendly and helpful when I put of ordering them until after the sale had ended on these glasses.  Everything was great, but these glasses are not as cheap as the other websites. They start at around $50 and go up from there.  It is still a great deal compared to the brick and mortar stores that I've seen. 

Now for my growing Zenni Optical eyeglass collection.  I order so many glasses from here because I like their website and because mid-index lenses are free.  Here we go:

One at a time might be less complicated. I love these cat-eye ones.  I'm thinking of getting these in sunglasses too!  They're a little tight behind my ears, but the quality is great.  I love the AR coating.  The style number is #283621.  I do think they look better when I'm wearing makeup...I'm not sure why.  I chose the mid-index lenses and they are super thin even though the lenses are pretty large. 

 I didn't like these at first.  They looked like they would wing up on the outside, but they sort of turned down instead. They were only $9.95 so I kept wearing them and I like them now.  They look great when I wear red and navy.  I also chose 1.57 mid-index lenses for these.  They are tiny and super thin for my prescription.  My only complaint is that they don't look exactly like the picture on the website.  The style number is #339718.

 I thought I would like these more than I do.  They're probably the most comfortable glasses that I've ever worn, but they don't frame my face at all.  Maybe I'm used to dark frames, but I want to see these more.  I wear them all the time, and I can see great out of them.  They're great quality.  I chose transitions lenses and they change quickly.  They're very convenient.  The sides are a really really flexible plastic that I don't think I could break if I tried.  The bridge is a thick, solid metal.  The style number is #143711.  My only real problem with these is that they're thicker than the rest, maybe because they're transitions?

 I love these!  They're a little small for me, but I just adjusted them until they were comfortable.  They're so simple.  They're 1.57 mid-index lenses and they're very thin (about like the Walmart ones).  They're a very sturdy metal and they look expensive when they're only $15.95.  The style number is #552421.  I'm just disappointed that they are no longer making these in brown.

 These are the only ones that I got high-index lenses in.  I really like these.  They're bigger than the numbers say they are on the website (I measured them).  They slid down my nose at first, but after bending the ear pieces down, they stay put.  They're very thin and I can see great out of them.  They're heavy, so I can't wear them too many days in a row.  They style number is #604625.

 These were my most recent order and I think they are my favorites ever!  They weigh next to nothing and are soooo comfortable to wear.  They look good and didn't need to be adjusted.  I got the mid-index 1.57 lenses.  They're thin and sharp.  They're a pretty tortoise shell color and they go with everything.  They're currently out of stock, but when they come back, I'm ordering another pair.  They also come in an ombre black to clear color, but I want  these just in case they ever break.  The style number is #246525.

I don't like these.  The front is black and wayfarer style.  The sides are a wood-grain look.  They look funny on me.  I'm really not sure what I don't like, but I just don't.  I didn't get the AR coating, and I'm kind of glad that I didn't spend the extra money because I'll never wear these.  They'll stay in my car as an emergency pair.  I can see good out of them, and the quality is fine.  It's the style that I don't like.  

These glasses are also my husband's.  He wears these the most.  They're made of memory titanium and are super light weight.  Again, I cannot comment on the clarity of vision because the prescription is way to weak for me.  These are transitions lenses and they get very dark in the sunlight.  They're pretty simple in design. They're just rectangular, half-rim frames with thin metal temple arms.  The lenses are very thin, but his prescription is only around -1.75.  The lenses are 1.57 mid-index photochromic.    

Here are the same glasses. I'm demonstrating how bendable these glasses are! They seem like they cannot break. The bridge is exactly the same way.  You could just fold them in half.  I wouldn't recommend doing that very often, but it certainly makes them more comfortable to wear.  And the can handle quite a bit of abuse.  I think I'll get some of these with polycarbonate lenses to wear when I'm working out or playing sports.

I have two pairs of prescription sunglasses that I'll add soon.  I'll also add a video or several photos of the transitions lenses actually changing color.  As far as the lenses go, none of them have scratched or have caused my any difficulty, but the goggles4u ones just aren't sharp.  I hope this helped someone decide about ordering glasses online.  For me, it was really worth the risk.  I now have several pairs of glasses to choose from and I still haven't spent (on all of the online orders combined) as much as I did on the one pair from Walmart.  

*Note: If I didn't say that I did not get the AR coating, I did :)