Fancy frames, special lenses and protective coatings can add $500 or more, even with insurance. You can get cheaper pairs online or in discount stores, but can you trust them to correct your vision and look good, too? consumer reports offers this advice: gt gt don't focus on brands. But those frames are often designed and manufactured by companies that license the names not the designers themselves. Just 38 percent of americans buy their glasses from an eye doctor or optometrist, according to mintel, a market research firm. Instead, they are turning to inexpensive places such as wal mart vision center and costco optical.

In consumer reports' survey of 19,500 of its readers, published in 2013, costco topped the ratings for overall satisfaction, beating out retailers such as lenscrafters and pearle vision. But readers weren't very impressed with costco's selection of frames, and you might have to wait a week or more for your glasses. Warby parker warbyparker.com entered the market in 2010 as an independent online shop.

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To keep prices low, generally $95 for single vision glasses and $295 for progressive glasses, the frames are designed in house. Zenni optical zennioptical.com , which also offers single vision specs for less than $100, was the most widely used online source of glasses among consumer reports readers. If you have a complex prescription requiring additional measurements, it's not the best choice, says dr. If you want wire frames, look for titanium, which is strong, doesn't corrode and is lightweight, says avi vizel, an optician and owner of optical shops in new york city. If you're covered by insurance, find out whether the eyeglass store accepts your plan. About half of the survey respondents who shopped in stores used it to cover part of their bill. Insurance would cover up to $140 of the cost, on average, for consumer reports' readers.

If the store doesn't take insurance and many online eyeglass retailers don't , you might be able to pay upfront and get reimbursed for at least part of the cost. Eye doctors and independent shops are more willing than online or warehouse stores to negotiate on price. That way, if your primary pair is lost or broken, you won't have to run to an expensive shop to have a replacement made right away.

In a comprehensive survey and eyewear report, about 92,0 users responded on how to get a good value for a great pair of glasses at a great price.using this research among other reports we found: usa independent online eyeglasses stores offered the excellent value and price. The internet turns out to be a great place to find your style of frames at what ever your budget. Independent optical stores and doctors’ offices scored high among respondents for service and selection but not for price. According to experts, polycarbonate lenses generally provide better shatter proof, uv and anti scratch protection but are more costly than standard cr39 plastic lenses. Bj’s optical, costco, and sam’s club achieved good marks for price when compared to other optical chaines that were much more expensive costco also earned a high mark for service.

The best value we found was by far from online usa fda registered optical labs that offered excellent material and workmanship found at the big box retailers at a fraction of the cost. cheaper eyeglasses.com received our high honors and distinction for best value prescription eyewear. Not only were its prices low, but it also garnered applause for service, scoring nearly as well overall as private medical offices and small independent optical shops, which continue to top all categories but price. your eyeglasses prescription for savings! you will probably start your shopping odyssey with a prescription. But even before heading to the doctor’s office to get one, familiarize yourself with the basics of lenses, coatings, and edgings. Thus armed, you’ll know what to ask the doctor and later salespeople at the eyeglass store to ensure that you aren’t being sold unnecessary or needlessly expensive products. For example, cr found that some doctors specify ultraviolet light protection for polycarbonate or high index lenses, both of which inherently provide such protection.

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Doctors might also prescribe varilux lenses, a pricey brand of progressive, or no line, bifocals. The average consumer has no way to tell a good lens from a bad one, and experts say that stores could take advantage of those who are ill informed. If your doctor’s office includes an eyeglass store, browse the frames while you’re there.

When cr went shopping for eyeglasses, prescription in hand, we found that lens prices alone vary dramatically. For cr 39 lensesthe least expensive plastic lenses, and, according to gregory good, a professor of clinical optometry at the ohio state university college of optometry, lenses that do not vary much from place to placethe chain charged $120 before any discount. And if you want an anti reflective coating, you must upgrade to lenscrafters’ featherwates polycarbonate lenses for a whopping $240.

Adding in designer or ultralightweight frames can boost the price of your eyeglasses to $1,0 or more. Designer frames, however, typically are not made by the designers but by manufacturers that license ralph’s, giorgio’s, or calvin’s name, often with the designer’s styling cues. It’s not unusual for a name to travel from one manufacturer to another, as the ralph lauren and giorgio armani names have.

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Licensing fees for those designer specs can translate to higher prices, but their manufacturers such as charmont, luxottica, marchon, and safilo also make high quality nondesigner frames. The obvious drawback: no optician can reach through a monitor to measure, adjust, and fit the frames. lenses first. for low price and optical quality, cr 39 lenses are the best choice, but they are less shatter resistant than other lenses, and with strong prescriptions they look like coke bottle bottoms. If you need a strong prescription, choose thinner polycarbonate, high index, or trivex lenses.

If you buy polycarbonate or high index lenses, you don’t have to pay extra for uv protection and scratch resistant coatings because such features are already included. The new trivex lenses have better optical quality than polycarbonates, uv protection, scratch protection on one side, and thinness. But they cost about $100 to $135 for single vision lenses and can be difficult to find.

frames second. frames come in so many metals and resins that you could go crazy trying to sort them out. Generally, there’s no particular reason for selecting one over the other unless you’re concerned about durability or allergies. Plastic frames break more easily than metal ones, but they are fine for people susceptible to allergies. So are stainless steel and titanium frames, which, unlike those made of nickel alloy, don’t irritate skin. If durability is a concern, you should choose titanium frames and titanium based flexible metals, which can withstand the most abuse.

If you’re constantly putting your glasses on and taking them off, opt for spring hinges, which need fewer adjustments and make the frame fit better. Be careful of buying ultracheap frames, warns frank baynham, an executive vice president, stores of luxottica retail, which owns lenscrafters and pearle vision, among other chains. He says those frames are often low quality models from china and korea that break easily or pop out lenses repeatedly. While those countries also make good frames, the cheaper ones are often used for promotions such as free second pair deals that are limited to a special section of the store.