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Varifocals are on the, albeit blurred, horizon... it's the first time that SS haven't tried to force a sale on me and the sales person even said ' you should go away and think about this'
so lenses £159 for ones that appear to actually be varifocal and not random blurry bits, thinning £80 plus frames... £129 if I get similar to my current ones..
Has to be cheaper online but seems like a minefield, what if they don't fit etc... help me save money and see clearly
also, if you have gone down the vari route how long did it take to adapt if at all?
RXSports.
Had a out 5 pairs of glasses from them, 2 pairs varifocals. All great and pretty much no adaption time.
They've all been Oakley frames. The varifocals were cheaper than specsavers.
I’ve used select specs a few times and no complaints but single vision. Asda are cheap for varifocals so I would check them out
We have used Select Specs for quite some time, using their re glaze service and can usually combine it with a discount code.
Can't fault the service and price
Other half uses varifocals for everything and found them easy to adapt to.
Has three pairs re glazed this year due to prescription change
Used Select Specs quite a few times mainly for backup pairs as they can be had for about £6 a pair with standard lenses. Quality for the price is excellent and I am probably going to get my good framed reglazed with, them as they're pretty scratched (and I want reactive lenses).
Glasses Direct+1
Some companies won't handle more extreme prescriptions
More extreme prescriptions need a precise pupillary distance, lower prescriptions are okay with an average PD, so get this included on the prescription
Another vote for RXSport and their Oakleys. They measure PD by sending you a template frame and you send back a photo of you wearing it.
One thing to be aware of: the Oakleys are sport-specific. The varifocals I got from RX Sport are fantastic for riding - great field of view for the landscape, with a relatively narrow close-range zone which is perfect for reading the Garmin. I recently got a pair of glasses from my local optician with Zeiss Smartlife lenses which have larger near- and mid-range zones.
It's horses for courses - for example the Oakleys are better when I need a larger distance field (e.g. big-screen cinema, riding, etc), the Zeiss are better when I am reading or driving.
PD, so get this included on the prescription
Previous discussion on this, and my questioning the resistance of opticians in givong the PD (because they don't want you taking your prescription and buying your glasses online) had an optician defending high street shops' right to charge extortionately.
I told specsaver that I was buying some safety specs for work and was usuing the works account from a different supplier, and they gave me my PD. That was ages ago though, now I just use the RXsports print out and send them a photo.
They even send you a dummy pair of frames if you're having varifocals and you send them a photo of you wearing them and take measurments from that.
@dhague - were the Oakleys you got from their RX range or sunglasses range? I though the RX range were just normal glasses and not sports specific? Although I don't have Oakley lenses as my prescription is too strong for them.
I asked previously about this - my local optician, branded occupational lenses and a half decent frame (branded or unbranded) was working out as £350+. I had previously bought from them and it was around £200.
I was persuaded by a friend to us Vision Express. It cost about £180. But - the lenses are odd colour, I think the left lens is not as 'broad' in the area it works properly, and the frames are shite for what I paid for a branded frame.
I won't be using Vision Express again, but am really struggling to afford the cost of the local, but good, optician.
Like most of the "expensive local vs cheaper online" choices, it's about striking a balance I think.
I think it's important that local opticians remain a 'thing', and for all-day-every-day glasses I'll pay local optician's prices as the glasses need to be absolutely bob-on and with a local optician there's a greater guarantee of that, as they measure you properly and you can keep going back to get things tweaked until they're sorted. It's pretty nuts, if you think about it, that many of us will happily spunk hundreds of quid on bike bits but baulk at spending the same money on something that we need to actually, you know, see.
However... for riding glasses and sunglasses, which don't have to be as absolutely bob-on as everyday glasses and stand a greater chance of getting dropped/scratched/ covered in crap, I'm not paying hundreds of quid and I'll get from cheaper online retailers. As such, I've recently used https://www.goggles4u.co.uk/uk/ and been pleased with the results - varifocal sunglasses for about forty quid.
@ads678 I got Oakley Holbrooks from RXSport, this is the sunglasses range. From the RXSport's blurb for Oakley:
a universal varifocal package that is designed to offer excellent performance optimised for sports in sunglasses or glasses for everyday use
So I may have interpreted the spiel a bit optimistically - that said, the Zeiss Smartlife definitely has a bigger near zone (and costs about £100 more). The distance zone in the Zeiss lenses is a bit smaller, largely because the frames I got for those are also smaller.
I have used Specsart recently.
Simple to use, quick and reasonable price.
I'd use again
Very timely thread. I have a appointment for a new prescription after 4 years with my current glasses and very scratched to the point it's hard to see but the optician I have used for 15 years has retired. Trying Specsavers this time.
More extreme prescriptions need a precise pupillary distance, lower prescriptions are okay with an average PD, so get this included on the prescription
This is my worry. I have astigmatism and -7.5 prescription so my lenses are expensive to make them thin but the risk of having them wrong is big for me. Is the PD messur d during the test or is the fitting used to tweak this?
Ah, I've got Holbrook RX frames, but also have Holbrook sunnies and they are slightly different dimensions.
Hmm, just checking my SS prescription and no PD shown.
Is the PD messur d during the test or is the fitting used to tweak this?
PD is not measured at the time of your eye test as it "isn't part of the prescription". They measure it after you've chosen some frames, although it isn't frame specific, it's eye specific, so should be part f the prescription to me....
Ok thanks. I will see what happens with my test.
I got varifocals for the first time 18+ months ago and paid an absurd amount for a pair when 'good' lenses at boots, and then got a couple of secondary pairs online selecting cheaper lens options. I actually prefer the secondary pairs! Spex4less. They send the frames for you to try for size and to photograph yourself wearing. They use the photo to get the measurements they need, seemed to work well for me and I'd use them again very happily. The frames I got were oakley so can't comment on quality of any 'own brand' frames, but service and lenses seem great.
SelectSpecs here, used them for cheap pairs to leave knocking about the office and for prescription riding glasses.
If your eyesight is changing due to age, then I'd recommended using a local optician.
I had loads of trouble when I needed varifocals: issues with varifocals themselves, increased sensitivity to pupillary distance which meant I had to get them re made and remeasured.
Buying from the same place that issued the prescription meant that all the added hassle didn't cost anything. If I'd sent it to an online place they would have just made it up to my spec.
.
Long term glasses wearer, and the addition is +1.50 for reading, my actual prescription hasn't changed, if that makes sense
+1 Glasses Direct
Used them several times in recent years. Always delivered within the 7-10 day lead time and happy with the quality.
I discovered my phone will measure PD using its camera and LiDAR with a free app. I think any iPhone with face-unlock is probably capable of doing so. I also have more faith in this measurement than I have in my opticians’ sales guy and a ruler.
I think we’ll end up paying a more representative cost for checkups and prescriptions in the end; the current arrangement with spectacle-wearers paying over the odds for glazing to subsidise opthalmology services for everyone must be untenable.
SelectSpecs here
Well that's the first online service I've looked at that has my prescription in their range. Mind you it works out about the same price as my optician.
I also have more faith in this measurement than I have in my opticians’ sales guy and a ruler.
My optician measures mine, not a sales guy.
Try September23 as a discount code. It's what they sent me last week
My optician measures mine, not a sales guy.
I think mine (a high street chain) no longer do this so that they can claim PD is a dispensing function and somehow not covered by GDPR of included in ophthalmology records. I won’t be getting any more glasses from them since they pulled that one.
Ro5ey
I have used Specsart recently.
Simple to use, quick and reasonable price.
I’d use again
Good call!
Finally, a frame shape in the Hamilton range 1 to 5 that I like with reasonable price, rather similar size and looks to my current ones. Better still it is made in the UK. Will decide the ones I want as I am going to get two.
Although the frame shape is nothing special it is rather difficult to find something similar which is also made in the UK. I have put off getting a new specs because I had not found one I like. I think the Hamilton range will do. Fingers crossed.
I will get the frame only because my eyesight is rather complicated and I prefer to get my local optician to deal with the lens. Getting varifocal lens btw. My optician quoted me £450 just for the varifocal lens!
Update, ended up going glasses direct. They took ten days to arrive and after a few hours of wearing them I seem to be coping. Will def take me some time to adjust though.
I ended up with using one of my local spectacles maker for my prescription because they have a frame that I like.
If you are in the North East you might want to try out C & H Optics. The only thing he did was to measure to measure the distance of my pupils. The rest of the prescription details are available on my eye check.
Mine will be ready in one week. Will see how it goes as some of colleagues have recommended them to me and praised them highly.
What I get:
Fineform steel frame (rectangular shape) £55
Thinness 1.7 lens (thinness lens available - only get the thinness if your eyesight (3.5 and above) is very poor otherwise 1.6 thinness is fine. This is to avoid having thick lens)
Multicoated
Widest varifocals with no blurring bits
All in for £230
For my next pair I will have all the above plus transition effect and the price is not much more.