As anyone who wears prescription glasses knows, they are expensive. Zenni Optical is an online retailer that offers prescription glasses at very low prices, selling a complete pair for as low as $8.99. Talk radio consumer guru Clark Howard raved about Zenni on his show and this led me to give them a try. .
To order from Zenni you will need a prescription and with this in hand, go to their website www.zennioptical.com. Once there, the customer will find the site easy to navigate with a comprehensive selection in different styles and a variety of materials that I found very impressive. When you select the menu, you will be directed to the ordering page where you will enter the information from the prescription. Each field on the page has a help option that explains what information is required. If you type or enter information that doesn’t make sense, a person from their customer service customer service will follow up with you to find out information One often stops the prescription is pupillary distance or PD. This is a measure between your pupils that is visible both near and far. If PD is not in the prescription, it is probably out of order for your latest pair of glasses. The site also provides instructions for measuring yourself, but since this measurement is critical to how your glasses will fit, I recommend that you have it professionally measured, or ask your ophthalmologist to provide it from your kit. UV and fingerprint resistant coatings are offered free of charge.
After filling out all the information on the site and using credit card, the order will be placed. and you will wait two to three weeks for delivery. Zenni Optical maintains a customer office in California, but the glasses are made in China. When they arrive, they will be in a white or blue plastic case with cleaning. The case does not hold the glasses firmly and only the accessories at the bottom. I left a clean cloth in case to provide some extra protection when I wasn’t wearing glasses.
I bought two pairs of them, a pair of sunglasses and a pair of amber tinted night driving lights. The total came to $26.95 a pair. At first examination the glasses were very light and hinged on a spring hinge. The dye and other coats were applied evenly and were very good. In testing them I found them to fit perfectly and to be the correct prescription.
Both of these pairs of glasses are usually in my car all the time and I use sunglasses every day. After about three months the screws on the hinges of the glasses have become quite loose and require re-tightening on a regular basis. After about a month, pieces of one ear came out of his nerve, and he brought me back to the glue. I once accidentally dropped amber tinted glass on the concrete floor and found it very heavy, the lenses are not washable, and therefore no eye protection.
From my experience, I would check other perspectives before buying Zenni again. While the prescription is perfectly fulfilled, the glasses are made of cheap material, and the use of non-squalane lenses poses a risk to the person who works in environments where there are eye cases. I would never buy a pair of these for a child, except for the materials and the lenses. I think the truth is what you pay for.
