Replacement Glasses Lenses

[LuvOrlando]

Wondering if anyone has a favorite spot to get replacement lenses for glasses?

I was at Costco today & decided to get in before the back to school rush that presses up to the end of year HSA and picked up 2 pairs of glasses today. They are nice enough at $111 for 2 pairs but not the really good ones I have with scratched lenses so now and this made me realize no-one talks that much about good places for the lenses. The guy at Costco said it costs $25 for them to work on other store glasses and then around $66 for the lenses, is this a good price? I think I might want to update my sunglasses too.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Wondering if anyone has a favorite spot to get replacement lenses for glasses?

I was at Costco today & decided to get in before the back to school rush that presses up to the end of year HSA and picked up 2 pairs of glasses today. They are nice enough at $111 for 2 pairs but not the really good ones I have with scratched lenses so now and this made me realize no-one talks that much about good places for the lenses. The guy at Costco said it costs $25 for them to work on other store glasses and then around $66 for the lenses, is this a good price? I think I might want to update my sunglasses too.

$111 for two pairs of glasses? I'd jump all over that price!

I got my last glasses at Sam's Club and, they've been great.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I get my glasses and sunglasses at Costco. Usually about $320 for the 2 pair.

 

[bcla]

Depends on what you get. You can still get CR39 lenses, which are decent if you have a mild prescription. Then it starts getting more expensive if you want higher index lenses. I understand CR39 basically costs $1-2 wholesale per lense, while higher index goes up depending on the type.

The frames generally aren't the most expensive component, except maybe for designer frames where you're paying for the label.

I went the other way around. I had some glasses that I liked, but the frames (Flex-On) kept on breaking at the temple. Really weird too as mine snapped when it was just brushed lightly and not bent like they show in their ad copy. Had three frames break that way and the optician replaced it twice as a courtesy, even out of their 1 year warranty. By the time the third one broke, I just put them aside. Ended up just replacing the frame myself, although without a prescription I needed to pay sales tax. Got them from an online retailer called Designer Optics for less than $70, and they came with plano lenses.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I do have a mild prescription and I didn't want these to be multifocal, I really only need help getting out a splinter so it seemed a bit excessive to bake that into the glasses. I guess they are inexpensive because they are simple. It was going to be around $140 each but they gave $50 off for the second and I have some vision insurance that took off a bit more.

The "good" glasses I have that are scratched were expensive but BYGO so maybe they are worth updating for under $100, seems to be.

 

[tvguy]

$111 for two pairs of glasses? I'd jump all over that price!

I got my last glasses at Sam's Club and, they've been great.

Me too. Got glasses in January. $800. My insurance paid $400, so my out of pocket was $400. And that was for one pair of tri-focal progressive Hi Index lenses with anti glare coating and a warranty for two years that they will replace the lenses if they scratch.

 

[NotUrsula]

If you didn't buy your previous frames at Costco, check with the place where you did buy them; it may be cheaper to have the lenses replaced there. I also sometimes have my doctor's office do it; they charge a huge markup on frames, but not so much on lenses only. They charge about $50 to replace simple single-vision lenses.

We routinely replace lenses for our "backup" glasses; not worth always buying new frames for glasses that are not worn really regularly. (I don't always get the extras on the lenses of my backup pair, because I wear them very seldom.)

 

[bcla]

If you didn't buy your previous frames at Costco, check with the place where you did buy them; it may be cheaper to have the lenses replaced there. I also sometimes have my doctor's office do it; they charge a huge markup on frames, but not so much on lenses only. They charge about $50 to replace simple single-vision lenses.

We routinely replace lenses for our "backup" glasses; not worth always buying new frames for glasses that are not worn really regularly. (I don't always get the extras on the lenses of my backup pair, because I wear them very seldom.)

It's very dependend on the business. I know there's often some ridiculous markup on frames. I bought glasses at a place where it was "50% off" on frames with the purchase of lenses, but it seemed like the lenses were heavily marked up to pay for the discount on the frames.

Most independent opticians probably don't even do it themselves. It just doesn't make any sense where they just contract with labs.

I've also noticed that "one hour" glasses are no longer available. I went to one of the first ones in my area, which was a small, independent shop called Site for Sore Eyes. The owner eventually franchised the concept. They were doing one hour before LensCrafters was in business, but I'm thinking they probably weren't the first to do that concept. It's pretty much not happening any more since most lenses now are high index or specialized now. I was told that it takes expensive specialized grinding equipment that wouldn't make sense to replicate in dozens of stores. But I suppose some shops might still do that for simple prescriptions using CR39 lenses. I remember years ago being on vacation in Thailand where my glasses broke. I ended up getting a replacement there in an hour. It was pretty inexpensive too, and they just checked the lenses to replicate the prescription.

 

[Ning Ning]

If you have multi-focal lenses, be careful about buying them at Sam's or Costco. I learned last year, when I found some frames I liked at Costco, that the area of each "prescription" (I don't know if that would be the correct term) is smaller than the area of the lenses from my doctor. In other words, the Costco up-close part of the lens that you need for reading is only a small area in the center of the lens, whereas, at my doctor's office, it goes all the way across the lens, thus giving you more correction surface. The same with the mid-distance (to look at a computer) and the far distance. I don't know if I'm explaining myself correctly, but I chose to go with the more expense doctor's lenses so my vision would be as clear in each section as possible.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

If you have multi-focal lenses, be careful about buying them at Sam's or Costco. I learned last year, when I found some frames I liked at Costco, that the area of each "prescription" (I don't know if that would be the correct term) is smaller than the area of the lenses from my doctor. In other words, the Costco up-close part of the lens that you need for reading is only a small area in the center of the lens, whereas, at my doctor's office, it goes all the way across the lens, thus giving you more correction surface. The same with the mid-distance (to look at a computer) and the far distance. I don't know if I'm explaining myself correctly, but I chose to go with the more expense doctor's lenses so my vision would be as clear in each section as possible.

The prescription goes all the way across on my lenses (bi-focal), progressive.

 

[LuvOrlando]

If you didn't buy your previous frames at Costco, check with the place where you did buy them; it may be cheaper to have the lenses replaced there. I also sometimes have my doctor's office do it; they charge a huge markup on frames, but not so much on lenses only. They charge about $50 to replace simple single-vision lenses.

We routinely replace lenses for our "backup" glasses; not worth always buying new frames for glasses that are not worn really regularly. (I don't always get the extras on the lenses of my backup pair, because I wear them very seldom.)

Good idea, I'll check into it.

 

[dez1978]

Good lord! I pay around $700 for my glasses. Even at Sam's club its close to 500 and those don't work as well for me. I think I must just have a whacky prescription. But I also get the Crizal coating, the thin lenses, transitions, and progressives. I've had glasses since I was a baby and had surgery on one eye when I was 4.

If you have multi-focal lenses, be careful about buying them at Sam's or Costco. I learned last year, when I found some frames I liked at Costco, that the area of each "prescription" (I don't know if that would be the correct term) is smaller than the area of the lenses from my doctor. In other words, the Costco up-close part of the lens that you need for reading is only a small area in the center of the lens, whereas, at my doctor's office, it goes all the way across the lens, thus giving you more correction surface. The same with the mid-distance (to look at a computer) and the far distance. I don't know if I'm explaining myself correctly, but I chose to go with the more expense doctor's lenses so my vision would be as clear in each section as possible.

Agree with this. I have tried Sam's Club, just for sunglasses, and while they were acceptable for days at the lake or ballgames, they were not clear enough for all day, every day use. I also tired Zenni once hoping for some cheap sunglasses. I sent them all the things from my eye dr, and they were way off. Like what you were saying, the precise point where my eyes would be looking thru (where they put the little dot on the lenses when you order glasses) was off, and they were awful.

I can usually get a deal at my eye dr where a 2nd pair is 40% off, and the Crizal warranty covers new lenses if they are scratched in a year. So I try to get my yearly appt just shy of a year from the previous one so I know if my script is close enough to just use the warranty for new scratch free lenses. And even tho I get transitions lenses, my daily frames aren't big enough to make good sunglasses if that makes sense. If you have a high script, then bigger lenses are much heavier so I go with smaller frames to make them more comfortable. But then the sun comes in above the frames. Thats cool when just going out to my car or whatever, but if we are on the boat all day, with the sun reflecting off the water, they don't give me enough coverage to avoid the headache.

But to answer your question, check with where ever you get your glasses to see if there is a warranty that would replace them within a year, or look at the Crizal coating.

 

[Dan Murphy]

One thing to mention, I always get polarized lens for my sunglasses. Ive had polarized sunglasses from when I was a 10 year old buying Foster Grant sunglasses, or whatever from the drugstore racks. Polarized makes such an amazingly huge difference.

 

[gardenrooms]

I had my BIL, who is my optometrist, look at the Costco charges (I'm another blended, hi-index, thin lens etc. - the only thing is I HATE coatings, but it's next to impossible to get uncoated lenses) and he felt the charges were reasonable, fairly comparable to his cost. I can't vouch for their quality and I would not like to have glasses where the prescription doesn't go all the way across as another poster said. (I was comparing prices since I no longer have VSP.)

As far as frames go, I am now a HUGE fan of Pair Eyewear (magnetic toppers for your $60 frames), even more so now that they finally have Disney toppers. I would pay the extra to have my prescription put in my frames (I don't trust their opticians, though people seem to be pleased with their glasses).

 

[starry_solo]

OK, so my dad requires the Ben Franklin bi-focals aka executive bi-focals. These are the two lenses, cut in half and then glued back together / sealed together, with the line in the middle.
We found only one place (so far) that we could get it online.

The rest of us get our eyeglasses (regular, hi-index, not bi-focals) at either Costco or Sam's Club.