Varifocals cost dilemma

curlygirl1971

I guess I just want to talk this through and if anyone had an opinion based on experience I'd appreciate it.

I've been a glasses wearer for 30 years with quite a strong distance prescription. I spend 90% of my working day staring at a screen. I get quite a lot of headaches some of which I think are down to my vision problems.

I've been going to Specsavers a long time and never had an issue with them. Had a sight test and I've been advised to get Varifocals - which isn't a surprise. They do various 'grades' of varifocals and of course recommended their Elite at a cost of £109 (less £49 in lieu of thir current offer). With thinning them to 1.67 index this means the cost will be £245.

I know people always put the negatives online but I don't like what I am reading in various forums about the Specsavers Pentax lenses. Some people have no issue with them and others do. Many people find the field of clear vision narrow with blurring to the edges.

I've read that more expensive lenses such as Elissor, Hoya and Zeiss seem to have fewer problems. I went to a local independent opticians and got a price for frames and 1.67 index Zeiss lenses and the cost will be £580. I'm lucky in that I could afford these if funded 50% from my savings but even so, the cost is horrendous and I'm not sure if I can justify it (I thought £245 was bad!).

I've called specsavers and my local one won't supply anything other than their own Pentax.

I'll ring round some other independents this week and see if any of them are less expensive.

I've looked online - I could save approx £250 off the Independant optician price and still get Zeiss lenses. But am nervous about calculating my own pupillary distance, am also not 100% convinced by the Specsavers prescription as my astigmatism readings have suddenly changed significantly after many years.

The reason I am being pulled towards buying the Zeiss lenses is that I've got some vision issues that cannot be resolved by specs (scar tissue from retinal treatment) and I sometimes struggle seeing clearly - imagine looking through a dirty window. So I don't want to get lenses that may also give me the additional issue of blurred edges.......But £580! And potentially every couple of years!

wen2202

We'll although I have no knowledge of Zeiss lenses I can only give my opinion of my own experience.

I wear Specsavers varifocals, the cheapest lense they do and always thought I was quite satisfied with them.

In the summer I had my eyes tested again and used my prescription to have my updated varifocal put into a pair of my own Oakley sunglass frames.

All I can say is that the Oakley lenses is by far superior to the Pentax lense in even given shape or form, it's hard to describe the difference in clarity of vision.

So if you can I would go for the Zeiss lense, your eyes will thank you in the end.

Scrapaholic

I have no personal experience of Zeiss lenses but dh has them . I've asked him if they're better than his last varifocals and he said they're far superior than his previous pair which were like looking through a periscope . Field of vision is much wider too. He paid £400 + maybe 4 years ago .

cbrown372

Can't advise on the different lenses but the way I look at it is the cost is less than 80p a day over two years if you pay the £580 for something you have to wear every day.

That is how I justify the cost of my glasses.

Beenie

My husband has Zeiss. I have Seiko. We are both happy with our varifocals.

Previously, I had Hoya and they were OK but definately not as good as the Seiko lenses I have now.

My advice is to shop around. I asked 5 independent opticians for prices and was quoted roughly £350 by each. Since I was also buying some varifocal Rayban polarising sunspecs, the optician gave me a deal on £611 for both pairs.

Sezzagirl

Hi


I'm just on my 2nd pair of Specsavers varifocals and have had no problem at all with them


I like these better than the last pair actually. Although they are the same standard, the lense itself is bigger


I chose the level one below the top - I think it was elite. I know the level above was tailor-made. I didn't go straight in to the top level at first because I thought that if I didn't get on with them, I had another option to try

curlygirl1971

Thanks very much for the advice....that's been helpful

gfplux

I have always thought that varifocals were NOT recommended for computer work. Have I got this all wrong.
This was because you would have to tilt your head back to use the lower part of the lense.

pollypenny

I am another very satisfied customer of Specsavers and have been wearing their varifocals since 1994. Not the same pair, obviously.

Surely we use the middle bit for computer work?

theoretica

I can't speak for the varifocal issue, but if you can get your opticial to say you need separate specs just for computer work then I believe your work should pay for them.

comeandgo

I have Zeiss lenses in my varifocals, these are my first pair and they took me a while to get used to them but they are great. So much better for working on computer and distance and TV and driving.