spectacles online

Thomas_Holding

Sadly I need varifocals and they are a lot more expensive for a platinum pair using the £40 frame in Boots it is over £200.

Has anyone bought specs on line and any advice?

Undervalued

Thomas_Holding wrote: »

Sadly I need varifocals and they are a lot more expensive for a platinum pair using the £40 frame in Boots it is over £200.

Has anyone bought specs on line and any advice?

Yes, I do regularly. Huge savings to be made.

You will need to know your PD which the optician is not obliged to put on your prescription.

If you go for metal frames with adjustable nose pads etc you will need to be able to adjust these yourself to fit (or get somebody to do if for you) once the glasses arrive.

With varifocals it is very important that they sit in exactly the right place. If you have warn them before you can generally post an old pair to the online company so that they can take measurements from the lenses.

A compromise, not quite as cheap, is to find a spectacle manufacturing business locally. Many of the ones used by opticians will deal direct if you take a valid prescription. Often found on a business park / industrial estate our of town or in a large village!

bouicca21

Horrified at the cost of my new specs (varifocals with coatings), I worked my way through one of those online sites. Once I'd worked my way through it turned out that buying online was just under £50 cheaper than my high street optician. I am not entirely sure how you are supposed to ensure the online ones fit, and given that that might be a hassle, decided not to bother.



I think online might be fine if you just need something basic, but it is not quite as money saving as I had hoped.

esuhl

bouicca21 wrote: »

I think online might be fine if you just need something basic, but it is not quite as money saving as I had hoped.

Yeah -- if you have simple long/short-sightedness and a low prescription, you can risk getting them online and hope they fit.


For anyone else, you really need to visit an optician for fitting, adjustments, and the guarantee of replacement lenses if you have problems with them.


I wonder if it would be cost-effective to fly abroad to buy my next pair... :-/

getmore4less

My preferred place optical4less has gone

Titanium rimless vari photo coatings came delivered £150 exchange rate changes would put it closer to £175 now.

Trying to find a decent new place

Gers

I found a little optical manufacturing company operating out of an industrial unit in the west end of Glasgow. They asked for my prescription and I got three pairs of single vision glasses (one of which was sunglasses) for under £150.00 - in two days.

Lucky find.

getmore4less

Gers wrote: »

I found a little optical manufacturing company operating out of an industrial unit in the west end of Glasgow. They asked for my prescription and I got three pairs of single vision glasses (one of which was sunglasses) for under £150.00 - in two days.

Lucky find.

Got any contact details?

ThemeOne

I tried online a few times, but wouldn't do so again, despite the savings. As others have said, it's the fitting that's the issue - not saying you can't get a perfect fit but it's a hassle.

Gers

getmore4less wrote: »

Got any contact details?

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