Glasses Party For Your Face

[clare]

Yeah, are optometrists all linked with optical dispensers in Canada? They seem to be here, so maybe you could find one that has frames you like that are in your price range and choose them?

[elpollodiablo]

Well I ordered from Zenni again today: $70 for two pairs of eyeglasses, one pair of dark sunglasses. Looked at the Warby Parker page too and saw a lot that I liked, but since I need a new pair of sunglasses decided to stretch my dollar with Zenni. Interested to see if my experience is any different than it has been in the past. The website has changed immensely since I last ordered two years ago!

[elpollodiablo]

Well hey to answer myself two weeks later: the order status has not changed from "Manufactured" in a week. So that kinda sucks! I'd assume they won't be here any sooner than next week if they're in China. Might go with another outfit next time if that's the case.

[Thermofusion]

Oh yeah, I eventually got my order. I snapped a pic of one pair a few weeks ago, because they're funny-looking and make me look Jewish:



That's 366621. I also ordered 602316, but they're even bigger than 366621 and look ridiculous on me. In fact, I struggle to imagine any style/shape/type of face they wouldn't look ridiculous on. Caveat emptor 'n' shit. The third pair I ordered, 239621, are very similar to the pair I've had since the mid-aughts so they'll probably be worn the most. Unfortunately, they're also the cheapest-feeling of the three. The lenses feel like they could pop out at nary a moment's notice.

I dunno, I'm pretty ambivalent about the whole thing, and I'm a guy who's usually all too skilled at willfully ignoring trade-offs in the name of cheap junk from China. Also the shipping is hilarious: the three ugliest glasses cases ever fashioned by man, stuffed into a media mailer with no packing slip. lulz

[cold before sunrise]

Clearly Contacts recently had a deal where they were giving away a free pair of glasses if you hadn't bought frames from them before. It might still be on? Code: firstpairfreeca.

[clare]

I broke one of my contact lenses today, so I'm 100% glasses for now, which would be OK, except that my script's a bit out of date, and the glare-reduction coating crazed like fuck, so the overall effect is 'fuzzy'... next problem is that I can't get replacement lenses for the frames in fewer than 3 weeks, and new contacts will be about as long...oh dilemma....I have an old pair, but the lenses in them are quite odd, so perhaps I need to replace the lenses in those first, and the good ones second...gah...

[elpollodiablo]

Well my glasses came yesterday. Took one day short of three weeks; not too great. May post pictures later to see if you guys think they make me look like a Jewface or not

[Thermofusion]

That's really racist dogg

[Bernard]

My zennis have all cracked and fallen apart, except for my 'jazz' sunglasses. Trying a pair of Warby Parkers. Will report back.

[Ashley]

Where do I go to get an eye examination in a new city?  My prescription needs to be updated but I keep putting it off because I don't know what the process is.  And I'm getting pretty blind.

You don't need to check for in-network insurance dudes or anything because you're in Canada, right? I would just find someplace close to you and ask to make an appointment.

Yeah, are optometrists all linked with optical dispensers in Canada? They seem to be here, so maybe you could find one that has frames you like that are in your price range and choose them?

This is from so long ago!  But I'm not sure, I know I have to check for in-network insurance dudes for psychologists.  But looking at optical places that have things I like at prices I can afford is a good idea.

Zenni has changed huh?  My friend and my brother are both thinking about getting some from there, I guess I'll let them know it's not what it once was.

[elpollodiablo]

It's actually exactly what it always was, they just seem to be slower on filling orders. The quality & price are as they ever were: extremely cheap.

[Greg Nog]

For what it's worth, I haven't had any lag in shipping time, and all the glasses I've gotten have held up just fine.

I'm wearing the first pair I ever got from them right now, actually, along with a tie from The Tie Bar and a suit from Overstock, so it's a day of much Cheap Internet Products all around.

[elpollodiablo]

Yeah I saw that pic in the other thread--those things have really held up admirably! My former favorite pair, the chunky black ones with the star embellishments (also owned by your friend JW) really did not hold up well at all. They turned out to be semi-translucent plastic covered in some kind of black plastic film, and the film began to peel and flake after about six months, mostly on the arms/near the ears. I still wear em a lot, but they are definitely not long for this world. Then again, they were $8

[nonotyet]

It took exactly two weeks to the day for me to get my Zenni glasses (3 pairs total), and I am trying to be extra-careful with them because of all the stories I've heard about them being cheap and easily breakable. I like them a lot!
I now covet these because THEY HAVE A CRYING STAR ON THE EARPIECE THING. And I am an adult. 

[coldforge]

Man it just breaks a man's heart to see all these pocket squares and glen plaid jackets in the clothes thread, and come back here to see y'all going on about $8 internet glasses. Up y'all's game.

[elpollodiablo]

...why?

[Greg Nog]

Got me some ten-dollar glasses and crew socks

get on my level coldforge

[elpollodiablo]

Here's my take on glasses after almost twenty years of wearing them: I will not pay a premium for high-quality construction and materials. If the lenses are of decent quality and they look good, I am practically incapable, either as an observer or wearer, to distinguish a sub-$50 pair purchased through a sketchy importing company from a $95 pair from Warby Parker from a $500 pair purchased at ludicrous retail prices from some high-end spectacles purveyor. The cheapest pair of glasses I've ever owned has been as comfortable and actually better-looking than the most expensive pair. They didn't hold up very well; they also cost less than 10% of the more expensive pair. They looked better than the more expensive pair, and in fact bore a nearly indistinguishable resemblance to pairs that cost maybe twenty times what I paid for the cheap pair. They wore precisely the same as the more expensive pair. If I cannot distinguish between a cheap pair and a more expensive pair while wearing them (except w/r/t to their longevity over time) and no one else can distinguish between a cheap pair and an expensive pair at ten paces... where is the value in the more expensive pair? I guess if you're showing a brand or maker's mark on the outside that's... something, but I always found showing labels to be gross.

And this all leaves aside the practical considerations for not buying a super-primo expensive pair of glasses: they get broken, lost, damaged, scratched, etc.

[jm]

was gonna say something here, but pollo already said it

[G.C.R]

I have resisted looking at Zenni much previously because WANT. I would actually be inclined to actually want to wear my glasses for more than just screens and reading if I got myself some of these. maybe after I've paid for all the other treats like joining the gym for winter and plain black stockings and getting my teeth fixed. I live in hope one day these practical necessities won't be ' treats'. 

[Bernard]

pollo, have you ever worn silhouettes? I have annihilated every other pair of glasses I've owned in 2 years or less -- I've had silhouettes for 12+ years and the only reason I'm on my second pair is because my prescription changed. These things are immortal. I tried the zenni knockoffs of these, but they're unwearable.

[clare]

I think I've been wearing glasses for 35 years :-/ I've found that in general, more expensive = better, but I wish it wasn't true. I need new glasses lenses, and I just found out that my new contact lenses are going to be $430+

[Thermofusion]

I think I've been wearing glasses for 35 years :-/ I've found that in general, more expensive = better, but I wish it wasn't true. I need new glasses lenses, and I just found out that my new contact lenses are going to be $430+

I started wearing glasses at 16, and while I can't necessarily say more expensive = better, I can definitely report that my Zenni pairs feel far cheaper and chintzier than any of the storebought pair I've owned in the past (I can tell by the flimsy quality and by wearing quite a few specs in my day). Luckily these days I'm a contacts person (by the way, clare, $430+ for contacts? holy shit? I take it these aren't disposable softies?). I'd say Zenni's OK if you're into having an array of cheap glasses on hand as fashion accessories but as durable everyday pairs meant for years of use, I'm pretty damn skeptical.

[YojimboMonkey]

alternatively, if you are the father of 2 boys who wear glasses and are equally likely to break a sturdy $180 pair as they are a chintzy $10 pair.

[Greg Nog]

The ability to not worry about breaking hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise due to monkeying around is most definitely a major selling point for me on the cheap glasses front.