Lenscrafters, Pearle, Sears, Walmart etc. are all part of Luxotica corp and will be the most expensive place to buy. I have started buying from Zenni and I love the service. Only downside is it takes about 3 weeks to get your order. I know there are also lower priced local places all over. Costco prices are OK if not great. Also, if you want designer frames they are all owned by Luxotica.

Yes, I have gone with Zenni too. My last pair at walmart were $400. I gave up on the mall optical stores years ago. I have several pairs from Zenni for about 30-50 each. I like the zenni lenses better than the zeiss lenses I got at walmart. The fitting on the zenni frames has not been perfect, but I've found it to be good enough.

If you're buying without insurance, the advantage of the larger optical stores is that they often send out coupons. This was the only way my mom used to be able to get glasses.

I pretty much go with Zenni nowadays (even though the eye doctor said it's kinda sketchy for people who have as fucked up eyes as I do).

This is such a great question! I'm pleased to hear about your experiences with Zenni, DarkForest and arse_hat. I'm scheduled for a long-overdue eye exam, and I'm planning to splash out for one set of specs at the locally owned place (in part because I always need fitting and shaping, in part for the whole Buy Local thing), but I'm planning to order my back-up glasses from Zenni. It's great to hear you're happy with yours.

I have used Lenscrafters, Pearle, Walmart and one off stores. They've all had the lightest lenses available (I need them too). Walmart was the cheapest and I was happy with the glasses. I've finally convinced the mister to try Zenni (plus a couple of his co-workers also gave them a thumbs up). We haven't just yet (he's having cataract surgery in both eyes in June), but will be trying them out soon.

Wow, I had never heard of Zenni, I will try them!

I'm going to go with zenni too. I'm well overdue for an eye exam, and no doubt will need new lenses.

I've used both Zenni and Goggles4u.com

I has slightly better service at Goggles4u.com I have very different prescriptions for my two eyes and Zenni kept treating it like it was a mistake.

Ordering online you need to pay attention to sizing the frames (I need a narrower than usual nose bridge.)

The online places are so inexpensive, you are not gambling much. I now have several pairs of glasses: reading, distance, distance sunglasses, close work and progressive bifocal.

Mathowie wrote up a bit of a blog post when he got his $40 glasses.

Oops, I meant this, but that is a nice video.

I've never bought glasses on-line, but I'm pretty sick of paying $200 - $400 for a pair of glasses. I'm (over) due for an eye test, so I guess it might be time to take the plunge. Thanks for the recommendations!

Darn it, I went to the eye doctor today but I didn't know to ask for my PD.

It's ok, amro. You can just call them and they will look it up for you.

I could not find any doctor who would give me my PD. To get it I just had my wife take a picture of my face while I held a millimetre marked ruler under my eyes. I just looked at the photo on my monitor and drew a line through the centre of each eye and I had my PD distance.

I wouldn't mind trying this, but I'm kinda like Elsa (buy local, hard to fit), and also I have astigmatism and I just feel kind of non-confident that the lenses would be shaped properly.

I have astigmatism on both axis and it has not been an issue.

Yeah, astigmatism here. It turned out fine. Just use the numbers on your prescription. Also, measuring your own PD is not hard.

Here's my AskMe on the same subject. Honestly, I couldn't get my PD anywhere from anyone - they have figured out that asking for it means you are going to order online so they stonewall you - and when I tried to measure it, the measurement was different every single time. Therefore I ended up going to Sam's Club (we don't have Costco here) and I was really pleasantly surprised by how well it all went. They had nice frames and the thinner lenses I need and it cost around $250 including the new prescription, which is HALF what I had paid at an independent shop three years before. While I was getting fitted for the new glasses, I also got my PD - they have to give it to you then, when it's obvious that they're measuring it - and from now on I'm going Zenni all the way. Oh and of the many numbers I came up with for a PD? The actual one was none of them. ;-)

I went through a short period where the vision insurance I had was only good at Lens Crafters (and not at the optometrist I had been seeing for 20 years). After getting an exam there, I had lenses made to fit my existing frames. When I got the new lenses, my vision seemed really messed-up. Of course, Lens Crafters just kept giving me the "It might take time to adjust." line. I went back the next day because nothing had improved and driving in the new lenses was just plain dangerous. Luckily, they gave me the old lenses back with the new ones. They analyzed the old lenses and discovered that the person who examined me and wrote my new prescription had removed all of my astigmatism correction. WTF???

So, they reexamined me and made new lenses that included the astigmatism correction.

What really pissed me off, though, was Lens Crafters attempt to suggest that the problem was with me. They made the suggestion that if I had problems with the new lenses they would require me to get checked for diabetes, since that can lead to sudden changes in eyesight.

I will never go to LC again.

I'd love to try getting glasses online, but my prescription is so tricky, and I'm really picky about getting it right, that I'm just not confident about going online and being able to get it right. It's definitely an expensive prescription, and I do get tired of paying for it. Still...I'm just not confident about doing it online.

Oh, and my optometrist does include the PD when you ask for the prescription.