What is a good glasses store?

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void.no.spam.com@gmail.com - 26 Sep 2007 03:55 GMT

Several years ago, I had worn glasses that I bought at For Eyes. I
found that the frame gave me headaches. I don't know if the frame
just wasn't adjusted correctly, or if perhaps the lenses were too
heavy. As for the lens quality, I did not notice any problems.

Then I decided to try LensCrafters, and I've worn their glasses for
the last several years. I find them to be very comfortable, but I
think that the lenses are of low quality. When I first got them, I
immediately noticed something about the lenses that I never noticed
with my For Eyes lenses. If I look straight out the center of the
lenses, then everything appears fine. But if I look out near the edge
of the lens, I notice that edges of objects have a discoloration to
them.

So can you please recommend a store that makes a high quality lens?
Around my area I know of Pearle, Hour Eyes (is that another
"eyeglasses in one hour" shop like LensCrafters?), and For Eyes.

Another question I have is: will a store be able to take my current
frame and make lenses that fit it? I like the frame that I have.

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The Real Bev - 26 Sep 2007 07:10 GMT

> Several years ago, I had worn glasses that I bought at For Eyes. I
> found that the frame gave me headaches. I don't know if the frame
> just wasn't adjusted correctly, or if perhaps the lenses were too
> heavy. As for the lens quality, I did not notice any problems.

The For Eyes people (along with all the other chain optometrist/opticians)
were always nice about doing adjustments for me, even for glasses that I
bought elsewhere. No reason to not keep going back until either you've
fixed the problem or figured out why it can't be fixed.

> Then I decided to try LensCrafters, and I've worn their glasses for
> the last several years. I find them to be very comfortable, but I
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> of the lens, I notice that edges of objects have a discoloration to
> them.

Since I'm the only one up now, I'll answer for the pros who are sleeping
soundly... That sounds like polycarbonate. Good for safety glasses
(scratches easily but doesn't break) but has the color-fringing property
you've noticed. There are always trade-offs. If you don't need the
safety-glass property, ordinary CR-39 ("cheap plastic") is as good as
anything. It's not a quality thing, it's just different materials for
different purposes.

> So can you please recommend a store that makes a high quality lens?
> Around my area I know of Pearle, Hour Eyes (is that another
> "eyeglasses in one hour" shop like LensCrafters?), and For Eyes.

I've bought the cheapest glasses I can find since 1977 and have nasty
astigmatism along with farsightedness. They've all been good. Moreover,
cheap frames are as good as expensive designer frames.

> Another question I have is: will a store be able to take my current
> frame and make lenses that fit it? I like the frame that I have.

I've bought frames at yard sales that worked fine. The stores tend to warn
against re-use saying they can't guarantee that the used frames won't break
and then they'll have to charge you to re-make the lenses to fit different
frames. I've re-used two frames without breaking them, but YMMV.

Actually, the only frames I've ever broken happened when I fell on my face
while skiing (the technical term is 'face plant'), but I fixed them with
super-glue.

A few months back I bought two pair of CR-39 bifocals (one pair tinted for
sunglasses) with spring hinges at Penney's optical shop for $150, a
reasonable price. I look for comfy frames (not easy to find due to my nasal
configuration), not beautiful ones.

Good luck!

Signature

Cheers, Bev
=====================================================
"It's too bad stupidity isn't painful." - A. S. LaVey

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Mike Ruskai - 26 Sep 2007 12:19 GMT

On or about Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:55:30 -0700 did
"void.no.spam.com@gmail.com" <void.no.spam.com@gmail.com> dribble
thusly:

>with my For Eyes lenses. If I look straight out the center of the
>lenses, then everything appears fine. But if I look out near the edge
>of the lens, I notice that edges of objects have a discoloration to
>them.

That's textbook chromatic aberration. Bright objects get purple or
red fringes, right? As the other poster wrote, that probably means
polycarb, which has rather high dispersion (separation of colors).

What you want is a better lens material, with lower dispersion, which
you can probably get at any of the places mentioned if you ask. It
will certainly be more expensive than polycarb, of course.

Signature

- Mike

Ignore the Python in me to send e-mail.

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void.no.spam.com@gmail.com - 27 Sep 2007 06:17 GMT

On Sep 26, 7:19 am, Mike Ruskai
<BUTthann...@DONTearthlinkLIKE.netSPAM> wrote:

> On or about Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:55:30 -0700 did
> "void.no.spam....@gmail.com" <void.no.spam....@gmail.com> dribble
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>
> Ignore the Python in me to send e-mail.

Thanks for the replies, Mike and Bev.

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