Get Better Glasses! - Elsewhere

Glasses Shop: The new kid on the block

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:46:00 -0500

Today I caught wind of a new entry into the world of discount online eyewear. The website is Glassesshop.com. The price of entry is low -- just $8 plus shipping (complete with prescription). The prices go up from there. Anti-reflective coating (perhaps the most important) is just $5 extra. UV and anti-scratch coatings are free. Transition lenses are available for about $30 more.

The price point is as low as anything out there. How about the quality? I don't know! I'm going to be ordering a pair of rx sunglasses or transition glasses from glasses shop in the very near future. I'll post an update. If you have ordered from this website and have experience with their service, please post a comment to this post or send me an email sharing your experience.

I sent out some emails to get a feel for their customer service. Response time was quick.

Click to visit Glassesshop.com (will open in new window)

This is the most amusing graphic on their web page. Free shipping, that's cool. But what are they sending out? King kong glasses? Or is that just a really really tiny dolly?

Blogger left the doctor's office feeling "ripped off" ...

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 08:49:05 -0400

$200 later and not even any new frames to show for it, this blogger was fed up with traditional eyewear stores. Thanks to the internet and some online info, capitalism wins out and the guy gets a great pair of glasses for $25.

Check out his post. It's complete with great visuals of the goggles4u.com product. (use coupon "STTJ2W" for 5% off) So check it out. See what you'll get. Order some glasses online and think, "$350 glasses: no more!"

Mr. Golfer even mentions ditching his vision insurance thanks to newfound cheap glasses. Not such a bad idea. At my work, we're set up with health savings accounts. A great tool for buying glasses online with employer-contributed or at least pre-tax money.

NPR: Cheap Eyeglasses a "Best Kept Online Secret"

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:35:14 -0400

NPR recently ran a story about one correspondent's experience with buying eyewear online. Gettin' the word out an saving people money! Just what the eye doctor ordered.

Click here to listen to the audio story. (links to official NPR website)

Eyeglasses? $300 is too much!

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:45:58 -0400

From "Think Cheaply," a consumer blog:

Stop spending $300 for eyeglasses, order online.

I was sitting with a friend at lunch the other day, he was talking about his new eyeglasses, and how they were way overpriced. He had paid $300 for eyeglasses at the local shopping mall, and felt like he had been ripped off.

Now, I thought I was a step above him. I would buy my eyeglasses at an discount optical store called America's Best Contacts and Eyeglasses. When I was a kid, this was the place that my parents had dragged me to, and had me pick eyeglasses off the 49 dollar rack or whatever.

Continue reading at Think Cheaply...

His glasses look a whole lot like mine. No matter which site you choose for your eyewear, you'll get a case and cleaning cloth similar to that shown above.

Bloggers love cheap glasses (hey, who doesn't?)

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:48:00 -0400

Who isn't in love?

From Greenstew.com (recession inspired grocery shopping)
So I really have a special love for my glasses and contacts. I really believe that you should have an extra pair or two of glasses. But really who could afford that? Well now you can, here is a web site that offers very cheap glasses, starting at $9.00.

From Helmet of Mambrino (I have no idea what that title means)

Here are pictures of the glasses I got. I could take shots of me wearing them but I figure no one wants to see my fat mug.

These cost $8. I got them with dark blue on the inside. So they look almost completely black. I like these for their sheer nerdiness.

Have Blue Eyes? We're Related!

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:45:00 -0500

If you have blue eyes, I recommend a rimless frame Otherwise, no one will ever know...

More than meets the blue eye: You may all be related
If you have blue eyes, you may be related to every other blue-eyed person in the world. Researchers in Denmark have found that every person with blue eyes descends from just one "founder," an ancestor whose genes mutated 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. Before then, everyone had brown eyes. Lead scientist Hans Eiberg, a geneticist at Copenhagen University, began in 1973 to study a Danish father with 17 children who carried the gene for both blue and brown eyes. Over time, researchers were able to trace the blue-eyed trait to one specific area near a gene called OCA2.... Continue reading at USA Today...

What say you, America, about eyewear-wearers?

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 12:34:00 -0500

I ran across this little gem today...

Americans Reveal What Turns Them On and Off About Eyeglasses
Essilor of America, the makers of Crizal® Alizé(tm), a new anti-reflective eyeglass lens with unsurpassed cleanability and durability, recently asked more than 3,000 men and women about their eyeglass perceptions. Covering everything from sexy, spectacle-sporting celebrities to eyeglass fashion, the survey reveals America's stand on specs.
Star-Struck Spectacles
Britney Spears tops the charts again, but this time it's for being rated the sexiest eyeglass-wearing celebrity among men (44 percent). For women, all eyes were on Richard Gere, who topped their list at 35 percent.

continue reading at beauty.about.com...

Sounds like we glasses wearers are in the clear, as we are perceived to be smart and sophisticated by a fair number of folks surveyed. I'm glad those people haven't met me! Just kidding, I'm ultra-smart and ultra-sophisticated, thanks to my glasses.

Here are some sophisticated Avada frames for the fellows:

or maybe this Prada frame:

Those are designer frames, running about $160 (Avada) or $225 (Prada) after you add lenses. Though expensive, this is well off the $500+ you would pay retail. If you are looking for something a little more reasonable, check out the Prague frame at 39dollarglasses.com. It costs, well 39 bucks, including prescription lenses, and is shown here:

Well, that's all from me on this Funday-Sunday. Have a great working week, everyone!

Weekend Surfing: Questions about Eyeglasses

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 01:16:50 -0500

From time to time I'll surf over to Yahoo answers and respond to various questions about how to buy eyewear online. For a little weekend reading, I found a few interesting questions:

TheChosenOne asks, "How do you safely clean your eyeglasses?"
Binky asks, "Where can I buy these [Baby Phat] eyeglasses?"
Overcast ponders, "If eyeglasses did not exist in ancient history, how did people with poor vision see?"
Tictact needed advice, "[What are good] choices of eyeglasses for broad and chubby face?"

and easily my favorite:
"Can eyeglasses change the size of your ears?"

I wish all of you a great weekend. It is a beautiful day here in Colorado, I should probably go skiing...

"Would you buy glasses online?"

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:36:10 -0500

Would you buy glasses online? That’s one thing I haven’t bought online yet, but I probably would if I wasn’t buying glasses because I lost or destroyed my previous pair.
Continue reading at The Deets

Someone else ran across this buying-glasses-online concept. Check out the post and the comments if you are researching the possibility of buying eyewear online.

Welcome Slickdeals Readers!

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 22:00:25 -0500

I noticed some traffic coming in from slickdeals.net. They have a great thread going about buying glasses online. Lots of questions asked and answered. I remember when I first figured out about how much money could be saved through these online retailers (zenni, eyebuydirect, etc.)...it made me apprehensive at first--wondering if it would actually work. Almost too good to be true, you know? But it does work and my eyes are the happiest they have ever been!

Planet Eyewear: A Slideshow of Trends

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:28:04 -0500

Let's talk about trends, baby. Let's talk about you and me. All the good things all the bad things that you see. I think I messed up the words. Anyhow, over at DNA (Daily News and Analysis), a nice slideshow has been posted highlighting emerging eyewear trends in India. They are strikingly similar to our trends here in the old US of A.

"Dark shades such as grey and black are the more preferred ones in terms of the lens colour. Unlike earlier, colours such as light pink and blue are completely out and these days people prefer to go for frames that are made of plastic and that come with different layered and coloured effects. Red and white and red and black are pretty successful combinations. The tortoise shell effect is also extremely popular," she adds.
continue reading at DNA...

My standing recommendation for the website with truly trendy, designer eyewear at reasonable prices isBest Buy Eyeglasses, where you can save 40% on Designer Sunglasses. For less expensive non-designer eyewear, check out some of the links on the right of this page.

[Technorati Tags: Glasses Online, Designer Eyewear, India, Eyewear, Fashion, sunglasses]

Bifocals a Pain in the Neck

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 21:25:00 -0500

From the good folks over at US News and World Report, Health Division

Bifocals Can Be a Pain in the Neck
By Matthew Shulman

When it comes to reading small print and seeing oncoming traffic from a distance, bifocals are a sure bet. But the dual-purpose lenses aren't great at "in between" distances—for example, from chair to computer screen.

So bifocal wearers commonly adopt a working posture that can strain the neck muscles and result in neck pain and piercing headaches. They extend the neck forward to bring the screen into closer view, tilting the head to focus through the lower segments of the lenses, says Richard Guyer, a spine surgeon with the Texas Back Institute and a past president of the North American Spine Society. In some people, the pain extends beyond the neck to the shoulder and can radiate down the nerves to the hands, sometimes resulting in shoulder and elbow injuries and carpal tunnel syndrome, according to Joseph Kleinkort, a spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association and an ergonomic consultant.

It doesn't take a spine surgeon, though, to correct the problem. Kleinkort recommends getting a pair of trifocals—essentially bifocals with a third, middle lens for the intermediate zone some 18 to 24 inches away. Another option is progressive lenses, which are typically prescribed for older patients with presbyopia and are made with a single, seamless lens that changes magnification depending on the angle. These lenses "allow you to find the best region in the glasses for whatever distance your task demands," says Lynn Gordon, a neuro-ophthalmologist at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at the University of California-Los Angeles. Progressive contact lenses are also available.

The ergonomics of your workspace also play a role in relieving the aches. Simply changing the position of the computer monitor, in fact, may do the job. According to Richard Bunch, a physical therapist and clinical associate professor at Tulane University Medical School who consults on ergonomics, lowering the monitor so that the head and neck can remain in a neutral position and the chin level to the floor—whether or not you wear corrective lenses—can work wonders for neck pain. And be sure to sit up tall with your head centered over your shoulders to increase blood flow and lessen the burden on your neck.

Getting the Right Size Frame

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 20:41:48 -0500

It's a blessing when a retailer offers multiple frame sizes. All the frames at BestBuyEyeGlasses (pop-up link) are available in multiple sizes. But which size is right for you? I found this at Eyeweartalk.com.

Right Size Glasses Online
Knowing your glasses size is especially important when you buy glasses online. If you haven’t had a chance to try on the frames in a store, you want to make sure the glasses will fit for comfort and looks. When I try on glasses in the store, I always look at the measurement information that is printed on the inside of one of the temples or on the bridge. You don’t have to try on too many glasses before you begin to know your size. The size information is a set of three numbers that are measurements in millimeters. For example, I recently bought frames that are size 54-19-140. The first number (54) is the horizontal width of one lens. The second number (19) is the distance between lenses, and the third number (140) is the length of one of the temples. I am a larger person and this is the bigger size in this style. The smaller frame is 52-17-140. At OpticsPlanet, we provide this size information on each page that describes our Sunglasses, Prescription Sunglasses and Eyeglasses. The first thing I consider when choosing the right size is to make sure the glasses are at least as wide as my face. Otherwise, the glasses will look and feel too small. The width of glasses includes the horizontal width of one lens times two (one for each lens) PLUS the distance between the lenses PLUS the distance the temples stick out which can be a few millimeters. It is helpful if you know the width of your face, otherwise, after you try on a few pairs, you’ll know the minimum horizontal lens width you need. I don’t use the value for the distance between lenses as a guide for fitting over my nose. The number can be misleading especially if the shape of the lenses bring them close together at the bridge. I use the number to get a sense of the overall width of the frames. Sometimes, there isn’t a lot of choice in the length of the temples. A number like 140 is common. However, for myself, I have found that a temple that is longer than 140 is more comfortable and provides greater stability. A temple that is too short may not have enough length for proper final fitting and adjustment. Also, a temple that is the proper length looks better by going straight back across your head and not angled up. The temple length number can be misleading. A frame that wraps may have a temple length that appears to be short, but you need to take the wrap into consideration which pushes the temples back over your ears. When you know the size that fits you best, you can confidently by glasses online and take advantage of great savings on the best brands. See our Sunglasses Guide and our Rx Prescription Guide for more information about choosing glasses that fit well. At OpticsPlanet, we have a flexible Return Policy and many of our customers order several pairs of glasses at a time with the idea to keep what they like and return the others for a full refund. This is a good way to try glasses you buy online. We have a lot of experience helping customers with special size needs such as smaller or larger frames. I will talk about our recommendations for those situations in a future blog. In the mean time, people with smaller faces should consider child size frames such as the Ray-Ban Junior. The junior Raybans are way cool smaller versions of the classics. For larger faces, see the Ray Ban Highstreet, the S-flex models by Serengeti and the Bolle Spiral.

I'm not familiar with the site he mentions in this article and don't take any responsibility for their product. The site in the banner below, however, I can vouch for: [Technorati Tags: EyeGlasses,Frames,Eyewear,Glasses Online]

eyeglasses, eyewear, frames, glasses online

What does 20/20 mean?

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:03:31 -0400

Snellen Eye Chart

I found this thorough and informative post this morning. It gives a basic overview of what the term "20/20 vision" actually means. An excerpt:

If your visual acuity is determined to be 20/20, you see at 20 feet what a person with normal vision sees at 20 feet. If you have 20/40 vision, you see at 20 feet what a person with 20/20 vision would see at 40 feet. And, if you’re one of the lucky ones (e.g., 20/15), you can see at 20 feet what others would have to move closer (15 feet) to see.

Check it out. In case you're wondering, my uncorrected vision is about 20/800. This prohibited me from becoming a Coast Guard Engineer. What's your uncorrected vision?