An unsponsored review of Zenni Optical
A few weeks ago I saw a blog post promoting Zenni Optical’s eyeglasses starting at $8. Since I recently lost a pair of glasses in a tornado, I thought I’d give them a try. Here, for your edification, are my thoughts and opinions on the products I received.
I am going to state here, for the record, that this is NOT a sponsored post. Nobody asked me to write this, and nobody is paying me for writing it. I simply wanted to express my own opinion in a public forum. You are free to do (or not do) what you wish with this information.
Glasses starting at $8?
I’ll be frank: the price is what caught my attention. It wasn’t too long ago one of my daughters had to have her glasses replaced and the price tag on her new ones was well over $300.
As I expected, the $8 glasses were the most basic, no-frills glasses they have. If you want an anti-reflective coating or bifocals, the price goes up. However, it doesn’t go up as much as you might expect. Also, when I looked at the description for their Photochromic lenses (the ones that automatically darken in bright light) I was very surprised. They tell you right in the description of these $39 lenses ($59 for the no-line bifocal version) that they don’t get as dark as most sunglasses, they take a couple of minutes to do it, and that most people are happier with their $3.95 clip-on sunglasses.
Wow. A company with enough honesty to tell someone looking at a $59 product that they’d be happier with a $3.95 alternative instead of just trying to suck up all the money they can. I’m impressed.
Since this prescription was for my first pair of bifocals, I made sure to look into the pricing for them. Regular bifocals are $17 and no-line bifocals are $29. I went with the regular ones.
I also ordered a pair of single-vision glasses in case the bifocals turned out to be something I couldn’t get used to. At my eye doctors suggestion, I had an anti-reflective coating applied to both pair of glasses and I got a pair of clip-on sunglasses that will fit either pair of glasses. All Zenni Optical’s glasses come with an anti-scratch coating, a UV-protective coating, a hard case, and a lens cleaning cloth.
To summarize, I got two pair of glasses - one bifocal, one single vision - both with an anti-reflective coating, a UV coating, and an anti-scratch coating, a pair of clip-on sunglasses, two very sturdy cases, and two lens-cleaning cloths for just under $52 including shipping.
Fast Shipping
Zenni’s website says that shipping usually takes about two weeks, with the stipulation that things like bifocals take an extra 3 to 6 days. I ordered my glasses on February 15th, which was a Friday, so I was prepared to wait until March 7th to get them. They arrived in the mail on Monday, March 3. The cleaning cloths were wrapped around the lenses inside those hard plastic cases, so there was virtually no way the U.S. Mail could harm them, under normal circumstances.
But what about Quality?
These frames are a lot more delicate than I’m used to. Of course, I’ve been wearing prescription safety glasses for the last 6 years, and those are going to be heavier and sturdier by nature.
My wife made the comment that you wouldn’t want something that delicate for a kid. My thought was that for just over $20 you could buy two basic pairs, and give the kid one. When the kid breaks the first one, you give her the second pair then go spend $13 ($8 plus $5 shipping) on another backup pair. That’s still a lot cheaper than anything else I’ve seen.
My only minor gripe is that the rubber or plastic (whichever) covers on the ends of the bows are a little loose. You’d have to pull really hard to get them off, but I’m a little bugged by the fact that they move back and forth about an eighth of an inch.
The prescription seems to be dead-on, though I haven’t taken to my eye doctor to have him check it.
The sunglasses are not the variety that flip up and make you look like you have an insect with huge wings sitting on your nose when you’re not using them. You have to actually remove them when you don’t want to use them and I’m okay with that, really.
Summary
All in all, I’m very pleased with my new glasses from Zenni Optical. I have never in my life seen a place where you could get frames with lenses for less than it would cost to take the wife and kids out to eat. I’ll be buying all my eyeglasses there, I think.
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