Lenscrafters, Zenni: My journey into wearing glasses

I still don’t need glasses, apparently (my last aviation medical exam resulted in a third class medical with no corrective lenses restriction; I did the vision test both with and without glasses to see what was what), but I knew my eyes were starting to degrade a bit after almost 5 decades. So before that physical I headed over to Lenscrafters, where my Care Credit card would theoretically let me pay off whatever this was going to cost me over 6 months, no interest.

Ray-Ban RX5428 frame

The eye exam, apparently, was done through a private contractor operating out of the Lenscrafters store, and they didn’t take CareCredit, so I was $153.46 immediately out of pocket for that. The prescription I got from that exam:

My general use prescription from my eye exam

Lenscrafters was running a special, half off the lenses. The Ray-Ban RX5428 frame (55/17/145 - apparently a “wide” size?) was $147, and lenses with my progressive prescription was $598.34, $299.14 with the discount; total bill (including a $44.99 eyewear protection plan) was $491.13. Yikes!

The glasses are high quality and work well, now that I’m getting used to them. But I knew I needed something much cheaper and “good enough” to carry with me places where I might lose, misplace, or run the risk of damaging the Ray-Bays. So, I decided to check out Zenni.

I should note now that the information Lenscrafters actually provided me (above) wouldn’t have been enough to order glasses from Zenni, annoyingly. Fortunately, when I went to pick up my glasses (it took about a week from the exam until the glasses were ready to be picked up), I snapped a copy of the store’s internal paperwork, which gave me crucial details like my pupil distance:

Lenscrafters internal paperwork for my order

(Note: Inputting my prescription into Zenni’s system, I couldn’t specify a pupil distance of 29.10 or 27.20, the closest I could get was 29 or 27. I’ve noticed, especially late at night when I’m tired, I can see double a bit wearing my Zenni glasses. It’s not too obnoxious, but it can be noticeable.)

I opted for the Zenni Clear Square Glasses frame (2020123), which start at $15.95, but by the time I was done adding my prescription (I opted for bifocals, to incorporate readers), my sticker price was $444.85, with the prescription as close as I could get it:

Zenni order with prescription information

After living with them for a while, my assessment is ... Meh. Good enough I guess? You definitely get what you pay for. (I looked at doing the same glasses with a progressive lens and the price was within spitting distance of what I paid at Lenscrafters for a much more precisely made set of lenses.) It’s nice to have them with me when I need to read small print or see better at night (especially while driving, or at a bar self-numbing as the November 5th election results continued to be called; the glasses were useful for seeing the TV screens across the room). My vision is such that I only benefit from distance and near (reading) correction, my “mid-field” vision is fine, and the Zennis just get in the way then. So I tend to have them mostly shoved up on my head or hanging from my v-neck... (Like Mr. Peanutbutter, at 1:40.)

Would I order from Zenni again? (If my eyes worsen, a cheap set to keep in my flight bag to always be legal, if my Class III medical gets a corrective lens restriction?) Maybe, but I’d look into alternatives, first. Maybe Warby Parker? IDK.

(Update: Path of least, and cheapest, resistance: Back to Zenni to order a couple of sets of cheap readers to keep at various “likely to be reading” places... Picking a medium frame size (126-132mm; if I’m doing the math right, my Ray-Bans are around 127mm wide), R PD 27, L PD 29, [x] Readers [x] Under $20, picked up some smoke rectangle, $6.95 starting, got one pair in +1.25 and the other in +1.50, to see which work better... Going to 1.50 Blokz Basic Index (which probably wouldn’t have worked, they’re only for +1.00/-2.75) would have added $16.95, 1.61 Blokz High-Index (+3.00/-5.75) would have added $29.95... The general lenses added $4.95 (1.50 Basic Index) or $24.95 (1.61 High-Index).)