Where to buy cheap but good quality glasses in Europe?
After reading this (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33525673), I felt scammed for buying my glasses for 400 euros, hence the question. The thread talked a lot about Zenni Optical, any other option for EU people?
I've been to Lunettes pour Tous stores https://lunettespourtous.com/ in the past. It felt revolutionary, because you could walk in, get an eye test, and have your glasses made within 30 minutes at the same store, at a very reasonable price.
It looks like they deliver as well. Hard to describe their price range as they have a million options you can pick as part of the ordering process - easy to end up with something well under 100EUR though without picking all the cheapest options.
What constitutes good quality glasses? Or rather: good quality lenses? The frames are mostly a matter of taste, but for the optical component, is a €150 piece of glass significantly better than a €100 piece of glass? Who has the lead in material science here? Japan, Germany? Any good sources on that topic?
I know this isn't a popular opinion on the internet but I don't think Luxottica is a "scam", I think this is just what most people want to spend on glasses.
Your glasses sit on your face, are an integral part of your look, and need to last for a long time while being as clear as possible. People don't want $30 glasses because they're a piece of junk and will break on you when you most need them. You can make mass market glasses for ~$100, but I think most people want a more specialized look to their face. A few hundred dollars just happens to be the sweet spot where people get to buy a product which is purchased infrequently in a store, get a high quality item, and get good customer service/support. It's sort of like an iPhone. People want to pay a premium for a device they use every day for years which will be fast and just work. Apple doesn't have a monopoly, they just provide a better service
Ace & Tate
Beloved by hipsters all over Europe
Free eye test, glasses around £100 a pair
I personally love the clip on shades which have made summer actually enjoyable
Ace & Tate [1] are becoming fairly popular across Europe. They go for 110EUR for frame + base lenses. They're also very internet-oriented. You can book an eye-test appointment online. Even get sample frames sent at home to choose from (at least pre-Corona).
Anecdotally, they also seem to have pretty good quality. An optician in a country where they don't operate appraised my 160EUR Ace & Tate prescription sunglasses pair in the 400-500EUR range.
[1] https://www.aceandtate.com/
Caveat: they stock both Luxottica and non-Luxottica brands. You'll just have to guess which is which based on price and know your prescription already.
I will define cheap as anything under €30. I managed to get three pairs of different frames with three pairs of custom lenses for €55.
It explains how your insurer or your employer can pay for your eyeglasses.
I used Glasses Direct - https://www.glassesdirect.co.uk/ a few years ago and they were pretty good for the price.
I bought them temporarily but ended up using one pair for 3 years.
They do not have English webface, which is strange, but they do deliver to most other countries.
39€ seems to be the cheapest.
Also bi- & multifocals are crazy cheap, IMHO. But good.
In Germany, I bought mine from lensbest
Not sure if they are high quality. When I compared sites a few years ago, they were the cheapest
I am really troubled with the cylinder for my astigmatism. Many sites only sell glasses with 2.5 cylinder. Lensbest sold 3 diopter cylinders. The eye scanner at the optometrist said I need a 3.75 diopter cylinder. Although the optometrist said, I still get full vision with 3 diopter.
I wanted to buy cylinder-only glasses for computer work. Because my normal glasses also have spherical component against nearsightedness, but the screen is near enough that I can see everything without that and the correction is only causing eyestrain. But I cannot buy them. The cylinder is too high for the sites, and the local optician said I do not need such glasses
Would love to hear recommendation for Poland as well. Really don't want pay the Luxotica racket.
There seems to be loads of cheap glasses websites in the UK that I imagine would post to Europe. I use spex4less.co.uk However in the past I used a similar website and got 3 pairs for about €40, but they didn't have the correct prescription in them, they were generic prescriptions but each of my eyes needs a different strength. Also these websites offer cheap frames, but the dimensions of them are often not very good, ie, their Wayfarers which I wear are nowhere near as good as the RayBan frames I wear, so I ended up buying RayBan frames, albeit at a large discount of around 50% online compared to the high street. If you already have your prescription finding cheap glasses online should be a no-brainer though.
Don’t forget all the UK based options now incur VAT costs, so better stick with mainland EU.
We used to use Zenni, until they stopped shipping here. More recently, my wife tried https://www.polette.com/ and has been quite happy with the result.
I can recommend http://polette.com/ with glasses for 60 euro. I am happier with these than the more expensive ones I had before.
When it comes to frames, you can buy cheaper frames if you don't care about the brand and put whatever lenses you want in them, but you don't want to use cheap lenses, as those don't offer fantastic visual clarity and could even damage your eyesight if not properly fitted.
Some of the online shops that offer cheap lenses, like Zenni won't really be as good quality as some Zeiss ones. It's about a lot more than just the blue filter and how thin they are.
I just went to Mister Spex [0], they are more expensive than Zenni, but far cheaper than where I got my glasses before. My lenses at Zenni end up $221, at Mister Spex I paid 285€ (For comparison Optiker Bode: 524€). I paid 115€ for the frames, but that was because I actually liked those, they have cheaper frames going down to 20-30€ as well.
[0]: https://www.misterspex.de/
Depends on where you are of course but I swear by Ace and Tate. About 100 euros for personalised high refractive index coated glasses, price includes a frame. Glasses seem higher quality than my previous expensive Zeiss lenses. In my opinion the frames are some of the most beautifull on the market, I get compliments on the sophisticated look all the time.
I've been using VIU for a couple of years and can highly recommend. Good quality acetate frames, decent pricing and good in-store service.
https://shopviu.com/en_int/viu-stores/
My partner previously also used VIU and recently had a good experience with Ace & Tate (who have been recommended already).
In the last >10 years, I have ordered all my glasses from brille24.de and mrspex.de. Pricing usually starts at around 30 EUR for no-name frames, and even the no-name options are really good. Never had any problems. I am usually buying the more expensive photochromic lenses, but I also had the cheapest ones and they are fine, too.
Take a Shot [1] is a German Sunglasses producer from Leipzig. They are producing sustainable for about 60 to 120 per sunglasses. I own glasses from them and was very happy so far.
[1]: https://www.takeashot.de/
This is my preferred supplier
https://www.aceandtate.com/
My glasses aren’t super cheap. I think I pay €170 for a pair with extra thin glasses. I really like the frames they have.
https://iolla.com/ makes decent ones at £85 a pair. It's a Scottish company but seems to be shipping internationally. Good customer service from my experience.
Charlie Temple are cheap and okayish. If you don't use glasses full-time, they're a good option, otherwise not so much. Or at least this was my impression from 3 years ago.
My partner is a full-time user or Ace & Tate and she's happy with them.
I would just go with Zenni, but if for some reason you can't or don't want to:
- Fielmann is likely the cheapest with in-person stores and optometrists, but of course significantly more expensive than the online options. I believe they exist in many countries, although there may be better local alternatives.
- brillen.de and brille24.de are two options that used to be decent, but may have changed in the many years since I used them (especially the former seems to have raised prices significantly). Probably only ship to Germany. One of them also used to offer local service at an optician if you needed adjustments etc.
Shipping times can be long even with "local" online stores because they have the glasses made abroad (typically on the same machines everyone else uses).
I get mine from lenskart when I visit home, get a pair of normal ones and sunglasses for less than 100 EUR. I guess they ship to EU too.
I have -6 so I get 1.7x the thinnest possible.
Get laser eye surgery. No touch no pain procedure once, under 30 seconds in duration which will permanently improve your life. One eye for 400 eur.
I know this guy on a street corner in Athens - dm me - I'll send you the address
Cubitts is good for the price - UK based, handmade acetate frames.