I feel I need to add some balance to this thread. There seems to be a general consensus on this blog that the online discount sites sell frames of exactly the same quality or even better quality that your store bought brand name frames, just for a fraction of the price. I don't agree with this.
It's wrong to make such a broad generalization that ALL online discount frames are equal to ALL name brand frames - there are variations and exceptions of course. So, the question was, "do you get what you pay for" with discount frames - if by that you mean that the $150 brand name frame bought in store is ten-times the quality of Zenni's $15 frame, then I believe there's consensus the answer is no. Some manufacturers have developed proprietary materials that are stronger and lighter and might be finished better than what you will get from Zenni or 39dollarglasses or the rest. I have ten pair now of 'discount glasses' and five name brands that I bought in store - the last 3, I paid over $400 for (mostly because of the lenses) - my Silhouette titanium minimal art hinge less frames are somewhat superior to my nearly identical rimless frames from optical 4 less - the temples are less springy, the edges are polished, the paint coating is thicker and better applied and the ear pieces are made of a higher quality plastic, etc.. in the end, were the $200 Silhouette's better than the $51 O4L's? Yes, but not 4 times better and I would say that if you're buying chicken pieces at the dollar store, you're not likely to notice any discernible difference. So I would conclude that ALL of my discount frames were of good to very good quality and well worth the price. I know of no one that has complained here of not receiving great value for their money regarding frames. The lenses are a different matter altogether. I have a severe plus correction, so I need higher index materials. I do notice a significant difference between Zenni's or O4L's or Goggles4U lenses than my store bought lenses, at least when it comes to my higher prescription. My Zenni 1.67 index lenses are a full millimeter thicker than my B&M lenses in nearly identical sized lenses (49mm vs 50mm) - the lenses are noticeably more yellow and I get significantly more chromatic aberrations on the lens edges. Will most people notice these differences unless their prescription is severe? Not sure, evidently not really, by reading these boards - but there is a difference in the lens aspheric design, the LDPE plastics used and the surfacing necessary. In conclusion, I do think there is a difference when you compare lenses, but unless you have an extreme prescription, you're not likely to notice. My 2.5 cents... On May 7, 6:59 pm, PghGuy <[email protected]> wrote: > Ira, thanks so much for your thorough response. I suppose that the > quality of frames can't be too bad on the inexpensive sites. What is > attractive about paying so little for glasses is that even if they > aren't the greatest frame material, you didn't lose that much money in > the process. And they might turn out to be pretty good. My fear is > that the inexpensive sites might turn out to be analogous to the > "dollar store" I mentioned. A dollar store -- where an item actually > costs a dollar -- is a great value but they have brands that are > completely unknown and whose quality is clearly somewhat below > recognized brands. I often get food from them and while the taste > isn't the greatest, it's still good solid food, at least to someone > like me who doesn't have a palate. However, glasses aren't a $1 bag > of chicken chunks; they're very important articles. I realize that > glasses are marked up at other stores but they are known brands. I > have to wonder where the brands at 39dollarglasses, for instance, come > from. So I'm still unsure. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Check us out at the oft-updated http://glassyeyes.blogspot.com! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GlassyEyes" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/glassyeyes?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
