Prescription Sunglasses - America's Best or Somewhere Else?

dresdenphile

I've worn glasses for over 25 years now, and I've had to suffer through all the "work-arounds" for sunglasses (wearing normal sunglasses and being blind, clips, over-the-top shades, etc.) Clips seem to go through random phases of sturdiness and where & how well the magnets attach to the frames. I tried both contact lenses and glasses with Transitions lenses about 5 years ago, and I wasn't thrilled with either of them.

After breaking my umpteenth pair of magnetic clips, I'm now looking at getting a pair prescription sunglasses. The optometrist I usually go to has closed for the foreseeable future while they move their office into a building that is currently under construction. That being said, I've been looking at America's Best as a possibility to just get a couple pair of sunglasses with an eye exam.

Does anyone have any experience with their glasses (sun or otherwise)? I know that when all is said in done, it will probably be closer to $100 for the sunglasses and exam, but I also don't want to buy a pair that are going to implode when I look at them the wrong way. Am I better off going to a chain eye-wear store (Lenscrafters, Pearle), a department store office (Target, JCPenney) or just find a new optometrist?

L Ron Howard

I would recommend that if you're going to get a new prescription, get both regular and sunglasses. The problem is that, unless you are using two of the exact identical frames, and even that's no guarantee, your eyes will need a bit of time to adjust between the sun- and reg. glasses.
I have a pair of regular, and a pair of sunglasses that I got at the same time, when I got my eyes examined last year. I went through a local optometrist that was recommended by my mother.
I can't commend on the quality of America's Best, either the frames or the lenses. I know that when I got mine, I paid a lot more than $100 for the visit and two pairs of frames and 4 lenses. Sunglasses are usually more expensive because they can charge more. I guess putting the tint on it it makes it suddenly more expensive or something. You'll definitely want to get them polarized, which adds a bit more, I know. But then add in all the scratch-proofing, the fact that most frames are tiny and they have to make the lenses slimmer (which is more difficult to do, and thus more expensive, I guess, even though it's the only way to do it and you'd think after doing it for the last decade or so that they'd have the process down pat, but whatever), and mount it with decent glue, and all that, and your stuff will be expensive.
If you take the cheap way out and just get sunglasses, your eyes will probably hurt switching back and forth. I mean, no promises, but I do notice that it takes me like 10 seconds to switch between my glasses for my eyes to adjust. Once they do, it's fine and all.

MushroomStick

I can tell you that I've had good experiences with Lenscrafters and a terrible experience with Pearle (which is weird because I think they're owned by the same company). The last time I went to Lenscrafters, I got the eye exam, a contact lens fitting, a pair of Oakley glasses, and a pair of Oakley sunglasses for about $500 all together. The $50 for the contact lens fitting was a waste for me and you can knock the price down substantially if you go for less name-brandy frames (the Oakleys have been holding up quite nicely for about 2 years now and that's worth something to me). When I went to Pearle, I got an eye exam and the crappiest pair of glasses I've ever had (everything else they had at the time was even more morbidly expensive) for a little over $350. I'm sure this varies from area to area, but when I was at the Pearle, they had to start ringing you up to tell you how much any of the frames cost (everything had a tag with a barcode and no price) and none of the girls at counter seemed have any knowledge of the products - the people at Lenscrafters were infinitely better in these aspects. A long time ago I bought glasses at a Sam's Club and they were a lot better to deal with than Pearle too.

SilverEternity

The last couple years I have been without vision insurance and have found Walmart (although I know some people have objections to the mega-corporation aspect) to be a great value for exams, glasses, and contacts. When I switched from the optometrist (private practice) I had been going to for 15 years to Walmart I saw a ~65% savings. I've had the same frames for multiple years now and they have held up well.

darkmayo

dresdenphile wrote:

I've worn glasses for over 25 years now, and I've had to suffer through all the "work-arounds" for sunglasses (wearing normal sunglasses and being blind, clips, over-the-top shades, etc.) Clips seem to go through random phases of sturdiness and where & how well the magnets attach to the frames. I tried both contact lenses and glasses with Transitions lenses about 5 years ago, and I wasn't thrilled with either of them.

After breaking my umpteenth pair of magnetic clips, I'm now looking at getting a pair prescription sunglasses. The optometrist I usually go to has closed for the foreseeable future while they move their office into a building that is currently under construction. That being said, I've been looking at America's Best as a possibility to just get a couple pair of sunglasses with an eye exam.

Does anyone have any experience with their glasses (sun or otherwise)? I know that when all is said in done, it will probably be closer to $100 for the sunglasses and exam, but I also don't want to buy a pair that are going to implode when I look at them the wrong way. Am I better off going to a chain eye-wear store (Lenscrafters, Pearle), a department store office (Target, JCPenney) or just find a new optometrist?

you say being blind, but what is your prescription and do you have any other issues. You can get frames anywhere, just as long as they look good and stay on your face without problems, want you really want to spend the money on is the lenses, and you want to make sure the opticians who size and do your eye stuff before you buy a pair mark the lenses correctly for where your eyes will actually be looking through the most, so both width and height.

So long story short, see a licensed optician to help you with your sunglasses.