Costco Eyeglasses archived

Yesterday I went to Costco ( Union) and ordered a new pair of glasses. ( as a backup) .
I have a challenging prescription, wanted progressive lenses, transitions etc.
I ordered them all with a nice frame.
Total Cost $249.
My spouse says "great but how will the quality of the lenses and frames match our former $650-$700 pairs.?"

Anyone have a comment as I wait for them to come in in a few days?

I have plain (but strong) lenses but I have been happy.

Same here.

Costco eye glasses rock. I believe that Consumer Reports named them "Best Value" for eye glasses ... I haven't bought glasses anywhere else in 10 years ... The best.

excellent. now buy my frames elsewhere (Warby), and have Costco put in the lenses.

I have progressive lenses from Costco (my third pair.) The most difficult thing was adjusting from Varilux lenses to the type of progressive lenses that Costco uses, which are from the same manufacturer, but do not have as broad of a peripheral field of vision. It only took me a couple of days to get used to it.

As I said, this is now my third pair (and three pair of sunglasses) and I'm very happy with them.

Very pleased with my Costco glasses that are at least 2 years old. My script changes every few years so I'm looking forward to a new set (need reading and progressives) and plan to get readers made on the two I currently wear. Then, I too can have readers scattered throughout the house.;-)

Most markup on glasses are the frames. I have 2 pairs from Costo and have had no problems with progressive bifocals. All robotically machined anyway. Only drawback is limited frame choices, hence low prices on those.

Actually hate my Costco glasses. The guy talked me into a pair of wireless frames w a very small opening. I had always had large openings and he told me everything I liked were all wrong for the shape of my face.

I have not been able to get used to the wireless frames and feel like I'm going to fall down the stairs whenever I wear them. (They are backup for contacts).

Mine have been great! No difference (other than the changed prescription) from my previous ones. I had them put new lenses in frames I already owned, but it seemed like they had a good selection of frames also.

I like my Costco lenses, which are high index Progressives. I don't think a quality difference exists between labs, just huge markups at optometrists and LensCrafters. I brought in my own frame purchased elsewhere, as the Costco selection is limited. That said, five years ago I bought a Costco titanium metal frame which was great. Just don't expect a high level of customer service, especially on weekends -- they are very busy.

Thanks all, I'll give a first hand report when mine come in.

My Costco glasses are great. The frames were just what I wanted and I am very tough on lenses and these hold up.

srg36 said:

Actually hate my Costco glasses. The guy talked me into a pair of wireless frames w a very small opening. I had always had large openings and he told me everything I liked were all wrong for the shape of my face.

I have not been able to get used to the wireless frames and feel like I'm going to fall down the stairs whenever I wear them. (They are backup for contacts).

Bring them back. Same thing happened to me and they made it very easy to return them

Eyebuydirect.com

Check it out. They're so cheap even with all lens options you can just throw em around.

If you're really cheap you can get full prescription pairs for $12. Not a joke, not exaggerating. If you go nuts (thin and light lens, anti scratch, anti glare, uv coated, water repellant and blue coating) you'll jack it up to $27.

They are just fine. Put your prescription in and buy a dozen different styles. Fun!

My first pair of progressive lenses came from a local optician. I hated them, never got used to them, and was never able to use them with my computer. My second pair came from Costco, and were much better. I was comfortable in them right away, and I use them all the time with the computer without an issue.

So I spent less than half as much with Costco, and I got better glasses. Seems like a win-win to me.

keep in mind the secret of nearly all optical shops -- there are only a few places that actually do the lens grinding/ installs anymore. the frames you pick out are Fedexed to the factory, lenses installed. its a total racket, quite frankly, with enormous mark ups. worse than mattresses

Got my Costco Glasses today.
Perfect.

I guess it would depend on the lense, a lot of the higher priced lenses are of great quality, lightweight, top notch coatings and such. As for the frames it would depend on the materials for the most part designer frames you are paying for the name, take Persol for instance they're a really good price point and are made better than Chanel, Dolce and Gabbana so it's hard judge by price. It really depends on the materials used to construct the frame.

Seconding this methodology

Jackson_Fusion said:

Eyebuydirect.com

Check it out...Fun!.

I've been wearing glasses from zennioptical.com for the last few years... 20$ and up (around 100$ with thinner lenses and photo-chromatic lenses) .

I doubt very much there is -any- difference in the construction of the frame the lenses or the coatings.

Costco or a local optician will help you with fitting on the other hand... so if you'e tough to fit or picky about trying things on, online may not be for you.

On the other hand I can order 3 basic pairs and I'll like one of them and keep the rest for spares or outdoor stuff where they may be lost. Then if I want, I'll re-order the frame I like with the thin lenses or coatings or whatnot.

I have purchased from zenni and am happy with the quality. My last eyes shop pair were in the $550 range (high index lenses, anti-glare coating, etc). Glasses with the same high index lenses, anti-glare coating came to about $59 at zenni. Since I no longer have a plan that pays for even a portion of the glasses the price difference is huge.

Since I will soon be needing progressives :-( I will be going to a shop since I'm told the PD distance is different for the two focus areas (not sure if that is true or not, but I am new to progressives so I have no choice but to believe them). I will likely get them from Costco rather than my previous place. He was great, but I just can't afford to pay that much for glasses.

So you have to go to them with a prescription and they sell you the lenses and frames? Or do they test and prescribe too?

They charge $65 for testing but I brought my prescirtpion

I have been buying my glasses at Costco for 5 years. Ine lense is special order. Never had a problem. Pleased with service and quality. I also asked the doctor and he said in his opinion they were very good.

When ordering glasses online, how do you determine the optical center of your eye? I could never figure out how to do that.

My 9 year old recently got his first pair of glasses. Silly me, but I got the frames with lenses from his optometrist to the tune of $350 (I did get a discount from my insurance, but still paid about $150).

Anyway, afterwards I gushed about my boy's cool lenses to my friends but lamented the high cost. I learned about the following lower cost alternatives:
- Costco
- Walmart
- Warby Parker (adult lenses only)

I'll kniw better next time. And, I'm sure there will be a "next time".

BaseballMom said:

When ordering glasses online, how do you determine the optical center of your eye? I could never figure out how to do that.

Pupilary distance (I might be spelling it wrong) or PD for short. When you get your script from your eye doc ask them to measure and write the PD down as well. Technically you can also have a friend or family member measure it for you, but I would rather have an eye person do it for me.

spontaneous said:

BaseballMom said:

When ordering glasses online, how do you determine the optical center of your eye? I could never figure out how to do that.

Pupilary distance (I might be spelling it wrong) or PD for short. When you get your script from your eye doc ask them to measure and write the PD down as well. Technically you can also have a friend or family member measure it for you, but I would rather have an eye person do it for me.

Warbyparker has a cool tool to do that using a webcam and a credit card. The card is used to provide scale on the picture.

My single-vision glasses from zenni cost about $25, and I'm very happy with the lenses, though the frames (metal half-frames) seem sort of light weight, overly flexible. I am one of those that puts my glasses up on my head rather than having bifocals, and they often fall off when I bend down.

That said, I can't justify paying $300 or so for glasses at Lenscrafters when I can get close enough to the same thing for $25. I'll go out of my way to shop at local "bricks" businesses, but this is just too big a difference. I guess everyone has their price.

Measuring the PD wasn't hard using a ruler marked in millimeters, but not sure how it would work out for bifocals or progressives. Another time, I will probably ask the optometrist to write it on the Rx.

I paid $600 for my first pair of reading glasses from a local optometrist. I just did not know any better then. I'm due for a check up and new glasses now, and will just collect the prescription from them this time around.

What's the general protocol for doing that? It seems to be assumed by them that you will place the order with them if you get the eye test done there.