39dollarglasses vs Zenni

[AZRainman]

Thanks for the $15 coupon link Glassy Eyes!

Ordered a single vision pair from 39dollarglasses on 9/2 and received
on 9/5 (NY to AZ) = 4 days is smokin' fast, especially for
prescription eyewear. They came in a fancy, cloth lined, hard case and
inside a nice cloth bag with drawstring. Plus they included a
microfiber cleaning cloth and a all metal (double tip) screwdriver
keychain. The prescription is perfect in the frame size I wanted and
they fit great. I am very satisfied and I will be ordering from them
again.

The closest competitor would be Zenni, in which I have purchased a
couple pairs from. They have very few wide frames (142mm+) and didn't
have any of their widest frames for my intermediate PD of 61 (a popup
will indicate: Your PD is too small for this Eyeglass Frame. Please
select another Frame with a smaller lens width). With Zenni, I saved a
few bucks and the prescriptions were great, but I rather have a larger
frame/lens. The worst of it was my cheapest $8 test pair has gaps
between the frame and lenses, the nose pad mounts are welded unevenly,
a nose pad screw fell out on the 2nd day, and they're a bit too small.
I also waited 5 times longer to receive them, they came in cheap
plastic cases, and no eyeglass screwdriver bonus.

For now, Zenni needs to know their market demographics and start
grinding for average PDs on their wider frames and larger lenses.
39dollarglasses doesn't have that problem.

US national average PD (63) for men and (60) for women.
(Intermediate vision/computer distance PDs subtract 2-3.)

Average height :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height
U.S.: Males: 178.9 cm (5' 10.4") Females: 164.8 cm (5' 4.9") White
Americans, 20–39
China: Males: 172.7 cm (5' 8") Females: 162.5 cm (5' 4") Urban
adults

39dollarglasses: Ronkonkoma, NY
Zenni: Hong Kong, China

Do the math...

[Fred Di]

You failed to mention the fact that 39 Dollar eyeglasses is 5(Five)
times the cost of zenni.

And even then you had to choose an obscure combination of needs to
find a benefit. (That obscure combination being someone with narrower
than average PD, but wants wider than normal eyeglasses, by your
definition.)

The problem you described is a rare occurrence, and if you search this
board you will find many complaints about 39 dollar eyeglasses, even
though they prices are 5 times what Zenni's are.

I have purchases about 20 pairs of glasses from Zenni, for myself and
family members, all are great and there were no problems. For the
same number of pairs 39 dollar eyeglasses would have ripped me off for
an additional $500

[sonshine]

I seem to have the opposite issue as the original poster in that I
find most of 39dollar eyeglasses TOO wide - which is why I purchased
from Zenni. I guess I've found that depending upon your taste/style
some retailers will have what you want and/or need, and some won't.
My biggest 'issue' with Zenni is their lack of an online virtual try-
on feature.

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[Gordon]

I've just ordered my first pair from Zenni after ordering one from
EyeBuyDirect.

One nice feature of Zenni's website is that frame sizes are on the
front page, so you don't have to waste time clicking through to see if
a frame will fit you.

[Deb]

Yeah, but they DO respond to complaints a lot better than Zenni.

[AZRainman]

I didn't fail to mention it, because there's no option for what I
wanted at Zenni for a computer Rx. It was a total of $29 at
39dollarglasses with $15 off coupon vs $18 at Zenni in the same frame,
whereas Zenni only carries the smaller width. There's also $20 off
coupons dor 39dollarglasses from time to time. Also, that the lens
composition is different at 39dollarglasses. It's a true
polycarbonate, which has crisper vision and is slightly lighter/
thinner. Math: better fitting frame, better lens, better case,
screwdriver, 5x faster = $11 = 39% more, So no, it's not anywhere near
5 times (500%) more either.

Average US PD is 63 and thus the average intermediate PD is 60-61. The
US male's norm is 5"10.4" with a 63 PD and wears 140mm wide frame,
since you order smaller frames you are either wearing too small of
frames or are an Asian sized person. I am 6'2' and Zenni's widest
frames require a 65 PD or more. I have no use for undersized lens/
frames with reduced peripheral vision, that pinch my head and look
like I bought a child sized glasses.

I read through your history, and see that you wasted a lot of time
and money on Zenni trial and error spendomania experiments while using
incorrect Rxs, so your opinion about saving is ilogical. Plus, you
would need to actually buy a pair from both Zenni and 39dollarglasses
with the correct Rxs to make a valid comparison, or you're only
rationalizing to make yourself feel good about buying 7+ pairs of
blurry small glasses...lol, egads.

[AZRainman]

It's subjective selection up a point. If a frame bows outwards and
applies pressure to your temples, or you can't see from the top of
monitor to keyboard within the span of the lens, then I would say they
are too small for your head. Also bigger lenses means a wider field of
view, which is most relevant while driving , since the cost of
getting side swiped or t-boned isn't worth saving a few bucks.

Tip; try on glasses elsewhere and get an idea what frame style/size
you want.
Then go to Zenni, and see if they have something similar or the same.

[sj]

"Virtual try-on" seems OK for comparing shapes, but still lacks for
getting the size right. They best way I know of the get the size right
is to take an existing par of glasses that fit you well and sit down
with a ruler and start comparing to what's on the web sites. It gets
tedious, but better that than glasses that are way too small or way
too large.

I found one $9.95 style at Zenni that fits me perfectly. I just
placed an order for 2 more pairs in different colors and weaker
prescriptions for doing close-up work.

I'd like to try some other on-line shops, but 39 doesn't seem to have
quite the size/style I'm looking for.

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[Den]

I have never done business with Zenni and in fact I am new to the
world of online glasses. I had a couple of indentical frames that I
had purchased sometime ago. I decided to give $39 dollar glasses a try
as they seemed to have mostly favorable reviews. I was somewhat wary
of purchasing glasses online so ordered one pair of progressive re-
lens using their lens material which they said is 30% thinner than
CR39. I sent in a frame, and it took almost a month to get them back.
I was pleased with the results although the lens appear to be slighlty
thicker than my old lens made with Cr-39 material. Approximately 4 Cm
Vs 3.5 Cm for my old pair. So no big deal given the cost savings over
normal stores. They seemed to work fine, so I ordered a second pair
exactly same RX, lens and frame. After a couple weeks wait I received
them today. Big disappointment! When I examined them, the right lens
was 1 Cm thicker then the previous pair, and the left lens was not
quite as bad but still thicker than the previous pair. The vision
seemed to be ok though. For chuckles I weighed them on a digital food
scale and found that the new pair weighed in several grams more than
the first pair. The point that I am making is that given identical Rx
and frames, you have to wonder about the quality of these glasses. I
can't understand the large variation in lens thickness between the
pair. Of course i will return them and probably pay the additional
cost of using Varilux lens as I don't now feel their lens
manufacturing system quality is that good or consistant. I am far from
a eye glass specialist. But this seems to be real odd, and is not
acceptable to me. I wonder if anyone has had similar problems with
Zenni quality.