Worn glasses for distance for over 30 years. Got the peepers tested this year, no prescription change in four years. Selected a BOGOF from a nationally know franchise. Two frames for 70 quid minus lenses as I do every couple of years. Basically helmet friendly frames and usually a pair of sunglasses but not this time prefering a spare pair (I have a good number of prescription shades from years past, pair in each car and a pair in the house). June found my first state pension payment come through so I desided to treat myself to a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses, polarised graduated lenses. They arrived a few days after ordering. The optics are superb, far better that my Specsavers budget ones and the Wayfairer frame is beautifully made. I was so impressed that I oredred a second pair standard plain glazed pair and again the opticals are far better than the bog standard shop bought ones.
Well worth spending my OAP money on them highly recommended.
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I've preference for Ray Ban frames for my prescription specs. Nothing comes near the classic 'aviator' teardrop wire frame for not having to move my head.
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Do they still make those? They used to be very fashionable but haven’t seem them for a while
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I dislike the spectacles business.
I worked with a frame manufacturer. They went to the big designer companies and bought licences to use their brand. The manufacturer would design the frame then send it to the designer brand for approval and then manufacture them in the far east.
The frames are landed in the UK for about £15 each. They eventually get sold to you and me for about £200 each!
Lenses are similar. There are only so many prescriptions. These are pre-made in bulk and then cut to fit the frames.
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Zippy, surely that’s the case for most designer stuff? Made under licence in the cheapest place possible?
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>> Zippy, surely that’s the case for most designer stuff? Made under licence in the cheapest
>> place possible?
>>
Yes. But as I have to wear speccies, it hits home a bit!
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>> Lenses are similar. There are only so many prescriptions. These are pre-made in bulk
Err not. - reading glasses maybe, but you need to check out what a prescription lens can consist of. Even so given the fact they can be unique in many ways the mark up is still huge.
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>> Do they still make those? They used to be very fashionable but haven’t seem them
>> for a while
They were last time I looked although I ended up getting the old frame reglazed.
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Ray-Bans are now made in Italy - oddly they travalled to Capri !
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Had the joy of a visit to the optician this afternoon. Eye test free which was entirely professional. After 4 years there was a small change in my prescription so new glasses (could carry on with current if cash was an issue).
The similarity to budget airlines began.
Frames - 2 for the price of 1 if they cost £70 or more seems like a good deal
Add-ons - varifocal lenses, coatings, photochromic or polarising lenses, thin lighter lenses. Lots of variants - eg: 3 different types of lighter lenses, 5 different varifocal variants.
Final bill - three times what I went in expecting (or at least hoping for)
Similarity to budget airlines - ticket to Madrid £30 (great value). Add hold luggage, priority boarding, seat selection, in flight meal (burger bap), flexi fare - final price £150. No real pricing clarity as all high street companies do different offers with exclusions and conditions.
The real cost of add-ons is probably pence not £50+ per item - eg: why would it take any longer to machine and polish a thinner lighter lens - possibly just a few pence for more sophisticated materials.
As with air fares - the main cost is the human cargo - the add-ons cost the airline little or nothing.
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True of many things surely? The advertised price is just a starting point.
Having said that I'm literally just back from picking up 2 pairs of varifocals, 1 plain with the thinnest lens and the other are sunglasses, for £169. In previous years I've usually got one of each for £120. Really can't complain at that, there is no pressure to spend more. A mate buys in the high st where I believe a single pair is upwards of £300.
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>> Having said that I'm literally just back from picking up 2 pairs of varifocals, 1
>> plain with the thinnest lens and the other are sunglasses, for £169. I
That's good.
Is that online or a local "factory" outlet?
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The credit card bill came in this morning. On it were Mrs O'Reliants new specs, £432!!!
She has all sorts of problems with her eyes and thirteen years ago even had surgery to plug a hole in one of them, but I can't believe they need to charge that much for something no more complicated than a pair of scissors.
Surely the lens are ground by something controlled by computer with the prescription data fed into it?
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My eldest has some problem with her eyes which has an acronym, which I forget. Something to do with the distance between her eyes and the glasses is how I understood it, but less obvious than that.
Seems that many online opticians won't dispense stuff out of the ordinary so she ends up being hosed by Specsavers or the like.
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>> Surely the lens are ground by something controlled by computer with the prescription data fed
>> into it?
>>
Mass produced for the most common prescriptions. Sent to companies that assemble spectacles in disk form where they are cut to the frame.
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Sorry, didn't mean to be mysterious.
Asda.
opticians.asda.com/our-complete-price-on-glasses
They also do the test, has been fine for me for many years now.
Last edited by: smokie on Fri 4 Jul 25 at 20:14
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I recently had my eyes tested at Asda Opticians.
He told me I didn’t need new glasses but recommended I have another test at Specsavers
Using their specialist machine,he also cancelled the test I had there,which I thought was excellent
service.
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>...but recommended I have another test at Specsavers
On my last annual test with Specsavers which included camera shots resulted in them immediately phoning and making an appointment for me with the Royal Eye Unit at Kingston.
Further tests etc identified the area of concern. I am attending a further review next week .
No treatment to date but also no panic.
We have always used High Street opticians or Moorfields Eye Hospital ( where and old friend from daughters training as as a doctor is now based).
A son of a great friend of ours was involved in a very serious car crash ( due to a tyre puncture) and just about survived but his local large hospital could not correct his vision. I facilitated them getting an appointment and transporting him with his mum to Moorfields and they corrected his eye.
I have used the home visit by Specsavers for SWMBO and was quite impressed.
( They are booked direct , not by the local unit).
p.s. 45 years ago I got made for SWMBO some prescription lenses for snorkeling goggles so she could see the fish in the Red Sea. There are many various options / designs today.
I wonder how many folks are aware of such items?
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Specsavers often have better technology than al lot of independants
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If you think spectacles are overpriced take a look at hearing aids. Top of the range hearing aid with a lifetime of around four years will cost you over£3000. Twice the price of top spec iPhone with probably 5% of the technology and manufacturing cost. NHS will give you a mid range hearing aid free. I understand they buy them for around £70
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>> I've preference for Ray Ban frames for my prescription specs. Nothing comes near the classic
>> 'aviator' teardrop wire frame for not having to move my head.
Or for making you look like a 70s throwback.
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>> Or for making you look like a 70s throwback.
Not quite that size/shape but if it were I'd be happy enough for a frame that's pretty well invisible.
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Yep I've always worn RB sunglasses and prescription glasses, although I briefly used Oakley's when I was doing more active outdoor stuff - I still have the first pair of RB sunglasses I bought with my first pay-check back in 1986 - a pair of Clubmaster's, that's when RB were still owned by Bausch & Lomb and made in the US.
Unfortunately my prescription seems to change roughly each year by just enough to require new lenses (mainly just my right eye) so I have an abundance of RB frames - I'm 'told' that frames can only be reglazed twice before there is danger of the frames failing.
Currently am using a pair of New Wayfarer Classic's with green G-15 polarised lenses.
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Misty Optic. - Bromptonaut
