Review: Zenni Optical

I have read about Zenni Optical for a few months now at various blogs. They offer inexpensive glasses via mail order. My 7yo recently started wearing glasses, and broke his frames within a month. I decided to try Zenni out so he would have a backup pair of glasses, because being 7 is hard enough without your parents stressing over the cost of replacing your broken glasses every few months.

There are many different frames available -- ranging from $8.00 to $40 or so. That cost includes the lenses!! For an additional $4.95 you can add anti-reflective coating to the lenses, and for another $4.95 you can tint the lenses. I decided to order a basic frame for C, adding the AR coating. I found a pair that looked cute for $19.00. Shipping is a flat $4.95 for US addresses.

There are probably hundreds of frames to choose from! They divide them into a few different categories, to make your search easier. There are children's frames, women's frames, men's frames and even goggles.

Ordering was simple. I entered the information from his prescription into the online form with no problems. The only question was the PD (pupillary distance.) This information was not on his prescription, so I followed the directions on the site for measuring the distance between pupils. Actually, I made my DH do it because I'm not very good at spatial measurements.

In less than 2 weeks, his glasses arrived in our mailbox. They came with a cleaning cloth and a plastic, hard case. He said he can see just fine through them. He wasn't thrilled with the frame when it was on his face -- which is the big problem with ordering frames without being able to try them on. They are cute, but different than the frames we bought locally. I think he'll get used to them -- and even if I order another pair, it's still $150 less than the single pair purchased locally. I also ordered clip-on sunshades for $3.95 which fit both pairs of his glasses. The clip-ons are not fitted to the frame, but will work just fine for our sunny Arizona days.

DH needs to have his eyes checked soon, and we will order glasses for him from this site. I think I'll order a pair of prescription sunglasses for myself when we do that. I was very happy with the service and quality.