Glassy Eyed

I had the surreal experience today of buying eyeglasses that were cheaper than the eye exam.

I drove out this morning to an extremely thorough (and expensive) eye exam at Contemporary Vision Center in Manchester. I was there because I had a $15 coupon for $150 worth of glasses. After I'd unwittingly scratched the hell out of my lenses, it was time to replace them. The exam was at least double the most expensive eye exam I've ever had. They had a lot of very nice and sophisticated equipment, including a device they kept trumpeting that lets you see two options side by side instead of "A...(flip) or B. (flip)A...(flip) or B." They also did a high resolution retinal scan and the optometrist talked about the images blown up to about two feet across on the screens.

My eyes look good and seemed to be in good health, I'm happy to report. They're going to email me the images.

The less than fantastic thing was their selection sucked. They're located way the hell out in the outskirts of Manchester along the all big box suburban stores and strip malls and suburbs. It should come as no surprise then, that the vast majority of the frame styles looked like upper middle class suburban housewife. There wasn't  a single frame I really liked, and all the frames were at least $100.

So I got my prescription, paid for my exam, and left.

I then went online, and bought a pair of glasses for less than $50. The website is apparently the Amazon.com of eyeglasses. There's no brands as they're all manufactured in China and shipped stateside. I opted for the slightly more expensive poly carbonate lenses (extra $9) and anti-glare coating ($4). Should be getting them in about 2-3 weeks. We'll see how that out. For sake of comparison, the last pair of glasses I bought cost over $300. So yes, its a risk since I can never really really know how the glasses will look on me, but then it's a discount of $250.