Opticians

swiftflo

swiftflo

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Yesterday the wife went to the local branch of Vision Express for a eye test and new glasses. At the end of the test she was handed a leaflet explaining their charges and was informed "the more you pay the better will be your vision", I have never heard anything like it.
 
Does that mean if you go to a more expensive Optician, they will do a proper job?
 
I have been to Boots for my glasses for years they seem fair to me. Remember you don't have to have your glasses from the place that took the test you are free to go anywhere
 
swiftflo said:
I don't know about that, I think she was talking about the glasses.
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In some respects it is true, much like a camera lens there are different grades of optical quality
For example higher quality varifocal lenses minimise the distortion you see in your peripheral vision
I believe the same is true with contact lenses, more expensive=higher quality=better lenses
 
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swiftflo said:
Yesterday the wife went to the local branch of Vision Express for a eye test and new glasses. At the end of the test she was handed a leaflet explaining their charges and was informed "the more you pay the better will be your vision", I have never heard anything like it.
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I can tell you that the cheap as chips spectacles I got from specsavers on two for one were nothing like as good as more expensive ones I've bought subsequently.

Specsavers used polycarbonate lenses with an anti-scratch coating that didn't stop scratches and after a couple years it was like a foggy day all the time, the frames has shed their gold coating and were rusting and the plastic covers that rested on my ears were splitting and falling off. I went to a local independent the next time and got a set of Gucci frames with Zeiss (this is a photography forum so the name should be known) dual layer glass lenses. £250 rather than £60 for two, but the difference was amazing. I only changed them after about ten years when my prescription changed.
 
And on the subject of lenses, which DSLR manufacturers offer Polycarbonate lenses in their 70-200/2.8 lens? Once you have the answer to that, why then do we tolerate plastic in front of our eyes instead of glass?
 
There are different grades of optical plastic lenses & coatings which reduce reflections, the more expensive grades have a higher refractive index which results in thinner lenses making a neater fit in the frames and less weight too.
 
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I wear plastic lenses because the glass lenses for my prescription are rather heavy and become uncomfortable after a couple of hours. The plastic lenses work at least as well as the glass ones did.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
I wear plastic lenses because the glass lenses for my prescription are rather heavy and become uncomfortable after a couple of hours. The plastic lenses work at least as well as the glass ones did.
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+1 for plastic lenses for me & my wife too.
 
I have always worn Glass lenses, and for the past 55 years bifocals.
Very few glass lenses are sold these days, but they are far more resistant to abrasion. and as my two hobbies photography and woodwork do lead to lots of abrasion.

My most recent ones (October) were even lighter and thinner than my last ones, as they used high refractive index glass. They are even lighter than my VDU plastic ones (but not by much) that I am using at this moment ( bought at the same time) Another advantage of Glass lenses is that you can have them heat treated to harden them. I do not have this done now, but I did while I was still working.

Some opticians do not even offer glass lenses, as there are only three manufacturers left in the world, that make Bifocal and multi-focal glass lenses. so they are not available in cheap versions. ( they also take around a week longer to be made up.)
 
swiftflo said:
Yesterday the wife went to the local branch of Vision Express for a eye test and new glasses. At the end of the test she was handed a leaflet explaining their charges and was informed "the more you pay the better will be your vision", I have never heard anything like it.
Click to expand...

With grammar like that I'd definitely go elsewhere.
 
It's not that outrageous a statement. There certainly are things you can pay for in a pair of glasses that don't follow that rule - I've seen untold number who have always had the 'highest level of thinning' on a prescription I wouldn't even suggest a single step on, let alone three, and they seem surprised when they're told paying more for it doesn't gain anything additional - but in general you have to pay more for the better quality options. £200 varifocals will give better vision than £50 varifocals (wider field of vision, less distortion.) If you don't get better quality when you pay more money, why do we buy fancy cameras and lenses instead of a £50 compact camera?
 
A Korean friend broke a lens in her glasses and despite visiting many different opticians here, she couldn't get anything as light and thin as the remaining one.
 
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