Last edited Thu Sep 12, 2013, 04:38 PM - Edit history (1)
It's go to an actual optician. I say that as someone who has no vested interest in the eyewear trade. It's just my experience.
It'll cost you about $150+ for non-prescription sunglasses depending on the price of the frames. (Really $75+ if you're looking at cheap frames but I wouldn't. You get what you pay for in eyewear. Cheap frames are cheap for a reason.) You don't need prescription lenses so that's going to cut the cost substantially from the get go over the price of script sunglasses. Getting optician-fitted sunglasses reaps many advantages.
Frames: The sunglasses frames sold to order by the optician are higher quality than the ones sold ready-to-wear by the exact same brands. You're just as likely to get something timeless that will remain stylish for a long time. Most also come with warranties. They're more durable. For sunglasses style, aviators and wayfarers never really go out of style. You could keep the same frames for 20 years if you take care of them. They're adjustable and precisely properly fitted to your face by a professional making them sit correctly, wear more comfortably and stay on your face. Also, the optician can tell you what looks good on your face-shape.
Lenses: This is where the difference comes in. The lenses sold in ready-to-wear are not the highest quality lenses available, people buy ready-to-wear sunglasses usually based on the frames. You're going to want good lenses because it's inevitable you'll damage a lens. I say this as someone who has worn glasses since I was 7 years old. You can be the most careful person alive, you're going to ding your lenses or crack one or lose one or the coatings will begin to flake off. The nice thing about optician-fitted sunglasses is they can change the lenses easily. They're fully customizable. If you want no-glare coatings, you can get it. If you want to change color. If you decide you need them darker or lighter. If you want scratch-resisting coating. If you want coating to reduce eyestrain while computing. If you want glass or plastic. (Glass is heavier but hard to scratch or chip. Plastic is lighter and cheaper but damages more easily.) If you discover you need corrective lenses down the road...they can change the lenses over. (In a pinch, as long as you don't get anything too extreme, they can also put normal eyeglasses lenses in your sunglasses frames to be worn as eyeglasses...this has saved me when I broke my glasses on a month-long vacation.) Replacing lenses in optician-fitted frames is cheaper than buying new sunglasses. (For that matter, replacing an identical frame is cheaper than buying new sunglasses because they just pop in the same lenses.)
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