As we’ve well established, I collect prescription glasses and, thanks to the nature of internet marketing, I get lots of opportunities to try out new stores and brands. This time around, I’m reviewing a pair of prescription glasses from an entirely new company called Optically.
As far as getting glasses online, Optically seems par for the course, at first glance. A nice, clean website boasts a near-overwhelming number of frames and styles, as well as a bunch of designer glasses. I picked mine from the women’s glasses section, but was highly tempted to get a pair of RX sunglasses. If you don’t have a pair, you have no idea what you’re missing!
My natural tendency is to gravitate towards tortoiseshell – especially since my favorite tortoiseshell glasses ever perished violently under my own butt a couple years ago. RIP.
A current weakness I have is wire-frame glasses, similar to the ones I lovingly call my “dad glasses.” Optically had tons of these, too, including some silver wire-frame aviators that would be a lovely alternative to my gold dads.
Despite the vast number of options, I went into Optically looking for something similar to the Ludington Wayfarers I sat on. Quickly (and rather easily), I stumbled upon these Munich CB3333 frames that looked pretty much perfect.
Another thing you might notice while cruising around Optically is that tons of styles are on sale. The most commonly seen discount is 50% off, and that’s a big deal when the retail prices are almost always over $100. After writing prescription glasses reviews for around five years, these prices are distinctly high for an online-based glasses retailer.
The pair I picked up were $66 (given to me gratis) which would have been the most I’ve ever paid for glasses.
Upon receiving my Optically glasses, I was actually a little surprised. It wasn’t the glasses – they looked just as I expected them to, plus they came with a hard case and cloth which is always appreciated. It wasn’t even the box they came in, which was severely damaged and definitely not domestic.
The part that surprised me was the quality. I mean, the hard case for the glasses looked like it came out of a Delia’s magazine from 1997, but it was totally sufficient for what it was. The quality of the frames and lenses, on the other hand… really weren’t.
These glasses are incredibly lightweight. They feel like nothing in my hands and when I opened and closed the arms, the brittle crackling noises they made were harmless (for now), but they were also indicative of the quality.
When I put the glasses on, my quality concerned compounded. Looking at my 3-bulb vanity lights that hang over my bathroom sink, I quickly saw a sight I was familiar with: multiplication.
The moment I knew I needed glasses was when I was driving on a highway in the middle of the night and the car ahead of me had what looked like eight tail lights. Either I was becoming Spiderman or my eyesight was shot. These glasses literally replicated the visual sensations that I had when I wasn’t wearing glasses. That’s not great.
They’re also crooked on my face, which is why I’m looking left, right, or am sorta-out-of-frame in all of these photos. It’s frustrating, but at this point that’s just a minor annoyance.
The last weird thing about this whole situation is that, when I told them the glasses were underperforming, they glazed over it as though it were almost expected. They also tout themselves as having “the lowest prices in the US,” to which I would respond by suggesting they read my blog.
These prices aren’t that good, and there are definitely other brands (who are just as “US-based” as Optically is) that will get you pair of glasses or two for a better price and much higher quality.
So, as cute as they are, I can’t trust that these glasses won’t snap on me. They don’t look that good on me, they don’t work that well, and they’re not really affordable at all. Unless you have a gift certificate or morbid curiosity, consider grabbing a pair of prescription glasses from somewhere else.
Optically.co sent me these glasses for free in exchange for a review. If you think they paid me to write what I wrote, you’re crazy. Or you think I’m way more of a badass than I actually am, so thank you for that, I guess.