Prescription Sunglasses at a Reasonable Price?

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

Since summer is theoretically on its way, I thought I would talk about the wallet-draining experience that is purchasing prescription sunglasses.

My husband hated wearing contact lenses.  He wore them for all of 2 days.  Since he drives a fair distance to get to work, he needed prescription sunglasses so he wasn’t reduced to wearing the stylish “over the glasses” wraparounds favored by certain retirees.  But when we went to the optical store, there were two problems:

1. They were horribly expensive, even without his astigmatism correction factored in and

2. No one was willing to try putting his prescription in a wrap around-style frame that he wanted so that he could also play sports/ski with them.

So, as usual, I went online and found an excellent vendor: http://www.heavyglare.com/ Also known as Sun Ray Optical and based out of St. Paul, MN, these folks specialize in prescription sunglasses at a reasonable price.  His last pair (after he lost the first pair) cost $170, including lenses and a frame he actually liked.  Which, in the world of brand-name prescription sunglasses, is quite a good deal. 

We’ve been working with these folks now for several years and I have only had good experiences with them.  www.heavyglare.com has around 90 brands to choose from, including names like Ray Ban, Bolle, and Arnette.  They also do goggles.  And since I am usually the one dealing with customer service when there is a problem in the Delfau household, I can tell you their customer service is excellent.  At this time last year, they even offered to send my husband’s new sunglasses to France since we would be here visiting family when they would be ready to ship.  I was quite impressed!

And, of course, prescription sunglasses are reimbursable through your FSA and HSA, if you have one of these accounts!

Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.

Tags: health insurance, prescriptions, sunglasses
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