Intro#
The anti-fouling ability of the glasses I previously had was already very poor; just a casual touch would affect the visual effect. Additionally, due to improper protection, some small scratches appeared, so I decided to get a new pair of glasses.
The previous pair was fitted at 1688, where I had an eye exam done at the hospital, and I chose Zeiss blue light blocking lenses and a pure titanium frame from Schott. The total price was around 750 in my impression.
At that time, I thought the cost-performance ratio was already maximized. Later, I heard that Danyang also offers very cheap glasses, and since it is offline, I could try them on, which should only improve the experience.
The round trip from Shanghai to Danyang costs about 160 yuan, with a one-way trip taking about an hour and a half. Right outside the high-speed train station is the glasses city, which is very convenient, so I planned to take this opportunity to give it a try.
Lens Selection#
Photochromic Lenses#
Ever since I heard about photochromic lenses, I have been very interested. I often find it glaring and unbearable in the sunlight, and after learning that photochromic lenses do not harm the eyes but rather protect them, I decided to get a pair.
Based on my habits, I initially looked at Zeiss photochromic lenses. The quality is certainly good, but unfortunately, the price is just too high, so I gave up. After looking around at other brands, I found that the domestic brand Quanzhen Optical specializes in photochromic lenses, and in terms of photochromic performance, it is comparable to international top brands. I learned online that the custom cbx 1.6 lenses only cost 390 yuan, which was very tempting, and there was even a store in Danyang that offered a price of 350 yuan.
However, I ultimately did not get a very good pair of photochromic lenses. Over time, photochromic lenses will have a noticeable base color; it may not be very obvious when looking out, but to others, it looks like dark circles, which is not suitable for long-term wear and is only appropriate for outdoor scenarios.
In the end, I chose a very ordinary basic photochromic lens from Quanzhen, priced around 140 yuan, paired with a titanium alloy frame for 158 yuan, totaling nearly 300 yuan. The frame was more expensive than the lenses, but I thought it looked great.
Daily Use Lenses#
The original plan was to get a better pair of photochromic lenses and then casually get a pair of daily use lenses, as long as they were acceptable.
However, the staff said that ordinary domestic lenses still have a gap compared to Zeiss, which remains the top tier, while Essilor's optical quality is close to Zeiss, more durable than Zeiss, but only half the price. So my attention turned to Essilor, and based on my needs, I selected the most cost-effective Moyan lenses.
Regarding the price, the original price was 1080 yuan, and other stores could offer a discount of 2.5 times, while this store only offered 30% off. However, I was drawn to the frame, the pure titanium frame was 258 yuan, which seemed to be the same price as my first online purchase, so I still got it from this store (in fact, together with the photochromic lenses, the total was 840 yuan, directly reduced to 800 yuan, which was about the same price).
Reading Glasses for Parents#
Both of my parents have presbyopia; they have no problem seeing far, but it becomes quite difficult when looking at computers and phones up close. Since the usage scenario is relatively simple and not very frequent, I ultimately chose Kaimi U2 and U6 with a refractive index of 1.6, priced at 100 yuan and 120 yuan respectively, and selected frames made of titanium alloy (158 yuan) and pure titanium (discounted to 98 yuan), totaling 455 yuan.
Outro#
The experience of having my eyes tested on-site was indeed very different from the hospital's eye exam. The hospital's exam is more like an assembly line, focusing more on pathological testing; whereas the eye exam at the glasses store pays more attention to optical aspects and testing related to glasses production.
What surprised me was that after several years, my prescription remained consistent with the past, and the prescription for the glasses I got was exactly the same.
Additionally, my impression of getting glasses in Danyang is that the frames are more expensive than the lenses. There are indeed many high-cost-performance options for lenses, such as Kaimi lenses, but if you want a truly pure titanium frame, it is unlikely to be below 200 yuan (the seller might sell non-pure titanium as pure titanium).
Previously, I saw someone online who got 6 pairs of glasses for 1000 yuan; someone else got Kaimi U6 for 150 yuan, which is indeed achievable as long as you can tolerate the series of issues that come with cheap frames.
So, is it worth it to get glasses in Danyang? Perhaps the more expensive the lenses, the more worthwhile it is. The lowest discount offered by Zeiss in Shanghai is 20%, but Danyang can achieve 30%. This can easily cover the costs of high-speed train travel and other transportation expenses.
This article is synchronized and updated to xLog by Mix Space. The original link is https://xxu.do/notes/131