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Sunglasses aren't just a fashionable accessory; they serve an important role by protecting your eyes from harmful UV rays. It could get tricky to buy fancy sunglasses when you require prescription lenses to correct your vision. Getting the right balance of style and function can be challenging. We're here to help you make the right decision.
When creating a custom pair, you have a variety of lens tints to choose from, as well as options like polarized or mirrored lenses, both of which reduce sun, UV rays and reflection glare -- and yes, you want some anti-glare coating at a minimum, that's a must. Gray, green and brown tints are the most popular. I tend to go with gray, but some sites also offer yellow, blue or rose options. (This is a good guide to lens colors.) Tint density is also important, with a higher density blocking out more sunlight. Nonfashion sunglasses' tint density tends to range from 50% to 80%. You can also get gradient tints that offer more density in different parts of the lens.
Our top pick for this roundup of prescription glasses is Warby Parker. Besides affordability, Warby Parker offers a wide array of stylish sunglasses that you can customize to your needs. It also has a great app that helps you see how your sunglasses will look on you.
Several CNET editors have bought their glasses from Warby Parker, which has a good selection of sharp-looking eyeglass frames. While glasses start at only $95 with a single-vision prescription, chances are you're going to pay a bit more -- around $150 to $200 -- based on the type of frame options you choose, your prescription and the type of eyeglass lenses. Sunglasses start at $175, and progressive lenses in both eyeglasses and sunglasses start at $295. Based on my and my co-workers' experience, the finished products tend to be a step up from what more budget-oriented sites offer.
Notable site features: The company's iPhone app -- sorry, there's no Android version yet -- allows you to search the site by frame size and to try on various frames virtually (it works surprisingly well) and better yet, you can try up to five frames at home for five days for free. Once your five days are up, you place your box in the mail with the prepaid return label. Hopefully, you find at least one style that you like from among the five you picked for the home trial. There's also a $15 online virtual vision test to renew outdated prescriptions. (Based on the test, you may not be eligible.)
Shipping times: According to Warby: "Single vision glasses take seven to 10 business days to reach you from the time we have all of your order information. Sunglasses and progressives take 10 to 12 business days to reach you." (These estimates jibe with the experience of CNET editors who have used the service; my pair arrived in six business days.) You can pay more for expedited shipping.
Knockaround doesn't have a prescription service, but it sells regular sunglasses, including polarized and mirrored coating for $25 and even slightly less (prices start as low as $15). They're not premium glasses obviously, but the lenses are pretty decent and the glasses look more expensive than their low price would indicate. These designer sunglasses also seem pretty durable. Several different styles, colors and lens options are available. These are the glasses to get if you don't want to worry about losing your sunglasses.
Notable site features: A design-your-own feature lets you take sunglass frames and customize the colors of each part of the frame (each arm can be a different color, for example) and lens options.
Roka started out making athletic glasses for runners, bikers and triathletes, and many of its prescription frames are bendable at the ends and have rubberized tracks that help you get a more secure fit. The frames also come with three sizes of grippy nose pads to ensure a better fit. These glasses and prescription sunglasses are among the most comfortable glasses I've worn -- and they really stay on your face. I personally like the small Oslo frame in clear.
Like Warby Parker, these are at the higher end of the online prescription eyeglasses spectrum, with prices of around $200 for a completed pair of prescription glasses, depending on some of the lens upgrades you might add. But Roka has some of the best
Zenni has been around for a while, and it's the first site I used to buy cheap prescription glasses and sunglasses online. It's more of a budget-minded eyeglass site, and over the years, I got some nice deals on cheap glasses, particularly when Zenni was running its occasional three-for-two glasses sales. I've had both standard eyeglasses and prescription sunglasses made here and so has fellow editor David Katzmaier, who has since graduated to Warby Parker (he said he would still buy prescription sunglasses at Zenni because they're cheap and decent enough). Zenni also has protective goggles for sports use and safety glasses for use in commercial & construction.
EyeBuyDirect is similar in many ways to a lot of its competitors. Along with an in-house frame brand (Rflkt Eyewear) it has some Ray-Ban and Oakley frames. I went with a more affordable in-house frame and paired it with a high-end sunglasses lens that turned out to be really sharp with a nice contrast (I went with a gray lens). The price came out to around $200 -- you can go cheaper or more expensive. For an additional charge, you can add mirror tinting or gradient tinting which can help with blocking UV light and making reading more comfortable. The frame quality was decent though not on par with, say, Roka's frames. The lens coating includes anti-scratch coating, anti-reflective coating, mirror coating and UV protective coating to protect from harmful UV rays. The Rx lens quality was good and the
Eyeglasses.com carries over 300 brands and 200,000 SKUs, which seems to be the largest catalog of any online glasses site. The filters are also decent, allowing you to filter by rim style, material, brand, price, category, eye size, clips, country of origin, as well as advanced search options such as bridge size and temple size, and B measurement. There's no virtual try-on feature and a lot of the frames don't have models to show you what the frames look like on someone's face.
Notable site features: Eyeglasses.com says it only sells "high quality, individually made lenses made in the USA" and the sample glasses I tried had excellent lenses that gave me a very sharp image. As I said, there's a huge selection of lens options, and you get a "Perfect Lenses Guarantee" that allows you to send your glasses back if they don't work for you (you can get a redo or a full refund (your choice).
The site also offers a lens replacement option for your existing frames (you send your frames in and have your clear lenses converted into tinted lenses). Unlike Lensabl (see below), which highlights the feature, eyeglasses.com doesn't market the options front and center.
You can also get new sunglasses very quickly if you choose to pay extra for expedited shipping.
Shipping times: Less than six days, according to the site. I received a new pair in a couple of days, but I had an expedited shipping option.
