This is the third part of a multipart review series, How To Buy Glasses Online. Part 3 focuses on Warby Parker (warbyparker.com). If you haven't read Parts 1 or 2, you should start here.
This post marks the second of three companies under review, so I'm about mid-way in the total review process. To recap so far, this multipart review has spanned the progress of my attempt to buy high-index glasses online for the first time. Thus far, I have discussed some tips and tricks for choosing online retailers and selecting frames with high-index lens buyers in mind, then comprehensively reviewed my purchase at Glasses.com. As of the writing of this post, my Glasses.com review is still a work in progress, so be sure to check back to see how it all works out. Each part in this review is comparative and cumulative, so best to start at the beginning if you're new to all this. Now, on to Warby Parker.
Showing posts with label book reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book reviews. Show all posts
Filed under:
book reviews,
comparison,
dbvision,
eyeglasses,
eyewear,
glasses,
glasses.com,
IHTO,
Warby Parker
This is Part 1 of a 5-part review. Jump to Part 2: Glasses.com, Part 3: Warby Parker, Part 4: DB Vision, or Part 5: Summary and Conclusion.
If you wear eyeglasses, then you know that a trip to your optician can be costly. And if you need high-index lenses (like myself), then you know that buying a pair of glasses isn't as simple as walking into an optician, choosing a fashionable frame and asking for the cheapest lenses they have. High index lenses are thinner and lighter alternatives to traditional plastic or polycarbonate lenses and are a necessity for stronger prescriptions (usually +/- 4.00). The weight and thickness of the lens is considerably reduced (by stages, with each level thinner costing more), making them ideal for people who would otherwise be sporting coke-bottle glasses. Thinned high-index lenses, equipped with necessary add-ons like antiglare and anti-scratch coatings, typically cost upwards of $300 at minimum. For my prescription, I have been quoted up to $600 for standard high-index polycarbonate and up to $900 for “digital lenses”. (I'll address digital lenses in a later part of this multipart review).
I haven't bought new glasses in years, so I'm looking to purchase two pairs (one for a spare), and I'm doing it on a post-PhD budget. Retail prices are simply not going to cut it.
The plight of high-index lens wearers knows no bounds. Those Buy-1-Get-1-Free offers that you see at all of the major optical chains? Read the fine print, and you'll notice that they exclude prescriptions stronger than +/-4.00. If you have comprehensive vision insurance at 80-100% of the full cost of eyewear, then you're the 1% when it comes to eyewear(!), so buying discount glasses off the internet - the subject of this post - is probably not for you. But if you, like myself, are amongst the ranks of the perennially uninsured in the United States (remember, we're the greatest country in the world), then read on.
I haven't bought new glasses in years, so I'm looking to purchase two pairs (one for a spare), and I'm doing it on a post-PhD budget. Retail prices are simply not going to cut it.
The plight of high-index lens wearers knows no bounds. Those Buy-1-Get-1-Free offers that you see at all of the major optical chains? Read the fine print, and you'll notice that they exclude prescriptions stronger than +/-4.00. If you have comprehensive vision insurance at 80-100% of the full cost of eyewear, then you're the 1% when it comes to eyewear(!), so buying discount glasses off the internet - the subject of this post - is probably not for you. But if you, like myself, are amongst the ranks of the perennially uninsured in the United States (remember, we're the greatest country in the world), then read on.
My review of Robert Kozinets' Netnography: doing ethnographic research online (Sage 2010) is now available in the Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford Online.
View full screen version
Read the entire issue of JASO (Volume IV, no. 1 [2012]) here.
View full screen version
Read the entire issue of JASO (Volume IV, no. 1 [2012]) here.
An interesting offer from SAGE Publications to advertise new anthropological releases on the Open Anthropology Cooperative has been presented by OAC member Harriet Baulcombe.
Inspired by the possibility of giving all members the opportunity to engage with new and innovative works in anthropology, the admin team proposes that we go beyond advertising new titles and encourage the establishment of an OAC Reviews section. In a continued spirit of interaction and collaboration, we are therefore looking for volunteers to take on the role of OAC Reviews Editor as well as a team of book reviewers. The team will have the continued support of the admins in getting started, setting up a new forum for OAC Reviews-related discussion and organizing the reviews process.
You can read (and respond to) the full announcement here.
Almost one year ago, just as the OAC was experimentally setting up on Ning, I ventured that with enough like-minded individuals, we could come together to efface the boundaries between official academic channels and the informal 'academy' already mixing freely and collaboratively around the web. Less than a year since its launch, membership now well exceeds 3,000 anthropologists, enthusiasts and interdisciplinary researchers. Many OAC members have been inspired to take on additional responsibilities within the network by running groups, launching their own blog series in addition to building up networks of professional and informal contacts.
Along with our active forums, groups, member blogs, the OAC Press, and Seminar series - and in light of continuing discussion about the future of the OAC and its role within anthropology as a whole - a book reviews section will add yet another diversifying element to our efforts. The opportunity to host book reviews has exciting potential to allow more people to take part in collaboration between members as well as academic publishers. If it proves successful, our reviews and our network of researchers can have a wider impact on the dissemination of anthropological knowledge to a broad audience.
We'd would really like to hear from new voices who would like to devote time to organizing an initiative with large scope and room for expansion. Feel free to publicize this call for reviewers around your respective departments or use the invite function if you're already a member. If you haven't visited the OAC yet, but book reviews sound like something you want to take part in, join us and have a look around. The site is easy to use, friendly and these volunteer positions – like the Cooperative itself - are open to all.
Inspired by the possibility of giving all members the opportunity to engage with new and innovative works in anthropology, the admin team proposes that we go beyond advertising new titles and encourage the establishment of an OAC Reviews section. In a continued spirit of interaction and collaboration, we are therefore looking for volunteers to take on the role of OAC Reviews Editor as well as a team of book reviewers. The team will have the continued support of the admins in getting started, setting up a new forum for OAC Reviews-related discussion and organizing the reviews process.
You can read (and respond to) the full announcement here.
Almost one year ago, just as the OAC was experimentally setting up on Ning, I ventured that with enough like-minded individuals, we could come together to efface the boundaries between official academic channels and the informal 'academy' already mixing freely and collaboratively around the web. Less than a year since its launch, membership now well exceeds 3,000 anthropologists, enthusiasts and interdisciplinary researchers. Many OAC members have been inspired to take on additional responsibilities within the network by running groups, launching their own blog series in addition to building up networks of professional and informal contacts.
Along with our active forums, groups, member blogs, the OAC Press, and Seminar series - and in light of continuing discussion about the future of the OAC and its role within anthropology as a whole - a book reviews section will add yet another diversifying element to our efforts. The opportunity to host book reviews has exciting potential to allow more people to take part in collaboration between members as well as academic publishers. If it proves successful, our reviews and our network of researchers can have a wider impact on the dissemination of anthropological knowledge to a broad audience.
We'd would really like to hear from new voices who would like to devote time to organizing an initiative with large scope and room for expansion. Feel free to publicize this call for reviewers around your respective departments or use the invite function if you're already a member. If you haven't visited the OAC yet, but book reviews sound like something you want to take part in, join us and have a look around. The site is easy to use, friendly and these volunteer positions – like the Cooperative itself - are open to all.
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