Best place to buy varifocals

[Buggedandconfused]

I’m in a muddle. Been wearing boots varifocals for years and need new lenses as old ones scratched. Boots charge £320 - never had a problem with them but I’m a bit skint so went to Vision Direct & Specsavers who only charge £220 for apparently the same quality.

Has anyone got theirs from Vision Direct or Specsavers? I have to have the premium lenses as need them for my job and can’t have any blurry bits! Would be great to save £100!

Asda options are great.
Glasses start at 45.00 or 2 better pairs are around 110.00.
They do all the varifocals and thinning in that price.

Sorry opticians not options

Asda, I got two pairs of varifocals for £129.00 an Extra £45 per pair if you want reactor lights too. By far the cheapest to my knowledge.

Don't do anything until you've looked at Asda opticians. I've been travelling to my nearest Asda for a few years now. Before that my vatificals more even more expensive than yours

Been with Asda Opticians for 15 years. Very happy. Their frames are cheap but their lenses are exactly the same. They explained to me that all lenses are produced in the sane place so it doesn't matter where we get them. They do ok as they don't advertise at all -and their frames are cheap-.

I don't mind as I replace every year or 2, still cheaper than other places (and not convinced their frames are massively better).

Mine are specsavers, cost £170 for two pairs (£89 frame section)

Thanks everyone! So it seems Asda are really good! Is the quality of the varifocals good? Boots are trying to persuade me that their Platinum lens is better than anything I can buy anywhere else. I’ve had Boots lenses for 10 years and they have been brilliant, but I can’t really justify £300 plus at the moment... however, I can’t compromise on quality either.

Never had Boots glasses as like you decided to go for the cheaper option.
They are fine never had any issues at all

Another Asda user here, for both glasses and contacts, the frames do vary from shop to shop and tend to be the more American/obscure brands, Joan Collins, Sean somebody or other and Morgan, but I do find them very good value for money esp for me with a very high prescription.

One thing I have noticed though, lenses are not as well coated with scratch resistant film as my other glasses in the past and am finding quite a lot of surface scratches, small but as I have worn glasses since the last ice age and am always carful with cleaning etc.

But having said that I think Asda offer a great service and staff have always been very good.

Boots in the past have been ok, last lot were dreadful same with Specsavers, glasses I purchased from there as soon as I put them on gave me a headache and told them they were not right, insisted they were, nope took them aback and got a refund.....back to Asda...only went to Specsavers as I did not like any frames in Asda!

Just to add about Boots, I do think they are rather pushy in trying to get you to upgrade to 'premium' products, as I said my lenses are very high in strength and I need the high index type, but I cannot justify spending around the £600 (which was my last price, not even designer frames) when I get board with frames/colours after a while. One of the reasons I no longer use Boots

I stopped going to Boots due to their hard selling techniques. Last straw was one member staff asking me "Don't you care enough about your sight to invest in the platinum lenses!" My current glasses are from Vision Express - service and glasses have been great and more affordable too. Have had glasses from Asda Opticians in the past but not varifocals. No issue with lenses however did have to go back several times to get screws replaced in the frames which put me off a bit. I am careful with my glasses and have never had this issue with any other glasses.

I gave up on Boots when I was handed over to one of their staff who would explain the varifocal options. All they said was that these were the best and the most expensive, and these were cheaper and not as good. I went to Specsavers where they actually seemed to have something to say.

You could try Glasses Direct. I had a Martin Lewis code that got me a pair of Varifocals and a pair of fixed lens glasses for £49.
Provided you've got all you info (pupillary distance + prescription) they worked out fine.
I have used them for years for standard focus glasses but saw the offer and thought I would put a toe in the water to see how I got on with Varifocals without spending a shed load of money.
They claim their 'basic' package is equivalent to other Opticians 'mid range' offering in terms of lens quality, but I've found mine to be great. Just waiting for the offer to come round again to buy some more!

@Buggedandconfused

Glasses Direct have 40% off until 1st November.

@rslsys thank you!

Glasses direct and direct sight. Both online and both are excellent. I’ve used one and dh used the other!

I would advise against buying varifocals online. Even if you know your pd measurement, you need a ‘heights’ measurement which is dependent on the frame you choose so nobody can tell you what that will be. If they don’t ask for heights online they are estimated, which may or may not work out for you.
Much better to go see a person and be measured correctly. And to all saying there is no difference in quality, there usually is. I’ve worked in a range of places and lower price means more basic lenses. Many people are completely fine with the basic lenses, but they are not the same as the high end ones.

I've been a happy Specsavers customer for years for reading/distance glasses. They persuaded me to try varifocals. Never again, they were awful. I first got the basic ones but the field of vision for reading was far too small - I had to move my head to read a line of a book rather than the usual of keeping the head fixed and moving the eyes. I took them back for a refund but they did the hard sell to get me to upgrade to their premium lenses (or whatever they call them), for another couple of hundred, but they weren't much better so i took those back for a refund too. After much sighing, they agreed to swap them for separate normal readers and distance glasses.

Definitely Asda. Have a complex prescription and had been using Boots for years but changed a few years ago.
Last year we needed glasses for my daughter and went to Specsavers as closer and good selection of kids frames.
While I was there I asked about their verifocals. So they checked my (Asda) glasses and told me they were too spec lenses and quoted me a price that was about two or three times what I payed for my glasses.
I usually get one pair of normal glasses and one pair of sunglasses, varifocal, anti glare, lenses thinned for around £110 or 120.
I would NEVER even consider to buy varifocals online as there are complex calculations re where the two different parts of the lenses are and those need to be done by an experienced optician.