Gear Reviews

GEAR REVIEW: Back-up prescription glasses

What follows is a paid review for $ 8 Zenni Optical Rx Eyeglasses

Here’s one man’s tale of how sitting behind a computer all day can ruin your vision. Back in 1990, I received my honorable discharge from the Navy and left Coronado to start the next chapter of my life in Las Vegas. How I picked Las Vegas over any other Western city still remains a mystery to me.

Over the course of a month, I went from being in charge of my boat crew of eight men on the sunny beaches along the Pacific Ocean to sitting in a remodeled closet at one of the top ad agencies in town. To say I went nuts is an understatement. I had no windows and sat next to a 65-year-old woman who blathered all day about her alcoholic sister and spent the rest of the time yakking on the phone…about one foot away from me.

I also stared at the 12-inch screen of an Apple computer the nine hours I was at work. One foot behind the screen was a white wall. Absolutely no eye relief. My vision went from 20/15 (better than 20/20) to 20/40 within six months.

Since I was still attached to the Naval Reserves, Uncle Sam required me to have corrected vision for my next physical. That meant I had to get glasses. Since a series of very delicate muscles contort your eyeball to bring things into focus, I felt that wearing glasses served the same purpose as a crutch. The muscles would continue to atrophy over time because the lenses were doing all of the work. Since I only wear them for driving at night, when my vision is perhaps at its shakiest, I’ve never had to get a stronger prescription in 18 years…and I still stare at a computer screen nine hours a day.

Since prescription glasses are expensive, and I have a tendency to lose them or more frequently, sit on them, I like to have a back-up pair that don’t cost an arm and a leg. There’s always the el-cheapo Wal-Mart and corner drug store variety. However, their styles are bit lacking in, well, style.

A friend told me about the online company called http://www.ZenniOptical.com. You order the glasses direct from the manufacturer so there are no middle-man mark-ups and the glasses are very inexpensive…which makes them a great choice for your emergency or back-up glasses. Although I have yet to put in my first order for a pair of glasses to stow in my backpack or the saddle bag on my bike, I’ve only read great reviews about the company and their service. The frames are fairly stylish and with most glasses coming in around $8, they definitely seem worth a try, especially if you’re getting new prescriptions every year (for those constant eyeglass wearers). I’m thinking about getting a pair of the Metal Alloy/Stainless Steel Half-Rim Frames to keep stowed in the truck for those late-night mountain pass drives.

If you get a pair, please let me know what you think about them in the comments below.

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