The Netflix of Prescription Glasses: A Warby Parker Review

If you listen to technology podcasts regularly, you’ve by now likely heard of eyewear company Warby Parker. The New York based startup, launched in 2010, has recently started advertising on many tech podcasts and bills itself as an affordable and easy way to purchase eyeglasses and sunglasses via the Internet. As a (literally) nearsighted nerd, I was intrigued when I heard about the company on The Mac Observer’s Mac Geek Gab podcast, and so I decided to give it a try and provide an independent Warby Parker review.

Warby Parker operates both via its website as well as through a small number of physical retail locations throughout the United States. The online ordering component of the company is the truly novel aspect so that’s how I chose to interact with them.

Pick Some Frames

You start by heading to Warby Parker’s website and browsing their selection of glasses. Sections are divided between men’s and women’s frames and then by regular eyewear and sunglasses. Most frames are offered in several colors, and there are large high-quality images of the frames from different angles, as well as a model that turns his or her head from side to side so you can see how each frame looks in any orientation. There’s also a virtual try-on feature that allows you to upload a picture of yourself so that you can get a general idea of what each frame will look like on your face.

All of these high quality images are fine and dandy, but glasses need to be tried on in order to really get a good idea, right? Thankfully, Warby Parker has addressed this need with their free “home try-on” program. After creating an account, you can choose up to five glasses and/or sunglasses and they’ll ship them to your home. The package arrives as a nice case with the chosen glasses inside, each with non-prescription lenses. You have five full days to try them on, show your friends and family, and get opinions on which pair is right for you.

When you’re done with the evaluation, simply package them back up, affix the included pre-paid return label, and drop it off with UPS. It’s like the Netflix of glasses.

You don’t have to commit to anything, of course. If you didn’t like any of the glasses you can select up to another five pairs for a second round of home try-on, or you can simply walk away. Assuming you did find a pair you liked, you can then log back on to the Warby Parker website and choose to purchase the frame. At this point, you’ll need your prescription information, and that’s where I hit a bit of snag.

“Better or Worse?”

I’ve worn glasses since early high school, but I’ve had the same pair for almost 8 years now so I decided it was time to visit an ophthalmologist and get my prescription checked. I visited my doctor’s office and had a very quick encounter; he measured the prescription of my current glasses, did a few quick tweaks (“one or two? three, four? better, worse?”) and wrote me a prescription.

I came home and entered the information into Warby Parker’s website but I realized that my doctor had failed to provide me with my pupillary distance (PD) measurement. This measurement of the distance between the centers of each pupil is important for prescription eyeglasses and is usually calculated by the technicians at eyeglass stores.

By now it was after business hours and I wasn’t able to return to my doctor’s office to get this measurement. But, again, Warby Parker has this covered. Using a webcam and a credit card, their website can calculate your PD online. The theory goes that a credit card is a known size so if you take a picture of your face while holding a credit card under your nose, the distance between your pupils can be accurately measured.

So how accurate is it? Well, I ended up having to return to my eye doctor (which I’ll describe in a moment), and I had my PD measured by their official instruments. According to the ophthalmologist, my PD value is 65mm; Warby Parker’s website calculated it at 64mm. Not bad.

With all of my information entered, I purchased two pairs of prescription glasses: the Clement eyeglasses and the Felton sunglasses. Although the company has several pairs starting at $95, the Clement was $145 and the Felton was $150.

A few days later, my glasses arrived and I excitedly opened the packages to try them on. My 8-year-old glasses were scratched up and I was eager to put on fresh, clear lenses. But something was wrong. Anyone who regularly wears prescription glasses knows the feeling they get when they try a pair where the prescription is just not right. Things look sharper than without the glasses, but there’s a weird, almost imperceptible flaw that causes eye strain, headaches, and nausea.

My “new” prescription was just a tiny bit different from my old one, so I wasn’t sure if Warby Parker had messed up in making the glasses, if I had entered the prescription info wrong when ordering, or if the prescription was simply wrong to begin with. I returned to my doctor and found the answer: after reexamining both my old and new glasses, the doctor discovered that his initial scan of my old glasses generated the wrong prescription information due to an irregularity in the old lenses. The Warby Parker glasses were made to the proper specifications, but those specifications were incorrect.

I Can See Clearly Now

Armed now with the correct prescription, I returned home and sheepishly called Warby Parker to see what could be done about returning the glasses and getting the prescription updated. After dialing their number, it rang twice and I heard a pleasant woman’s voice say “Thanks for calling Warby Parker, this is [I forget her name so I’ll call her Alice] Alice, how can I help you?” Just like that Chase credit card commercial, I was a bit flabbergasted and didn’t respond immediately; I was expecting at least one level of automation before reaching a real person.

After I came around, I told Alice about the prescription mixup and she immediately apologized for the inconvenience, promised me that everything would be taken care of, and asked me to email her my new prescription information. A few days later, my new glasses arrived and pre-paid return labels for the first pairs with the incorrect prescription were emailed to me. It was an absolutely painless interaction, and one that is so rare in today’s ‘cut every corner, screw the customer’ business environment.

My new pairs were thankfully just right and I’ve been enjoying the new style and scratch-free lenses for about a week now. Each ordered pair arrives well-packaged with a carrying case and lens cloth. The build quality is very good and easily meets that of store-bought glasses I’ve owned in the past.

Comparisons

But how does Warby Parker compare to a traditional eyeglass store? I decided to find that out as well. When I returned to my doctor to solve the prescription problem, I decided that I wanted a second pair of prescription glasses. I wear them all the time and, having not had any new glasses in 8 years, I figured it would be nice to have a second pair (one I could keep in the car or office, for example).

So I visited the eyeglass store that was attached to my doctor’s office and picked out a nice pair. After adding the option for anti-reflective lenses (something that comes standard from Warby Parker), my total came to about $250. Also, this wasn’t LensCrafters, so I had to wait about a week for the glasses to be ready. In fact, the store called me to let me know they were ready on the same day that UPS delivered my replacement pairs from Warby Parker. Therefore, in my case at least, there was no time advantage to visiting the store as compared to ordering online.

The store-bought glasses are definitely nice, but perhaps not worth the extra $100 over the Warby Parker pair. The other factor in Warby Parker’s favor that we have yet to discuss is the company’s charitable mission to “do good.”

As a founding principle of the company, for each pair of glasses sold Warby Parker makes a donation to a non-profit organization that provides glasses to those in need, a program called “buy a pair, give a pair.” The company recently reported that their donations have enabled over 500,000 glasses to be distributed thus far. When you factor in this worthy outcome, shopping with Warby Parker is an easy choice.

Smudge on the Lens

Okay, so it’s clear I had a pretty good experience with Warby Parker, but not everything is perfect. First, the company’s selection of frames is limited compared to most eyeglass stores. It’s also heavily skewed to what I would call a “hipster” style. There are a few more generic designs but, by and large, most designs are big and bold and those looking for a more subtle design may be out of luck.

However, the company is aggressively adding new designs to its catalog. During the time since we first ordered our home try-on, Warby Parker has released at least three new frame designs. So if you’re intrigued by the concept, but can’t find a frame you like, make sure to check back occasionally to see what’s new.

Another issue is a lack of inventory for the home try-ons. There were two frames that looked interesting and I wanted to add them to my home try-on kit, but with limited inventory neither were available. Of course, I could always have waited a few days and tried again, but I was eager to replace my old glasses. Hopefully the company will expand its home try-on inventory as it grows.

Worth a Look

Overall, however, my experience with Warby Parker was overwhelmingly positive. My new glasses are well-made and fit nicely, and the ordering process was simple and fun. As a start-up, they’re currently geared toward providing exceptional customer service and I hope that they can continue to maintain their current level of service as the number of customers increases.

If you’re looking for a new pair of glasses or sunglass (or, heck, even a monocle), I recommend that you give Warby Parker a try. You may not find a frame design that suits you, but browsing the site and giving the home try-on program a shot is a fun experience.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, I first heard about Warby Parker from The Mac Observer’s Mac Geek Gab podcast. The company is running a promotion for free expedited shipping. Use the promo code MGG at checkout and you’ll get your frames a bit faster.

Finally, and this shouldn’t need to be said for regular TekRevue readers, but for those just stopping by I want to clarify that this review is not part of Warby Parker’s grand marketing strategy. This is an unpaid and unsolicited independent review of my experience and neither I nor TekRevue received compensation or consideration of any kind for its publication. Happy eyeglass shopping!