The Netflix of Prescription Glasses: A Warby Parker Review

By on at • @mggjim

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.

Continued on page 3.

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  • nanabuuui

    Thanks for the review! Did you end up liking the lens?

    I just ordered my first batch of the home-try-ons! Let’s hope it goes well :]

  • Robyn J

    I just got a home try-on kit, fingers crossed!

  • Pingback: Warby Parker: He’s Not Your Average Hipster | Consumption, Culture, & Identity()

  • StewyStan

    I just received my replacement pair of glasses from Warby Parker, and I’m very happy with them. However, I have some advice for anyone with a strong prescription opting for the high index lenses: When you pick out the sample frames you like, TAKE THEM TO YOUR EYE DOCTOR AND HAVE THEM MEASURE THE OC HEIGHT. Here’s why…

    When I received my first pair and put them on, I immediately noticed that something was off. I wore them for a full day and decided that it wasn’t just a matter of an adjustment period. Everything beyond 12 feet or so was slightly out of focus. I eventually noticed that if I titled my head back and looked further down the lenses, the focus improved. When I called WP and explained my issue, the customer service rep immediately identified the problem: the ocular focus on my lenses was off. She told me to take my glasses to my optometrist to have the OC height measured. She said that if they charged me, WP would reimburse me up to $50. Thankfully, they didn’t charge me anything. I called WP back with my OP height, and my new and improved glasses arrived in the mail a week later.

    Apparently, the ocular focus isn’t an issue for everyone, particularly if you have a lower prescription. However, if you do have a strong prescription (I’m around a -5.00), I would strongly recommend taking your sample frames to your eye doctor and getting your OC height measured (go ahead and get your PD checked too while you’re at it) before shipping them back to WP. Just give them a call when you place your order and tell them the measurement. I’m considering ordering some sunglasses at some point down the road, and this is definitely the approach I’m going to take next time. Above all, I must say that Warby Parker’s customer service is fantastic.

    • Beth

      I’m looking into Warby Parker and I’m at a -7.00 in my worst eye, I’ll definitely have to look into the OC height. Thanks for the heads up.

  • http://www.adrieltrott.com Adriel Trott

    I recently ordered from Warby Parker and I wanted to add my two cents. I had one issue with customer service: they contacted me to get approval for thinner lenses which I did pay for. Then when I called back for a receipt for that additional expenditure (they didn’t automatically send that receipt), they told me that they hadn’t charged me for that but discounted me the costs of thinner lenses. But it turns out that was not the case. So I had to call back to insist on a receipt.

    I’m happy with the glasses, generally — I get regular compliments especially on one pair (I ordered two). But I did have to get them adjusted at a place that has an optometrist. The optometrist showed me that the frames have very thick eartips or whatever you call the part of the glasses that go over the ear which contributes to a certain amount of pressure produced by the glasses on my head. If there is one thing I would recommend to WP it’s that they find a way to take some material out of the ear end.