FYI: Zeni optical now has safety glasses

[Bill Dufour]

Not trying to shill for them but they are cheap for prescription glasses. They now have safety glasses starting at $30, lens included.
Bill D.

https://www.zennioptical.com/safety-glasses

[Paul F Franklin]

Thanks for the heads up Bill! I've been buying my regular glasses from them for many years; could definitely use some of those, especially since they are available in progressive multi-focal.

[Bill Dufour]

They have been carrying what they called safety glasses for some time. really weird, uncomfortable heavy looking things. Looked like regular glasses with two prescription lens. Then two second safety lens floating in front of that.

I thought it was worth letting folks know they are now carrying normal safety glasses that people might actually wear. I gave up on safety glasses from them years ago because of their weird selection.
Bill D

older models looked like this one.

https://www.zennioptical.com/p/sport-eyeglass-frames/7047?skuId=704715&source=shopping&locale=en-US&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIu4PV9I2j8wIV4Qh9Ch1-ZQ6WEAQYByABEgIrQfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Anuj Prateek]

Not trying to shill for them but they are cheap for prescription glasses. They now have safety glasses starting at $30, lens included.
Bill D.

https://www.zennioptical.com/safety-glasses

Thanks for sharing!

Ordering one, once I fish out my prescription.

[Myles Moran]

I can confirm the safety glasses they sell now are great. I'll also add for anyone who has glasses from another provider - when I first bought Zenni glasses they were ever so slightly different than my locally made ($$$) ones. Not like a different prescription, but slightly different enough my eyes needed a few days to adjust. So if you're wearing prescription glasses made by someone else you might have this issue. Once I switched all my glasses to Zenni I haven't had any issue with the difference between them at all.

[Howard Pollack]

I don't want to rain on the parade but I've bought two pair of progressive glasses from them and found neither to be acceptable. They remade one pair and it still wasn't right... -Howard

[David Bassett]

I don't want to rain on the parade but I've bought two pair of progressive glasses from them and found neither to be acceptable. They remade one pair and it still wasn't right... -Howard

My wife had the same issue. (She took them to our optometrist, he measured them, and said their transition was abrupt and the reading area was much smaller than the ones they'd made her.) Basically she had to hold her head at pretty much a single angle for any given reading distance.

She is quite happy using Zenni for single prescription special purpose, e.g. computer & sewing, glasses.

[Scott Winners]

I bought a pair of safety glasses (ZN87++) in June 2020. I needed to meet or exceed the ZN87+ safety glasses provided by my employer so I could just have one pair of prescrition safety glasses instead of wearing my prescription bifocals _and_ employer provided safety glasses. I had pressure sores developing behind my ears, faster on the left.

While I might be willing to buy fashion glasses (as distinct from safety glasses) online, I cannot see buying safety glasses online as a current good idea.

1. Interpupillary distance. I have not yet in my lifetime gotten a prescription for glasses that includes my interpupillary distance. I use bifocals with a hard line between the two lenses so I can see the front site of my firearm in the reader portion and the target in the regular portion of my glasses. If the interpupillary measurement made by the folks making my glasses isn't correct I miss too many targets. My arthritis has gotten bad enough that I don't do much steel target recreational pistol shooting at all anymore, but I spend enough time at the range to know my latest glasses are good enough for taking my wife into bear country with the reasonable expectation of bringing her home unharmed.

2. Safety from what? I went to three different stores and tried on a whole lot of frames to find something that fit tight against my face all the way around. If I had taken that data - Ferrari #12186604x23yzsigmatheta frames fit my face best - and then ordered glasses with that frame online to save twenty dollars I would have zero respect for myself. I smith my own revolvers and load my own competition ammunition. My revolvers just don't spit at me when they are ready for competition, but for all these measles patients I am seeing I want my safety glasses tight against my skull all the way around.

Again, I have no beef with someone who has 37 different pairs of fashion glasses ordering online. I also know some blind persons. If you are trying to protect your eyesight with safety glasses dropping 20 or 50 or 100 extra bucks to keep your local brick and mortar stores open for the next person looking for safety glasses is money well spent. Ordering bifocals without an accurate interpupillary measurement is money wasted. I suspect ordering single vision lenses without an accurate measurement might be money wasted as well, but I don't have the math or shooting range background background to prove it.

98% of the safety frames I looked at were ZN87++. If ZN87+ meets your needs, you were, in 2020, likely to find more options, and less expensive options, in ZN87++. Lots of youtubes about these specifications.

Good luck and best wishes.

[Paul F Franklin]

No argument with the buy local sentiment other than to say it is no guarantee of quality at all. And I agree wholeheartedly that if you are using a local stores services they should get your money.

As for the IP measurement, my doctor is happy to include it on the prescription, but it is a simple measurement. Every local optician I've gone to for glasses in the 60 years I've been wearing them measured it by holding a ruler up to your face.

[Bill Dufour]

All my prescriptions for the last 10-15 years, all the same eye doctor, include my IP. It varies 1-1.5mm so not super accurate anyway. Just ask to make sure it is included. I think it is part of the lens wheel thing that has to be spaced for your eyes anyway. Probably just needs to be written down.
IP Spacing at Zeni is weird. They do not tell you the IP on glasses. Instead they make you calculate it. They give the radius(or maybe diameter) of the lens and then the width of the bridge between the eyes. Larger heads have a larger bridge as do wider faces. You also have to figure out how wide the frame should be to clear your temples without rubbing. Then the length of the earpieces.
All that information should be marked on your existing glassses if you know how to read it. Their frames do not have the info printed on them.
They explain all this. What I did was order sun glasses, to check the fit, then bought the same frame in clears. I figured if they were a poor fit they could be spares in the glovebox.
Those dimensions do not really change once your are 25 or so.
Half the time when I go to order new glasses they no longer carry the old frames and I have to go through the calculations all over again.
Bill D
Bill D

[Anuj Prateek]

Thanks for sharing!

Ordering one, once I fish out my prescription.

Ordered a pair of safety glasses.

Says it will be delivered in 14-20 days. Let's see how it turns up.

[Anuj Prateek]

Ordered a pair of safety glasses.

Says it will be delivered in 14-20 days. Let's see how it turns up.


And these arrived.
Very comfortable and well made. Overall happy!

[Bill Dufour]

Buy Local? There is actually a large specticale maker,Hoya, two buildings down from the school district sub office. They have no contact info and only sell to dealers I guess. Zenni s about 90 miles away and do it all online and through the mail. Going through the local eye doctor is no faster and costs more. They do have a rotating stable of pretty young, female staff to help check your vision while ordering.
Bill D

[Anuj Prateek]

Buy Local? There is actually a large specticale maker,Hoya, two buildings down from the school district sub office. They have no contact info and only sell to dealers I guess. Zenni s about 90 miles away and do it all online and through the mail. Going through the local eye doctor is no faster and costs more. They do have a rotating stable of pretty young, female staff to help check your vision while ordering.
Bill D


I ordered online. 'am based in Canada, and the local options were pretty costly (> CAD 100 difference).
Got eye test done, and then ordered with Zennis.