My Experience With Zenni Optical - Part 1 *updated*

Today I have a very over due and indepth review for y'all on Zenni Optical! + A $5 off coupon code that actually works scroll down to read more!

For those who don't know, Zenni Optical is a discount online glasses store based in the US. They have glasses starting USD$6.95! I had been eyeing them for a while (hehehe),  but I could never bring myself to fork out the shipping cost ($9.95 for international shipping/shipping to Australia) for a pair of ~$15 glasses...

But after a little waiting they finally had a promo code for free shipping and I decided to place an order

Choosing a Frame

Their site is fairly easy to use, however, there could be some improvements. What kind of store doesn't have a "sort by price" filtering option! Anyway, I digress. The hardest part is definitely finding the right frame for you, esepcially since you can't really try them on. It is handy if you have another pair of glasses that fit you decently already, because you can read the measurements off the arms (so that's what those numbers are!) and base your new glasses around them. Anywho, after countless 'which frame suits your face shape' articles I settled for 'Plastic Full-Rim Frame 228421'. It had top reviews and was only $12.95

#228421 aka Obnoxiously Large Hipster Glasses

So after you've settled on your frame, it's smooth sailing from here. All you need to do is enter your prescription (including PD). Specsavers were quite happy to give me my prescription, probably because it doesn't include your PD so you can't really order glasses elsewhere with them.. but luckily for me, I sneakily saw my PD on one of the files they have on me when they bought out my glasses, so I didn't have to measure it myself or awkwardly ask them to which I'm pretty sure they would refuse, has anyone tried this? Let me know!

Add Ons

The next step is to any add ons that you would like. When I went to specsavers, they highly recommended the 1.61 lens or something like that for an extra $49 (My prescription is -4.00). I ordered them. For the Zenni's I settled for the free 1.57 Mid-Index Single Vision lens which are plastic, and they seem to work fine, they're a little heavier (this could be due to the frame though) and you can't tell that the lense is thick at all, especially with this type of frame. They get dirty really quickly though! (P.S I'm no optometrist, these are just my observations!)

Case, sunglasses and frames in real life. The frames sit awkwardly when the arms are folded

I also ordered 'standard anti-reflective coating' on the Zenni's for an extra $4.95. The jury's still out on this one. But I think that the coating that came with the specsavers was much better (well you'd hope so for $49) I'm not sure if there's any coating on this at all. Might have to have a chat to help and support

I also also ordered a pair of clip on sunglasses 'Polarized Clip-On Sunglasses - Gray' for $3.95. These were gonna be my back up car glasses, and with the clip on sunglasses I thought they would be helpful when driving around during sunset. The way they work is that you slide them on top of your frames, they're not magnetic or anything. The sun glasses work fine, but I'm thinking I should have gotten darker ones You can still see my eyeballs when I'm wearing them, so they're useless for discreetly looking at people LOL

They do a decent job at cutting out glare

All up these glasses cost USD$21.85 or around $28 Australian dollars. Bargain!

Shipping

So I ordered on 26/01 and the glasses came 17/02. So it took around 3 weeks.

For 2 weeks, I had completely forgotten about the order oops >< But when I did remember, I decided to check the status of it. It said 'complete'. I started to get worried. I hadn't received my glasses yet and I was 200% sure they hadn't sent a tracking number! So I made a quick enquiry using their online chat service at like 10pm AEST and surprisingly received a prompt reply assuring me that the glasses had been sent from Hong Kong on 4th of Feb and providing me with a tracking number.

When they arrived, they came in a simple padded mailing bag, with a case, cleaning cloth, the glasses/frames themselves and the sunglasses (as shown above)

Okay, so I think I'm going to end this post here, I've rambled on a lot! Thanks for staying to read this long! Stay tuned for Part 2 of my review on the actual frames themselves!

How was your shopping experience with Zenni Optical?

Update 25th July 2016!
I'm still wearing these glasses daily and they have not fallen apart on me at all - no lenses popping out, no arms falling out, phewf! The fact they get dirty (finger prints etc) really easily is quite annoying though. Maybe I should shell out on the oleophobic coating next time. Has anyone tried it? Also I don't really use the clip on sunglasses as much as I thought I would

Don't forget to follow me on twitter @crownedwillow for updates ;D

xx

Promo Code  Augusfor $5 off your order. Follow me on twitter (@crownedwillow) for the latest promo codes as they come in!

Use the code CC56K8Z1JB
CC56JWY0*H 
CC56K98J6P 
CC5ABFPXMDB 
CC5A7G2NJSB 

4 January 2020 update: Happy New Year Guys! Long time, no see. But here are some new codes to help you get that 20/20 vision for 2020! Be quick! Please comment below if you've managed to use a code so I can updated accordingly

CC5FCZPC7D

CC5FCZS8SW

CC5FCZX7ZS

5 February 2020 Update: More Codes!!
CC5W23CNHB
CC59PJV9RX
CC5VQ3BM2S

If the above codes don't work: You can try here for $5 off

xx