note: while believed to be accurate at the time it was written, information provided is not updated regularly & may be out of date

GreatEyeglasses
"High Quality Prescription Eyeglasses"
http://www.greateyeglasses.com

GreatEyeglasses is located in the US (California). Pricing in USD. They sell single-vision and bi-focal/progressive lenses. They give a toll-free phone number, mailing address, and contact form for contact methods. Payment methods include Visa, Mastercard, AmEx, and Discover. The BBB has them listed, but with "No Rating" with the file being opened in Feb 2009. Note that while writing up this review, I had a feeling of Deja-Vu - the lens options listed are almost identical to those of LBW Eyewear. It's possible that both retailers order their lenses from the same place or are connected in some other fashion.

Impressions:

A couple little things that stand out in particular on the Great Eyeglasses site. First, there's a little audio clip on the front page that starts automatically with an animated "Dr. Dan" that gives a little info about the site/lenses/ordering. It's not overly informational (moreso promotional), but it may serve to make first-time buyers in particular feel a little more at ease, and is a nice little intro to the site regardless. The 2nd thing that stands out is the "Opti-Fit Try On System" shown on each frame information page that has a variety of default photos on the right side, and what looks to be a very easy system to upload your own on the left. At first glance it appears that it should be a better "try-on" system than many others as far as ease-of-use goes, but it has it's degree of issues which actually puts it below most other "try-on" systems. More details later.

Frame selection is reasonable, with most being offered in multiple colors. There's a small selection for under $20, with the majority keeping below the $40 mark. Frames include free single-vision lenses. Metal, Plastic, Titanium, Memory Titanium, and Stainless Steel are among the frames offered, although the price varies between them.

Single-vision lenses (1.56 index) come free with the frames. Bi-focals add $29.99 to the price, while Progressives add $69.99. Polycarbonate, Photochromic, Polarized, Tinted, and High-Index (up to 1.74) are available options.

Website and Ordering:

The website is fairly easy to use. Frames are categorized by material, with "$20 and under" offered as a category as well. When browsing through frames, a large amount of scrolling is necessary - 18 frames are listed per page, but they're listed vertically. Fortuantely most categories have only a couple pages, making this a minor inconvenience for the most part. Color availability is listed beside each frame, as well as simple checkboxes indicating whether the frame can be used for single-vision, bi-focal, or progressive. One thing to note is the "Opti-Fit Try On System" mentioned earlier. It looks very well integrated - a problem is that some of the frames are sized incorrectly for the default built-in photos, and can't be adjusted. Another issue is that uploading your own doesn't appear to be working (at least not on the Mac). One oddity is that while most frames shown have a white/transparant background, others don't - this in itself isn't the end of the world (and had it been on simply the rimless frames which often don't photograph well with a white background it may be a plus), although the randomness indicates that not a lot of time was spent getting consistant photos.

Ordering is fairly simple. Everything is on a single page, and there's a "help" button available for everything but the AR section. Most of the help offered appears to be fairly well-written.

Overall, things are fairly well done throughout the site. For the most part it's new-user friendly, but little quirks/issues show that all in all it lacks polish in certain areas.

Pricing and Value:

Glasses start at $14.99 with a fairly small selection being offered for under $20, including free anti-scratch and UV. An AR coating adds $4.99 to the price, with an Anti-Reflective/Anti-Radiation being $19.99. Shipping is $6.99 to the US ($15.99 internationally).

For value, just over $20 for glasses shipped within the US is reasonable and comparable to many other retailers. Adding an AR coating still keeps the total below $30. International shipping is a bit high though, and international customers may want to look elsewhere if looking for a cheap total-cost pair.

A basic pair of single-vision lenses comes to $21.98 shipped in the US, and $30.98 shipped worldwide.
A basic pair of bi-focal lenses comes to $51.97 shipped in the US, and $60.97 shipped worldwide.
A basic pair of progressive lenses comes to $91.97 shipped in the US, and $100.97 shipped worldwide.

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