Contact lenses - where do you get them from?

[Craikeybaby]

I've been getting contact lenses on a monthly direct debit scheme from one of the big high street opticians for about 15 years now. I was wondering if it was good value for money, especially as the service hasn't been great recently. Then yesterday I got a letter saying that they were going to put the price up by 20%, so I am looking at other alternatives.

I've seen online suppliers are much cheaper, but I would need to have check ups separately. What do other contact lens wearing PHers do?

[Calza]

I use Asda. I check every few months but they are pretty much always the cheapest. I think I pay £108 for 3 months of acuvue trueye.

Then I go to specsavers every 2 years for my eye test and check etc.

[andyr30]

Get mine online from Daysoft Contact lenses. Always been really good service. Had an issue with a set and they sent a whole new supply, free of charge, arrived the next day.

Have to arrange my own eye tests which is not a problem.

[anonymous-user]

Craikeybaby said:

I've been getting contact lenses on a monthly direct debit scheme from one of the big high street opticians for about 15 years now. I was wondering if it was good value for money, especially as the service hasn't been great recently. Then yesterday I got a letter saying that they were going to put the price up by 20%, so I am looking at other alternatives.

I've seen online suppliers are much cheaper, but I would need to have check ups separately. What do other contact lens wearing PHers do?

I use to use a opticians which like yourself was a direct debit including a contact lense check on a yearly basis but online is so much cheaper.

The opticians need to make a living so you can understand why they charge more for this service.

Basically I order from the following company which have never let me down.

http://www.visiondirect.co.uk/

You get your eye test and a contact lense check on a yearly basis so just use a local opticians for this part.

I am sure the tests are free on a yearly basis so this should cost you nothing unless Scotland is different from the rest of the UK.

[Fozziebear]

I use these https://www.feelgoodcontacts.com always fast delivery

[Craikeybaby]

Thanks, I'll check those sites out.

[Fastpedeller]

Have used Asda successfully and also when I had my eye test in Tesco last time their price was the same or better than Asda so Tesco it was. I just use daily disposables.

[Calza]

DELETED: Comment made by a member who's account has been deleted.

Just checked - more expensive than Asda for me.

[Sargeant Orange]

ELUSIVEJIM said:

I use to use a opticians which like yourself was a direct debit including a contact lense check on a yearly basis but online is so much cheaper.

The opticians need to make a living so you can understand why they charge more for this service.

Basically I order from the following company which have never let me down.

http://www.visiondirect.co.uk/

You get your eye test and a contact lense check on a yearly basis so just use a local opticians for this part.

I am sure the tests are free on a yearly basis so this should cost you nothing unless Scotland is different from the rest of the UK.

I use visiondirect, same price as Asda (£34 for 3 months Air optix monthly for astigmatism) but delivered to the door. In fact I ordered some at 11pm once and they came at 9 the next morning.

Undecided on the next eye test/lens check though as Asda have gone crap recently & my local opticians are rubbish too. May try specsavers - are they happy to give you the prescription without buying lenses?

[anonymous-user]

Sargeant Orange said:

I use visiondirect, same price as Asda (£34 for 3 months Air optix monthly for astigmatism) but delivered to the door. In fact I ordered some at 11pm once and they came at 9 the next morning.

Undecided on the next eye test/lens check though as Asda have gone crap recently & my local opticians are rubbish too. May try specsavers - are they happy to give you the prescription without buying lenses?

Hi mate.

You can basically go to any opticians who will give you a eye test/contact lense check and give you the details of your prescription as normal.

Specsavers is who I have used the last few times and they were more thorough than an independent I had used before but obviously this all depends.

I have done this for the last 10 years and they will contact me when the next one is due without having to take anything through them.

Obviously they will try to sell you something but just state you are not interested.

They will still make money from the NHS or yourself for the test.

[Fastpedeller]

Sargeant Orange said:

I use visiondirect, same price as Asda (£34 for 3 months Air optix monthly for astigmatism) but delivered to the door. In fact I ordered some at 11pm once and they came at 9 the next morning.

Undecided on the next eye test/lens check though as Asda have gone crap recently & my local opticians are rubbish too. May try specsavers - are they happy to give you the prescription without buying lenses?

They are legally obliged to give you the prescription. A few years ago I had eye and contact lens test at local optician, and he "forgot" to put the make of the suggested lens on the prescription, and having then corrected that, he also left off the diameter! - when I presented it to him again, he asked "are you planning on getting the lenses somewhere else?" To which I replied "If you can get within 10% of the cost of them I will happily buy them from you" - He declined to even offer his price.

[Mr2Mike]

andyr30 said:

Get mine online from Daysoft Contact lenses. Always been really good service. Had an issue with a set and they sent a whole new supply, free of charge, arrived the next day.

Have to arrange my own eye tests which is not a problem.

I've been using the Daysoft Silk disposable lenses for several years. They were about a third of the price that Boots were charging me at the time, and they are more comfortable as well. Only good things to say about them to be honest.

Fozziebear said:

I use these https://www.feelgoodcontacts.com always fast delivery

DELETED: Comment made by a member who's account has been deleted.

Daysoft is quite a bit cheaper for my lenses; £5.99 per box vs £7.99.

Edited by Mr2Mike on Wednesday 11th January 21:28

[VolvoT5]

Fozziebear said:

I use these https://www.feelgoodcontacts.com always fast delivery

I use them as well, they are cheap direct from their website anyway but sometimes you can get an extra couple of pounds off by clicking through to their site via Google shopping search. For example Acuvue Daily are currently £14.40 direct on their website but they offer them at £12.20 by clicking through from Google.

Obviously you then have to factor in the cost of getting a yearly eye exam somewhere... unless you are cheeky enough to try and get a free test at one of the high street opticians knowing full well you aren't going to buy their product...

Daysoft are dirt cheap (almost too good to be true?) but I have never tried them as the last time I looked they don't do toric lenses for astigmatism.

[VolvoT5]

Fastpedeller said:

They are legally obliged to give you the prescription. A few years ago I had eye and contact lens test at local optician, and he "forgot" to put the make of the suggested lens on the prescription, and having then corrected that, he also left off the diameter! - when I presented it to him again, he asked "are you planning on getting the lenses somewhere else?" To which I replied "If you can get within 10% of the cost of them I will happily buy them from you" - He declined to even offer his price.

Yes, it is quite amazing how huffy they get. I started buying online when the price via my local optician was creeping up towards £45 a month... and it wasn't even as though they were offering a 'free' after care package as some of the bigger chains do.

[Mr2Mike]

VolvoT5 said:

Daysoft are dirt cheap (almost too good to be true?)

I was a bit dubious when I placed my first order but they are genuinely good. I used to used Accuvue daily lenses but they seemed to give me dry eyes and occasionally a lens would pop out when I blinked. The Daysoft silks are more comfortable and have never fallen out. Obviously not useful for you, but for normal (non-toric) lenses I can recommend them.

[Calza]

Mr2Mike said:

I was a bit dubious when I placed my first order but they are genuinely good. I used to used Accuvue daily lenses but they seemed to give me dry eyes and occasionally a lens would pop out when I blinked. The Daysoft silks are more comfortable and have never fallen out. Obviously not useful for you, but for normal (non-toric) lenses I can recommend them.

I tried them once and found them very uncomfortable. Real shame as they are so cheap!

[andy-xr]

Vision Direct for me as well, have tried other places but they were the same price or what I order (Focus Dailies).

I really like the Clariti 1 day lenses, they're a lot more comfortable, but they're also a lot more expensive

The Aura ADMs they have I also tried, and ended up ordering the FDocus ones within a couple of days, something about the Aura ones just made them feel like sand in my eye

[Craikeybaby]

This fell off my radar, but the high street chain that I use have stitched me up again, and were happily going to leave me without lenses for 2 weeks because they cannot fathom that if they 12 weeks worth of lenses 4 times a year it is not a full years worth. So I have had to order some spares from Feel Good Contacts - thanks for the recommendation above! Assuming that all works OK I will be cancelling the monthly scheme.

[OriginalFDM]

I get monthlies from Specsavers on the postal scheme. At £15 a month, plus heavily discounted glasses once a year, it never occurred to me to try and split it up between the eye test there and the lenses from elsewhere. Though I gather dailies are pretty expensive so I can definitely understand why people would do that.

[55palfers]

Costco.

Look out for offers - buy 90 days, get 30 days free