Cheapest place to buy contact lenses?

Has anyone used Alensa? Looks to be about €1 cheaper per lens for me - not a huge difference, but every little helps:

https://www.alensa.ie/information/about-us.html

Thought i'd post my experience with daily contact lenses for astigmatism, it might help some here, though not sure it will translate to normal lenses. At least, I would have appreciated a post like this when i started using contacts anyway. Been wearing contacts around 6 or 7 years, when i first tried them my optician gave me a couple different brands to try out with sample boxes, I ended up choosing the brand that I found easiest to put in, but a few years later I realised that was a mistake. So I've tried a fair few by now

Focus Dailies:
The cheapest brand I tried.
Good: No complications putting them in. They hold their shape rigidly when you scoop them out so they're very simple overall and very easy to pop in.
Bad: As I said, you can feel them on your finger before you pop them in, so when you have your contacts in you are nearly always aware of them - you feel them on your eye.
Price: I think this brand may have been discontinued.

Dailies Aquacomfortplus Toric
Used this brand for about 3 years. They're absolutely grand if you're outdoors but indoors, especially say in a pub or looking at a screen indoors they can become quite bleary and annoying, especially when they've been in for a few hours.
Good: Very similar to Focus Dailies, they're very straightforward and easy to pop in. Fine for outdoors. Good if you're new to contacts.
Bad: Like Focus Dailies, it feels at all times (especially indoors) that you have a bit of plastic on your eyes. A big relief when you remove them at the end of the day
Price: I search around a lot and never paid more than €21/22 for 30. You should probably get them for €21 or better. Shop around and you'll get them for 20 / sub 20


Acuvue Moist for Astigmatism:
I got a sample box of these from the optician when I first started trying contacts but I didn't think much of them then because between 5 lenses for each eye I only managed to get about 3 pairs in - they are definitely trickier to pop in and frustrating if you're new to contacts. Luckily I bought 2 boxes to try them again a few years ago and they soon became my go-to. The fact that they're so light and thin means you don't feel them in your eyes as much and you're less aware of them.
Good: Very light. Great for outdoors. Not too expensive
Bad: More difficult to put in. Still a little bleary with indoors settings, but not too bad.
Price: The last batch I ordered I think was €20.10/€20.20 for 30 from feelgoodcontacts.ie So they're the same price as Aquacomfort but IMO far superior.


Acuvue Oasys 1 day for Astrigmatism:
While ordering a recent batch of Moists, I decided to order a box each of Oasys to try them out. Very happy with them I have to say. The best way I can put it is... I find Oasys just as good upgrading from Moist, as I did when upgrading from Aquacomfort to Moist. They still aren't perfect but they're only contact lens i've had where I'll actually forget i'm wearing them, particularly indoors in like a pub or tv/computer screen situation. Another thing I found, in the years i've worn Aquacomfort and Moist, i'd find my eyes getting dry and irritated after a few hours in, so I would keep eyedrops on me to pop in every now and then... with Oasys i haven't had that need. Apparently Moist lenses have a higher water content while Oasys have a design that allows air to permeate the contact... so in essence your eye can breathe so-to-say.
Good: Light. Great for outdoor, good for indoor setting. Much less aware that you are wearing contacts.
Bad: Like Moist, they're very light and as such aren't easy to pop in, so they would be frustrating for people using contacts for the first time. Price.
Price: The big drawback here. Cheapest I could find was about €24.50 per 30 box on lenstore.co.uk. Added to that, a lot of sites don't seem to sell the daily oasys for whatever reason, even though they sell the monthlies. It's significantly more expensive than other brands, but if you only wear contacts once or twice a week as in my case, i think it's worth it.

Parting nuggets:
- Once you know your contacts prescription, don't order them through your optician, they'll nearly always be more expensive this way.
- Shop around. And even if you have a go-to website that you trust, don't just re-order blindly. For instance, on lenstore I found the lenses i wanted listed at a certain price, yet when I googled the same brand, lenstore popped up on the results listing it at a few € cheaper for the exact same thing. When I clicked to the site it read "cheaper for this visit only!" which is nonsense it's a constant thing as I checked it again several days later.
- Alensa site seems incredibly expensive. Like 50% more cost in some cases compared to similar sites.
- eu eyewear seem to have quite low prices, especially if you're ordering 90 per eye. Haven't used the site myself so I don't know how reliable it is. Maybe someone else here can be the guinea-pig

Cheers

Has anyone purchase from welovelenses before? I did two weeks ago, they have still not arrived, I normally ordered from vision direct and have never had to wait this long. They said I need to wait 20 working days before they will refund me.

uli84 wrote: »

I know it says on daysoft website that the delivery takes 7 days or so, anyone got them quicker by any chance? Thx

I've gotten them quicker in the past, but my last order took 13 business days (over 2 weeks) which was a pain. They resent another package on day 12 which is pretty fair, but I was stuck for contacts I was depending on coming for a wedding that didn't arrive on time. On the plus side, the originals arrived too so now I've 2 months worth.

Africa

10% off for Lenstore. PM me for code

Ahem I meant to say a saving of about a fiver. Not half price - don't know where that came from....

Massive hike in price now with daysoft since brexit. I’ve been ordering off them for 8 years now. Probably my last order.

Has anyone gotten any deliveries from Vision Direct since Brexit? Any charges or fees resulting?

Here's what their online chat says;

If you place an order on visiondirect.ie and your order is delivered by default with Fastway, in which case there are no additional charges due to Brexit. If you however place the order and you ask us to deliver it with DHL, local taxes and custom taxes will apply according to the order value

Yeah it's pretty shocking. I've been ordering with them since 2013 so looks like I'll be switching provider. Shame as I never had any issue with their service or lenses.

Bandito909 wrote: »

Any suggestions on who to go with now?

Check comparelenses.ie

Order through WeLoveLenses to avoid duty as they come from EU

I buy with Vision express.

A trick is to login. You can see the prices on the site - For example 14.99 for a pack of lenses.
Open another tab and google the same lenses and you should see the prices on the shop part on top of the search.

You should see the same lenses advertised by Vision express for a discounted price - for example 12.99. Click on the link and it will open with you still logged in but able to buy at the lower price.

Mimon wrote: »

Thanks. Are they decent lenses?

I find them great for shorter periods...

I wear them playing sports, and when out with friends, pub, playing pool, etc...

I find they "dry out" far quicker that the J&J Acuvue Moist that I used to wear.

But, for me - they suit grand.