LensCrafters is now wholly owned by Luxottica, one of the biggest eyewear brands in the world, and sells many of the best online contact lenses you can buy. Its US retail chain has more than a thousand outlets offering automated eye exams that boast more detail and more convenience that those just taken by doctors.
LensCrafters is a massive general retailer of eye wear, including the best eyeglasses online, with a significant brick and mortar presence. It’s also dived into digital sales, and is one of the biggest names in internet optometry. The contact lens portion of the LensCrafters site definitely doesn’t feel like it has its entire focus, but neither does it feel like an afterthought. Prices are not the lowest, but they’re not expensive by any means.
The high-tech, in store eye exams are a big selling point, and they’re really impressive. The range is good, if not exhaustive, and LensCrafters works with many of the best vision insurance companies and has an excellent page on which contacts qualify for rebates. The added value is the eyecare and prescription renewal it offers in over 1050 US stores.
Lenscrafters Contact Lens review: Prices and offers
Prices are fine, but nothing you’d feel the need to call your friends about. While the site doesn't offer the huge discounts of the likes of AC Lens and Discount Contact Lenses, it isn't excessively expensive either. There are few coupon deals to be had with Lenscrafters, but you will find plenty of limited time offers on the website, especially if you're looking to combine a contacts and eyeglasses order in one go.
Lenscrafters Contact Lens review: Features and website
It might be that Lenscrafters has so many irons in the fire, but the Contact Lens tab at the top of the general eyewear site says it all. It’s a section of a much bigger business, and doesn’t feel like it’s had the love and attention lavished on it that you might find on other sites. There are no online tricks and you’re responsible for providing your own accurate prescription info. It’s not exactly bare-bones, but it’s not voluptuous lovely either.
Apart from its world-dominating scale, Lenscrafters’ big draw is its network of well-appointed bricks and mortar optometrists, spread evenly across the US (and indeed further, if you happen to find yourself in need of an eye exam in Hong Kong). There’s a significant investment in US eye health that lends a credibility and a solidity to Lenscrafters’ business. The customer service and the stores generally have a really good reputation, and if you find one near you, it might be worth a visit.
Lenscrafters has a proprietary technology only found in the stores. It’s called Clarifeye and is exactly the sort of robot doctor we were promised by the Jetsons in our dim and distant youth. It’s operated in tandem with qualified doctors and technicians, and claims it captures up to five times more medical data than a human-only procedure, in a fraction of the time. Whether this translates into better contact lens prescriptions is anyone’s guess, but where health is concerned, the more information the better.
LensCrafters is obviously very much a part of the eyecare establishment, and it’s clear that getting your order to you, and keeping your business is important to the company. It is very upfront about funding your contact purchase with insurance, and have a uniquely simple form which is very easy to find and use. The company also has the most complete list of rebates available on brands and styles, and links to the relevant site are well signposted. This doesn’t take all of the hassle out of the rebate system, but it’s refreshing to see someone making the effort.
Despite some attention to detail, and a unique place at the heart of the eyecare world, LensCrafters’ contact lens site doesn’t feel like it has anything extra to offer over other sites. The range is on the slim side, functional but not extraordinary, and you'll find loads more eye care products at our top pick: 1800 Contacts.
The site is designed nicely, but unless you’re seduced by the idea of the handsome and enigmatic robot doctor, there’s not a lot to tempt you away from sites like Web Eye Care with better features or lower prices.
Should you buy from Lenscrafters?
Lenscrafters has added a fairly well-featured contacts store onto the side of its bigger, more established and developed glasses site. If you’re shopping there already, or you’re a Lenscrafters customer for eye exams, it might be convenient to stay within the same ecosystem for all you eye care.
But while there’s nothing wrong with anything that Lencrafters are selling, there’s no single point of distinction with their contact lens offerings. Prices are OK, the range is OK, there’s no subscription option. Unless you’ve got a reason to shop with Lenscrafters, you might want to check around for the best deal elsewhere.
