Digital And Freeform difference

[JC1111]

Ive found that the majority of practices do not know the difference between Free-Form and Digital. There is a lab in my area that has taken a conventional lens digitally surfaced them and are raving about it being digital!!! They have raised the price and selling it as digital to offices that don't know much about the market. Its still a conventional mold, the lens is just surfaced differently. I can take an old school image, become a used car salesman put it on the digital generator, raise the price and tell you its a digital lens. Does anyone have any good information website, articles, ect that explain the difference between the two, in which someone with no or little understanding could comprehend??? Thank you!

Joe Colton
www.acculab.net

[Golfnorth]

[QUOTE=JC1111;451537]Ive found that the majority of practices do not know the difference between Free-Form and Digital. There is a lab in my area that has taken a conventional lens digitally surfaced them and are raving about it being digital!!! They have raised the price and selling it as digital to offices that don't know much about the market. Its still a conventional mold, the lens is just surfaced differently. I can take an old school image, become a used car salesman put it on the digital generator, raise the price and tell you its a digital lens. Does anyone have any good information website, articles, ect that explain the difference between the two, in which someone with no or little understanding could comprehend??? Thank you!

If you do a search on Optiboard I'm sure you will come up with lots of information as I know we've posted about this in the past.

Regards,
Golfnorth

[sharpstick777]

There is a thread in the "Progressive Forum" right now that addresses this subject well.

[Fezz]

Joe,

I am sure that if you worked at it, you could come up with a well written article yourself!

[JC1111]

Im sure I could come up with something however it all comes down marketing.If Essilor says it has to be true!!! lol

Joe,

I am sure that if you worked at it, you could come up with a well written article yourself!

[optical24/7]

Joe, if their digital surfacing includes aspheric/atoric comp's, it is better than traditional surfacing. (at least they aren't saying it's freeform)

[JC1111]

Thanks for the info, They are telling the customers that they are comparable to our free-form lenses.

Joe, if their digital surfacing includes aspheric/atoric comp's, it is better than traditional surfacing. (at least they aren't saying it's freeform)

[Jubilee]

In the Pro's forum we were discussing in the Costco thread about how a digitally surfaced, semi-finished blank usually only comps the distance, and does not enhance the progressive corridor in the back. The reason being, when the corridor is altered back side, problems can develop. Corridors aren't optimally aligned, and other factors can begin to affect the performance.

Don't be afraid to stand up for your product. By explaining what the differences are, and using the help of materials such as the White Paper by our own Darryl Meister, it will show your expertise in the area.

[MakeOptics]

Ive found that the majority of practices do not know the difference between Free-Form and Digital. There is a lab in my area that has taken a conventional lens digitally surfaced them and are raving about it being digital!!! They have raised the price and selling it as digital to offices that don't know much about the market. Its still a conventional mold, the lens is just surfaced differently. I can take an old school image, become a used car salesman put it on the digital generator, raise the price and tell you its a digital lens. Does anyone have any good information website, articles, ect that explain the difference between the two, in which someone with no or little understanding could comprehend??? Thank you!

Joe Colton
www.acculab.net

As the sales guy shouldn't you know the answer to your question. I keep it simple digitally surfacing a molded pal is going to improve the prescriptions performance but a free form should improve both the prescription and the design based on the prescription. The molded design is set in stone and can only be slightly improved but the free form can be designed to perform optimally based on many different parameters.

[RT]

They are telling the customers that they are comparable to our free-form lenses.

Do you have any large scale patient wearer trials to back up YOUR claims of superiority?