We are about to invest in an edger and I was wondering where people recommend purchasing lenses from. I assume there are advantages and disadvantages of going through a lab, a distributor, or directly from the manufacturer. What do you fine folks recommend and why?
I have nothing but good things to say about Nassau. We paid a little more than we would've with some of their competitors but I never received a defective lens from them in three years of ordering. If your office is pushing HEV lenses they also have a nifty, inexpensive in-house blue blocking lens that comes in poly. The residual color is pretty bold but it's an inexpensive alternative that lets your patients get the benefits of a blue blocking lens without the cost. You can differentiate yourself on the cheap and still turn a nice profit.
On the same note, I'd stay away from Hoya.
You may also want to check and see if there are any small, regional labs that you might get a good deal with. We'd occasionally get some PAL and poly BF lenses from Omni outside of Houston, and, for what we used them for, they were good.
Here is some history ...............
Originally Posted by Browman
Here is some history ...............
June 02, 2003 12:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time
CHARENTON-LE-PONT, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 2, 2003--Essilor of America, Essilor's subsidiary in the United States, has announced the acquisition of Nassau Lens Company, the country's number one direct distributor of stock lenses to eye care professionals.
Headquartered in New Jersey, Nassau operates throughout the United States with 12 locations and 400 employees. It reported sales of $62 million in 2002.
Hoya is way over priced and all of their lenses are mostly coming from Thailand now with long delivery times.
I would suggest you try LenSync for your lens ordering and edger control; I did start the company and am partial but we use for our store so we know it works. What edger are you getting and why? If you are interested in talking please feel free to send me a message.
Craig
I've had a few issues with nova so I only use Nassau when it's eyemed. Otherwise, go stock lenses from cherry seems to have a good selection.
lenses are mostly coming from Thailand ....................
Most lens brands are made in Thailand these days, they do 22% of all lenses sold world wide.
See at : ==============>
http://www.thaiwebsites.com/opticallenses.asp
for SV stock, Nassau
If you don't mind dealing with Essilor go with Nassau. If you want to deal with an independent family owned business go to my web sight www.superoptical.com or send me an e-mail don@superoptical.com.
Hoya's also take longer to reach the states than competitors'; are scratched or out of tolerance just about half the time; and it takes forever to get the job restarted and onto patients' faces. I've seen conventionally surfaced poly PALs with no AR or transitions take a month to get to my patients because they kept coming in from Thailand fudged up.
I used to swear by Hoya and convinced my OD to start using them almost exclusively; at one point our jobs were probably about 90% Hoya. But they burned me too severely and far too unapologetically for me to ever endorse them again, barring a tremendous shakeup at the corporate level. Our rep(s) were awesome, but I realized there was only so much they could do for us before it became a higher-level issue. And the higher level was only too happy to offer false promises they never delivered on while continuing to present themselves as "the good guys" riding in on white stallions to save us from teh ebilz of Essilor. I recognize that not every OD or dispensary necessarily has a choice to do business with their conscience, and I respect that; but I can say this much at least for Essilor: When we worked with them, they never pretended to be doing anything more than conducting business with us, and never pretended to be anything more than a business. At the end of the day, that means something to me. I'd rather work with a company who's being honest about who they are and what they do than one that extends an olive branch while jamming a knife in my back. Doing business with them cost money, cost patients, and cost the respect of our community; at the end of the day, you can't put a price on any of that, and it does not good not to do business with the Big E if someone else has driven your business away in the first place; all the while trying to make us feel like the bad guy.
End rant.
Last edited by Browman; 11-11-2016 at 01:19 PM.
Hoya's quality is superb when they actually get it right. Too many hiccups and issues with availability and warranties. All is true about the slow time frame- you'd think with twice as much time they could get the order right on the first try. They do have a 'fast' lab now called Sight Overnight that have been producing surprisingly good results. You get the job within 24 hours as long as the order is in by 1pm. It's a new lab so we are still in the honeymoon phase.
We are new to Cherry Optical but everything is good so far. They carry just about everything (including Essilor and Hoya products) so you can get both high-end and value products from one venue.
If you are wanting an opinion for stock only- I order from the individual manufacturers. Younger is fantastic. Seiko and Vision Ease (now owned by Hoya) are good as well. It all depends on what you need.
Have I told you today how much I hate poly?
Was still doing business with Hoya when they took over Seiko. I am not optimistic about the future of that name in re: the quality of their lenses.
Same here. For the small difference in price, I'm making an effort if they want/really need 1.74 to tell clients to go with the Zeiss Individual over the Seiko "Double-Aspheric" MV after they were bought out since I think the change in quality is an inevitability, and I don't want to have to deal with that.
What about your present lab?
You'd save on shipping if they just threw in the uncuts in same box.
We offer FREE shipping on orders of $75.00 and discounts of 25% on our piggy back program.
Hey thanks, I keep hearing good things about Nasau and bad about Hoya. But isn't Nassau owned by Essilor? I think that could give our owner a heart-attack.
We are considering using ABB since we already get free shipping from them and their customer service has always been great. Thanks for the idea.
ABB - Optical Distributors Group
We also use ABB. And I've been pleased with Cherry.
I'm Andrew Hamm and I approve this message.
I think that could give our owner a heart-attack..........................
Nassau has been around forever, owned an run by Mike Pildes, until Essilor purchased it as one of the first large companies in America.
Essilor has always produced top quality products. There is nothing wrong with that.
Keep a some Nitro Spray handy when you tell your owner.
On the topic of lens blanks, where I work, we carry aspheric poly lens blanks with Avance in stock. Recently, due one of the opticians accidentally ordered aspheric poly lenses with Avance for the wrong patient. The head optician says we can't put those lenses into our stock, because the -6.25 -.75 lens blank that was cut for a patient is somehow different than the -6.25 -.75 lens we have in stock because it "was ground for that patient". I think she's wrong, that in the same material, same coating, a lens blank is a lens blank. Am I right or wrong?
The lab generated lens is decentered based on supplied PD, OC, and frame dimensions, and cyl axis, meaning the OC is not in the center of the lens like it is on FSV. If there is a lot of decentration that could be problematic using it as stock, especially is axes are very different, but you can find that out just by marking the OC and seeing how off it is. Wouldn't hurt to keep it handy, just clearly mark it so anyone knows to inspect the cut out very carefully.
somo lenses from opticalproducts.com great warrantis and coatings
I am interested in this topic, and given the current new leader your country has, and the one our country acquired............this topic may be important in the coming times.
Fasten your seatbelt?
Eyes wide open
GoStock.com has been my source. Top of the line S.V. lenses to the cheaper Somo products. Virtually all materials, and with or without A/R coating.
The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
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