Marianne Schultz

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Review: Buying eyeglasses from EyeBuyDirect.com

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Image courtesy of EyeBuyDirect.com

Image courtesy of EyeBuyDirect.com

I recently had eye surgery (a scleral buckle to fix a detached retina <– that video is not of my surgery and is NOT for the faint of heart) and now need glasses since the vision in that eye has changed. It’s been more than a decade since I’ve needed glasses thanks to Lasik and I was dreading doing what I’d always done before – going to a local optometrist and paying a few hundred dollars for a pair of glasses that I’d be terrified of breaking or losing, and out of style in a year. But, wait – I have the Internet now! If I can order toilet paper online, I should be able to get glasses online for less, right?

I searched for the best online stores for prescription glasses and came across several. Looking at EyeBuyDirect, I liked a lot of the frames I saw there. And their pricing was unbelievably low. Like $6 for a pair of glasses including basic single-vision prescription lenses low. I was worried that this was too good to be true, but from what I could tell, it was a legit site with a facility in Austin, Texas, so I took a gamble and ordered two pairs for a grand total of $57.71. I didn’t really need two pairs but I was a little giddy from the idea that I could get two pairs for hundreds less than I was thinking I’d have to pay for just one.

They arrived in the nick of time before I left for a vacation to Hawaii (and I’m incredibly grateful that I was able to see Hawaii’s beauty even better with them). Aside from an issue with my prescription itself (which EyeBuyDirect had nothing to do with), they were fantastic! I ordered the Sydney frames (shown on the model in the picture in this post) as my main pair and the Milo as my back-up. The Sydney is my favorite and I’ll be ordering another pair with my updated prescription. I’ve also since ordered the Robbie frame with my updated prescription, which cost just over $16.

I purchased clear single-vision lenses and they also offer reading multifocal lenses, along with additional lens options like digital screen protection, tinted lenses to turn any pair of frames into sunglasses, and light-adjusting lenses. You can also add on UV protective, anti-scratch, and anti-reflective coatings. The basic lenses I’ve ordered so far from them come with anti-scratch and anti-reflective coatings.

The hardest part of ordering glasses online is knowing which frames will fit and look good on you. EyeBuyDirect and other online eyeglass stores offer a virtual try-on feature. But I cheated a bit and went to a local LensCrafters and tried on several pairs and noted the frame styles and measurements I liked and purchased similar ones at EyeBuyDirect.

I definitely recommend EyeBuyDirect. The links to them in this article are referral links and will get you $10 off your first purchase there (and I’ll get $10 off my next purchase). I earn no other compensation from them and I wrote this on my own initiative. I’ve just been incredibly happy with my glasses from them and since I’d seen in my own search that independent reviews of them are not plentiful online, I wanted to share my experience to help others.

Earlier today, I ordered another pair from EyeBuyDirect (I’m predicting that having such easy access to stylish yet inexpensive glasses is going to be trouble for my wallet), this time with light-adjusting (photochromic) lenses for the summer. I expect those to be fabulous as well and will update this post if they’re not somehow.

If you have any questions about my experiences with EyeBuyDirect, please feel free to comment on this post and I’ll do my best to answer.

It’s alive (still)!

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Since my iPhone 5 arrived, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the Lightning to 30-pin adapter that Apple announced on the same day it revealed the iPhone 5. My most pressing need for this adapter was for my car where my iPhone is essentially the center of my audio entertainment and navigation system. And I was worried that the new Lightning connector was going to blow it all to hell.

I have a fairly old-school (at this point) official factory iPod kit in my car that was originally meant to be used with plain old iPods. I was thrilled and surprised when it worked perfectly with the first-generation iPhone in 2007 and it has worked with every iPhone since then. I even kluged together a revised connection system to go with a dashboard holder a couple of years ago, which has been absolutely fantastic for my needs.

Apple had published little information about the Lightning to 30-pin adapter and it seemed very possible that it wouldn’t work with my existing system. But it was worth a try first before I scrapped my entire set-up and invested in a new kit that would be able to route all audio from the iPhone 5 through my car stereo system directly (my car has Bluetooth but lacks the A2DP profile for music, and I’d rather have a wired line out connection for music anyway).

My adapter arrived yesterday and after waiting several agonizing hours for my husband to get home (I’d forgotten he’d taken my car to work that day) I tested it out. And it works!

My set-up is a little bit more Frankensteinish with the addition of the adapter, particularly since it’s white and stands out so much against the black dashboard. But it works and frankly, I don’t give damn at the moment (though I will happily buy a black version if anyone makes one in the future).

Also, I can’t wait for an untethered jailbreak to come out so I can get rid of the “Accessory Connected” screen when connected to my car.

I did test the adapter with a few other accessories including an old Apple Hi-Fi speaker system and an iHome IP9 clock radio. It works with both but does not charge the iPhone 5 through the Hi-Fi.

The adapter fits flush with the bottom of the iPhone 5, so if you have a case that doesn’t have a wide opening on the bottom, it probably won’t work with it. It works with a flexible generic $5 silicone case I purchased through eBay but doesn’t work with a bumper case I bought through Amazon.

Thinking about getting the Lightning to 30-pin adapter? Feel free to ask any questions about it in the comments.

Review: MacBracket lock bracket for Apple’s MacBook Air

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If you own a MacBook Air, you’ve probably noticed that it’s missing something that almost every other laptop in Apple’s line-up (and those from other manufacturers as well) does have: a Kensington lock slot. So if you need to lock up your MacBook Air to secure it at a coffee shop, at university, or anywhere else, you’re out of luck. Fortunately, MacBracket is here to save you and your MacBook Air.

The MacBracket is a metal bracket that slides into your MacBook Air’s hinge and has a Kensington lock slot on one end so you can attach a lock to it to secure it to a desk. The MacBracket is made of a high-quality alloy by a company in Germany. It retails for €19.90 (about US$26) plus shipping and can be purchased directly from MacBracket’s site or through the German or UK Amazon stores. It’s available in two versions – one for the older 2008 and 2009 MacBook Air models and another for the models made in 2010 through the present. The version I have is the latter to work with my mid-2011 11-inch MacBook Air.

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everythingiCafe: the show “Waste”

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everythingiCafe: the showI have been really behind on posting about our new podcast episodes (but if you subscribe to our podcast in iTunes or through an excellent app like Downcast, you’ll always get the latest episode automatically – hint, hint) but better late than never. Especially for episode 70 where Chris and I talk about our first impressions of the bigger, faster, and stronger iPhone 5.

We recorded this episode on release day – Chris got his iPhone 5 from a local Apple Store and mine was delivered by my wonderful UPS guy at 9:06 am that morning (after I did many neurotic things waiting for him to get here).

We’ll be recording another episode very soon with more of our impressions of iOS 6 and the iPhone 5 now that we’ve had them for several days now along with the latest iPhone and iPad news and rumors.

An excellent screen protector for the iPhone 5

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I can’t stand fingerprints on my iPhone’s screen and even though Apple claims it has an oleophobic coating, it still racks up more marks from regular use than I care to shake a stick at. For my iPhone 4S, I had the SGP Ultra Fine anti-glare screen protector and loved it. For my new iPhone 5, I went with the SGP Ultra Oleophobic version since it was available to order shortly after the iPhone 5 was officially announced.

The screen protector came in the mail today and I installed it within minutes of its arrival. So far, it’s absolutely great at rejecting fingerprints much more than the iPhone 5’s naked screen and I expect it to work just as well in the long run given my experience over the years with SGP’s screen protector products. If you are looking for a crystal clear fingerprint-resistant screen protector, you can order this SGP one through Amazon. It (you actually get two in the package) costs just $13.99 and is Amazon Prime eligible so you can get free 2-day shipping if you’re a Prime member.