Category: 
| Written by Jono Cono For the past few months my eyes have felt stressed and tired. It’s been years since I went for an eye exam and realized I was due for another. I don’t have an eye doctor here in Ottawa so I called around to a few places in Kanata to get some prices on eye exams. The first place I called was the Kanata Optometry Centre. Their price seemed excessively high at $130 per eye exam. After I called around to a few other places I found that the average price for an eye exam is $70, much more reasonable then $130.
As it turns out my prescription has changed over the years although only slightly as far as distance is concerned. It was now time for shopping for frames and lenses. I shopped around at all the bigger opticians such as Lenscrafters, Hakim Optical, Laurier Optical, Opticians in big box stores etc. In the end I found the frames I liked at Kanata Opticians which is odd considering they’re tiny compared to places like Hakim Optical among others. Another irony is that last summer I had gone shopping for frames and had my sights set on the exact same pair at Kanata Opticians but never got around to buying them. Almost a year later I can find no other frames that I like better at other opticians.
The frames I like are Columbia frames made by the famous Columbia sportswear company. That’s probably an inaccurate statement as they probably only have the Columbia name on them and were made by some other company. At any rate the entire frame is Titanium and they’re extremely light and comfortable. Currently with the frames being 40% off they’re a good deal, even though, purchasing prescription eyewear can be quite expensive.
At Kanata Opticians the prices break down as follows for lenses: A basic lenses for single sight is $60. Anti glare with Anti scratch coating is $80. Easy clean smudge free coating is $20. Transitions lenses are $120. If you get everything you’re looking at $280 just for lenses. It sounds like a lot but then we only have one pair of eyes.
Previously I had purchased a separate pair of prescription sunglasses but tired of carrying around a second pair for when I needed them and switching back and forth. Since Transition lenses technology has grown over the past decade I decided this time around to get them. $120 is less expensive then an additional pair of glasses not to mention much more convenient.
As recommended by the staff at Kanata Opticians I opted on the grey tint for the Transition Lenses instead of the brown which I was originally inclined to get. Apparently the brown tint does not get sufficiently dark enough and takes longer to change to dark and back to clear. I would presume it has something to do with the chemical composition that makes the tint brown. As years go by I’m sure they will find a way to make the brown tint operate the same as the grey. The lenses I ordered will be made in a lab that uses Transitions Optical Inc. technology. I should have my new glasses in less then a week.
The staff at Kanata Opticians are all very friendly and knowledgeable about their products. They were able to answer all my questions even those regarding lens composition and whose technology they were using.
