2024 Review of Liingo Eyewear (and 25% discount): How Do They Compare with Warby Parker?

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In this review, I explore my (very good) experience with Liingo Eyewear and blue-light blocking prescription glasses. Find out how to get a coupon for 25% off your Liingo Eyewear purchase, and why I think they’re a great alternative to Warby Parker for prescription eyeglasses, especially while working from home.

After multiple months of COVID19-induced working from home, I found myself thankful for many simple items around my house, which serve as small comforts.

High on that list is my pair of blue light blocking glasses from Liingo Eyewear. I’ve enjoyed getting to know the Utah-based startup brand, testing out Liingo’s home try on kit and wearing their Murray frames with blue light prescription lenses.

Note that Liingo no longer provides a home try on kit like Warby Parker. Instead, Liingo has transitioned to an excellent virtual try on experience, along with free shipping and returns so you can try out your glasses with prescription lenses already installed.

Disclosure: Liingo provided a pair of eyeglasses to me at no cost.

Exclusive coupon code for 25% off Liingo Eyewear

First thing’s first: Get a discount of 25% off Liingo Eyewear with this link and code MODERNFELLOWS.

But keep reading to find out how Liingo Eyewear stacks up to Warby Parker, Zenni Optical and Eyebuydirect.

About Liingo Eyewear

Entrepreneurs Amy Larson, Brandon Adams, Douglas Harris and Peder Singleton launched startup Liingo Eyewear in Draper, Utah in 2016.

Their journey began with Peder’s shock at paying nearly $400 for a pair of prescription glasses that he didn’t even really like.

Liingo is focused on enabling customers to “tell their stories” through glasses:

Glasses should serve as an outward expression of personality: an extension of style. Visual language. A voice. We want to help people tell their stories through eyewear.

According to their FAQ, the founders decided to spell Liingo with two “i’s” because:

“Lingo” (with one “i”) is the way you express yourself with words. “Liingo” is the way you express yourself with two eyes (or, two “ii”s).

While their mission continues, their ownership structure changed in in January 2018, when the entrepreneurs sold Liingo to 1-800-Contacts, another Utah-based business.

Reviewing Liingo’s Home Try-On Program

The thing that first attracted me to Liingo was their home try on program.

Like Warby Parker, Liingo will deliver eyeglass frames of your choice straight to your home to see which ones you like best. Liingo is one of more than a dozen companies that offers a home-try on program for glasses similar to Warby Parker.

I tried Liingo’s home-try on program for myself, and from that try-on kit chose to have lenses installed in one pair.

Here’s how Lingo’s home try-on program works:

  1. First select 5 frames to try at home.
  2. Enter your shipping address.
  3. Enter your credit card information. (Liingo Eyewear requires credit or debit card details even though the trial is free. They promise that, “you won’t be charged unless you don’t return the frames.”)
  4. Once you receive your kit, you have 5 days to Explore the frames and send back the box.

Overall, I found that ordering Liingo’s try-at-home kit was straightforward, easy, and hiccup-free.

In particular, they designed the home try on kit box to be extremely easy to seal back up and return.

Assessing Liingo Eyewear’s selection of frames and user experience 

Scrolling through the selections, my first impression was that Liingo’s glasses are attractive and occasionally unique, though they rely heavily on black, dark brown and tortoise shades. There aren’t very many pops of color among Liingo’s frames.

When initially choosing frames, there are some filters that can help narrow down the choices. However, those filters are limited to just basic frame sizes, colors and collection.

For example, Liingo lets you filter by “small,” “medium,” and “large” frame sizes, though that’s a lot less granular than other websites.

Some competitors like Zenni Optical allow customers to filter by very specific dimensions of frame height and width and arm length. That granularity is extremely useful to narrow down the universe of glasses that fit.

That said, Liingo shines with a virtual try on option that uses your computer’s camera and a pretty nifty “find my fit” tool that utilizes the dimensions of a pair of glasses you own already to uncover glasses of similar sizes on its site.

You can also filter by the color of the frames and by glasses that Liingo categorizes as appropriate for the shape of your face (round, oval, heart or square).

There is also a filter for “frames available for in-home try-on,” which is useful since not all of their offerings are available for their test kits.

First impressions: Receiving Liingo Eyewear’s Home Try on Kit

For my home try on kit, I selected five frames: Maddox in Matte Bugundy, Maddox Small in Tortoise, Moab in Eggplant, Murray in Tortoise Slate and Payson.

All of the frames struck that right balance for me of feeling sturdy and well designed without being heavy. 

(I find some glasses, including a pair I own from Warby Parker, tend to feel heavy on my face while other, inexpensive ones from the likes of Zenni and Eyebuydirect can be amazingly lightweight but feel a bit less sturdy. Though, if affordability is your top priority, see my separate guide to where to find the cheapest prescription glasses online.)

All of those frames looked good as well. I was particularly struck by the sharp Matte Grey Horn design of the Payson, as well as the light-slate tone that graced the underside of the tortoise Murray.

Ultimately, I found Liingo Eyewear’s Murray glasses to be a perfect combination of fit and style for me.

How much do Liingo Eyewear’s glasses cost?

  • Liingo Eyewear’s frames including single-vision lenses start at $79.
  • Progressive multifocal lenses cost an additional $149.
  • Liingo Eyewear offers a lens upgrade for $59 to “Bluelight + DuraSeal HD” for filtering blue light and reducing glare.

How to order glasses from Liingo Eyewear

Once you’re ready to purchase glasses, Liingo Eyewear’s website is clean and easy-to-navigate, making ordering super-straightforward.

  1. Identify frames that you like. If you have ordered a home try-on kit, you can choose to add frames from that kit directly into your shopping cart, even while you are still in possession of that try on kit.
  2. Once you have selected your frames, choose your lens type. Liingo Eyewear offers single-vision lenses in thin, light and impact-resistant premium polycaronate for free, while progressive/multifocal lenses cost $149. You can also choose to upgrade to 30% thinner lenses with anti-scratch and anti-glare features.
  3. Proceed to the checkout process, where you can select coatings for your lenses. Liingo Eyewear offers a $59 dollar lens upgrade to “Bluelight + DuraSeal HD” for filtering blue light and reducing glare.
  4. Enter your shipping and payment details and complete the order. Looking for an opportunity for enter your prescription details? So was I. Enter your details and complete the order first.
  5. Enter your prescription information after checking out. This was confusing for me. Most online eyeglass retailers will ask a customer to input his or her prescription prior to checking out. Instead, immediately after checkout, Liingo Eyewear provides instructions on how to submit your prescription information. They were also able to accommodate an astigmatism correction via email.

After sending back my home try-on kit, I went back online and logged into my account. Once in my account, Liingo made it easy for me to choose one or more of the frames from my home try-on kit to purchase.

I decided to add Liingo Eyewear’s combination Bluelight plus DuraSeal HD lenses to my Murray glasses.

As I wrote in a separate overview of blue light glasses, I decided to try out blue light blocking glasses even though the science isn’t conclusive:

At the end of each day, my eyes are bleary, and I’m taking every step I can to minimize eye strain.

I placed the order, and my glasses arrived at my house a remarkably-quick seven days later via DHL shipping with my prescription intact.

How to submit your prescription to Liingo Eyewear

One additional note, since it’s a little confusing: Once you have proceeded all the way through the checkout process, you can provide your prescription to Liingo Eyewear one of three ways:

  1. Send a photo of your eyeglasses prescription to Liingo Eyewear via email or text.
  2. Enter your prescription by filling the numbers in yourself into a form Liingo provides immediately after checkout. (You can also access this form via your online profile on Liingo’s website.)
  3. Use Liingo’s app to scan your glasses.

Reviewing my Liingo Eyewear glasses

My verdict?

I absolutely adore my eyeglasses from Liingo Eyewear.  I love the way they look on my face. They’re lightweight. They include blue light and glare blockers.

And they were exactly what I was looking for to help my tired eyes that have been looking at the computer for too long as I’m working from home.

Alongside its home try on program, Liingo Eyewear also offers free shipping, returns and exchanges on all of its prescription glasses and sunglasses.

That generous shipping and return policy gives additional assurance to new customers. I have been nothing but pleased with Liingo’s customer service, quality of frames, and website functionality.

Alternatives to Liingo Eyewear

I really like my Liingo Eyewear glasses, but there are other alternatives for prescription eyewear out there as well.

There are a number of other online eyeglasses retailers who will send home try on kits, including Warby Parker, David Kind, and ROKA.

Other retailers, including Discountglasses.com, Felix Gray and Ambr Eyewear, have generous free shipping and free return policies, enabling you to try glasses with prescription lenses already installed at home and return them if you don’t like them.

Still other retailers, including EyeBuyDirect, Zenni Optical and Abbe, offer such ridiculously affordable prescription glasses that you can try several pairs out without worrying too much about the cost.

A number of brands also specialize in blue light blocking glasses. Look to GlassesUSA.com, Felix Gray, and MVMT (which also makes a great selection of bracelets for men and women) for a great selection of blue light blocking glasses.

And, if you’re looking for over-the-counter reading glasses, see my separate guide to some of the best online options for buying stylish reading glasses and cheaters for as low as $5.

Have you tried Liingo Eyewear?

Please share your experience in the comments.


About Jake

Jake is an expert on men’s style and fashion based in Washington, DC. He founded Modern Fellows in 2012 to get to know the entrepreneurs and innovative clothing and lifestyle brands helping men dress sharp in the digital age. He has published hundreds of articles on style and apparel, and regularly interviews small business CEOs and startup founders about industry trends. Jake has written about entrepreneurship, international business and fashion for outlets including Business Week, Forbes, Inc., Details Style Syndicate and Primer Magazine.

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3 thoughts on “2024 Review of Liingo Eyewear (and 25% discount): How Do They Compare with Warby Parker?”

  1. My issue is trying to use the app to get it to read my glasses. It is absolutely impossible. Holding your phone in one hand while tilting your glasses up and down is absolutely nuts. I was keen on the idea of giving it a try and I appreciate your great review. It just doesn’t look like it is going to work out for me.

    Reply
  2. Hi! Thanks for the review info! I am between whether I should upgrade to thinner lenses or not (which means I can’t get the blue light blocking) so I would like to know if you found the free lenses to be too thick. Do you have a high script? I am a -4.00. Also, are the edges of the lenses frosted? I had bought a pair at lenses crafters over a year ago that had polished edges and they reflected back too much light when I was outside. Thanks again, great review!

    Reply
    • Thanks for your note. I only have one pair of glasses from Liingo, and they have the thinner lenses with blue light blocking. They’re not frosted, and I have not noticed any problems with glare or reflecting back too much light (though, admittedly, I generally wear my glasses indoors). I can’t speak to the thicker lenses.

      Reply

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