Optical in Saigon

My last pair of continuous focus, photochromatic lenses cost 4 million dong in Nha Trang four years ago.  It took an hour or two for them to be made.

I can't say anything about photochromatic varifocals lenses.

But I payed some months ago sunglasses with +2 diopters lenses for about 2 million Dong near Bitexco tower in D1. I could pick up the sunglasses in less than an hour.

And I just went to an optician in District 1 (147 Tran Hung Dao).
I needed varifocals (before I only had reading glasses).
I paid 1.2 million Dong for the lenses (plastic, not glass).
There are also better ones for 1.65 million Dong.
For the frame I paid 1.6 million dong (there are also ones for 800k dong).
I didn't pay for the measurement of the eyes.
I could pick up the glasses in less than an hour.

I think it's more or less the same at most opticians.

Curious as we will be in VN for our 6 month stay mid June.
Here in Australia, they want at least two weeks to make them and about $500.
As we will be there shortly, I wondered whether it would be an idea to enquire about the viability of VN specs, clearly it was...
Thanks Guys.
Mike.

Glasses and frames are so cheap in Vietnam, really makes you wonder about western markup. We've discussed this topic before. Eyewear Plaza maybe a little more expensive as the D1 office/showroom is 2 floors and posh, optician went to school in Canada or US, can't remember, but you could try emailing them your prescription for a quote. My simple lens and bendy frames were $80, 4 days?, in US would be $250 or more.
Eyewear Plaza

Any optician will do. Time is less than 1 hour, unless you need longer to find a suitable frame. Special glasses are a hit or miss on the first attempt. It might be they have to order from somewhere else, than add 24 hours. Some tainted glasses in certain dioptric parameters, you might not get at all, not even for BIG  money.
Costs vary somewhere around 1-2 million and fancy might go well above that.
Just made a new one, 2 weeks ago, 1.55 million and a dinner with female staff for assisting in choosing the frame

l3ully wrote:

... and a dinner with female staff for assisting in choosing the frame

High 5 - eyeglasses with benefits. 

Yep, something like this. But I could not see, what I wanted and drawn it on some paper. She then looked, went away maybe 15 minutes, whilst I still was searching. Then she came with a frame, same, as I wanted and did fit ..
SO glasses in, pay and invite for dinner. Nothing fancy, just a place 2 houses away. She agreed and some food and drink ...
Nothing to special, neither intended for more.
She had a couple of beers, some picks of food ..
Totally neutral, no advances ..

Thanks guys for your help, don't think my wife would let me take out the optician lady for dinner 🤔

My family have been in the business for four generations.

It's a racket.  The thousand dollar specs u get r no different from a 2$ specs u get of the shelf in a pharmacy.

Most ppl just need the nearest dioptre.  Be aware Asian " opticians" have no qualifications or skill what so ever

Take a prescription from the west,  even if it's ten years old-  it will be far better than the " best"  opticians in Asia

Just by instinct, I would not agree on "without qualifications" globalized.
I am wearing glasses since well over 40 years and in comparison to a lot of countries, there ain't for me any notable differences.
Yes, many brands are here likely a fake, also on certain glasses, if they say 'no' it's a no. Then they sure can't get them.
Overall, the service here in Asia seems much better.
As customer you get the attention, you need and in comparison to other trades, opticians seem to have no double standards in pricing.
You just might have been a bit unlucky in a single occurrence

No,  my father,  grandfather and great grandfather were all opthalmic surgeons.

No mistake.  99 present just need reading glasses from a chemist.  Opticians mark ups r ninety plus percent.  Especially when u r dumb enough to go for sunglasses,  scratch resistant etc.

Varifocals were about the only worthwhile thing

I am a Licensed Optician in the US for forty years. I am tired of hearing about the high mark up in the optical business. It is no higher than in many other businesses. for example, when you order a soda in McDonald's and pay$1.69 how much do you think the soda costs them, probably 5 cents which means thousands of percent markup. Or when you buy a calvin klein shirt made in china how much do you  think that shirt costs to make. I have seen the wholesale costs for me go up dramaticly, when now I am paying over $300 from my laboratory for a top of the line lens and that is withoutthe anti reflective coating. And consider that the average eyeglass wearer gets glasses every 2-3 years, and not every week like a McDonalds customer, the markup is in no way out of line.

Fair enough,  we could talk for ages about monopolies,  marginalisation,  new tech n stuff.

Still,  ur basically telling someone they need to pay u a few hundred bucks for glasses they could go next door n buy for two bucks.  That's the bread n butter.

I think my profession is mostly cloak and dagger,  smoke n mirrors Bs too,  , , so many are.

UK opticians are quite uite different,  having previously been a free,  state funded gift

To Eyez:  I would grant that 99 percent is a huge exaggeration but wouldn't you have to agree that those whose only problem is presbyopia can safely use off-the-shelf reading glasses?  I have other problems now but I was actually told as much by an ophthalmologist when I was in my 50's.

The OP did signify that he needed a distance correction as well as transition lenses, which are of course optional, so that would dictate professionally produced glasses.

Until now, I always had some sorts of eye test  inclusive. I don't really understand the way and what exactly is there tested ..Just at the end, I always had about that, what I was expecting from my glasses.

In my case eye tests were always included, too.
But the optician always asked me what kind of lenses I wanted.

Until now, all I had were cheap reading glasses.
Up to about +2.5 dioptres this always fit well, because I could also see clearly into the distance with it.
But over +3 dioptres, I couldn't see clearly with my reading glasses while watching TV or driving.
That's why I recently decided to buy varifocals for the first time.
Now I can see well into the distance and reading is also ok, but unfortunately the varifocals are not optimal for computer work.
But I can't blame the opticians for that.

Yep, the way it is, Customer decides and is responsible for a wrong choice. I your case, I would make another pair for close-up work.

yes, you could probably get by with an over the counter pair of reading glasses, but most people do have some amount of astigmatism in their reading prescription which is not in over the counter reading glasses and this will diminish your vision depending on the amount of astigmatism you have. The difference is just getting by or seeing clear and crisp