Since I have specs since childhood, I have used various types of lenses, gradually upgrading the lens quality with time. Till now I was using Zeiss lens with transitions since last 4 years (thankfully no number change), due to rough usage( lost the special cleaning cloth provided by zeiss) in last one year it got scratches, so decided to change the glasses. I tried locating zeiss but unfortunately couldn’t get one around my area. And Crizal was all around in every nook and corner optician shops.
The options were Crizal, hoya, local glass. I got impressed by the technology and the ads of Crizal and thought this has to be a good product priced at 6000 it has to be good. So took the plunge and got glasses made. The pros
--The first impressions was great the glass, had become thin from my existing glasses.
--The glass had clear tint, i.e no brown or gray tint. Zeis has little brownish tint.
--I checked the genuineness of the glass Crizal logo on glass in hot air, warranty and authenticity card.
Its been a week now since I am wearing this and I can safely put my true unbiased review here. This would be direct comparison between local low cost glasses, zeiss glasses and crizal glasses.
The smudge resistance feature .
--In local glasses its non existent
-- the crizal glasses are better off slightly, but they will smudge with fingerprint if u put ur finger on it even if lightly. Zeiss glass are tough no fingerprints unless u press hard on glass. Total waste of money on this feature.
The dust resistance feature
--Though the dust repellent properties are present and doesn’t attract dust so easily but it does so slowly. Zeiss scores better here too slightly.
-- non existent in local glass.
The scratch resistance feature.
-- Highly disappointed. These glasses are not scratch resistant. only 3rd day the glass got a tiny scratch don’t know from where, I have been very careful with glasses, always kept in case. wiped with the special cloth provided with water.
-- non existent in local glass.
The transition feature.
-- mine were transitions on both Zeiss and Crizal. Work excellent in both glasses. No complaints on transition front.
-- local glasses comes with photocramatic glass. which is just dark tint with not much uv protection I guess. It takes a while to fade in and fade out.
The water repellent feature.
- I would give Crizal a thumbs up on this one.. The water repellent is working great they dont collect water beads.
Cleaning frequency
in all these days of usage 90% indoors, I have to clean the Crizal glass every morning and in night
I have had my Zeiss uncleaned for at least a week. and I loved this part.... they were very maintenance free glasses.
I had thought over 10 days to spend 6k on glasses but finally decided to buy branded Crizal just because I was very satisfied with Zeiss lenses and all the new technological features which are similar in Crizal. Under impression that Crizal would be better or equivalent than Zeiss in terms of feature and quality I did go for Crizal.
I would say I am dissappointed with the product, especially since they are so freaking expensive.
For the first time buyers I would recommend try the photocromatic versions of local glass first then upgrade to branded ones. I would suggest finding Zeiss, I personally feel the glass and coating in them is much more durable than Crizal, unfortunately they are not so good in advertising their product.
Now I will have to hope that my number doesn’t change and I could use these glasses for 2 years at least.
If time permits I would create a video on Youtube giving a direct comparison of above features with my 4 yr old Zeiss and 1 week old Crizal.