Well, things just keep getting more unusual. As I mentioned in my first post on presbyopia, dry eye and diabetes, I had to have a re-grind for an astigmatism error my eye doc’s tech made in my first set of lenses. It took 4.5 weeks to get the re-grind set in. I also ordered a second set of lenses with a slightly different sphere power. My original post explains why I needed the additional lenses.
After I got the new correction for the astigmatism back, it was better than my first right eye correction, but my right eye was still off. After a week or so with the correction on the Superfocus glasses, I decided to try an experiment. I had an extra left lens which didn’t have any cylinder or axis correction in it, and the sphere power was very close to my right eye. I put the extra left lens in the right side of the Superfocus glasses and my vision got reasonably clear in my right eye and my binocular vision was noticeably better. Interesting–and frustrating!
With an astigmatism correction, it’s almost impossible to get really sharp vision correction because astigmatism compensation is not objectively measured in the eye doc’s office, it’s subjectively estimated by experimentation and patient feedback. Since the light and viewing conditions outside of the exam room are very different, astigmatism corrections are generally imperfect.
After seeing the world through my right eye without an astigmatism correction, I decided to consult with a 3rd eye doc who does his own refractions rather than letting tech’s do them. I explained my experiment to him and asked him to start all over with the refractory exam in my right eye and not assume that I had an astigmatism that was the base starting point of the exam. After 30 minutes of going through a lot of settings on his phoropter, he concluded my vision was better with no correction for an astigmatism. I would have liked a wavefront exam but he didn’t do that.
So I ordered a third set of lens for my Superfocus glasses today. I will have a few extra lens if anyone needs some. Hopefully, removing the cylinder and axis corrections will clear up my vision. 3rd Eye doc says it will take a week or so to know the full extent of the correction. He thinks my right eye got worse during the day because it was straining to re-correct for the astigmatism offset. He thinks the astigmatism error got into the prescription 4 or 5 years ago, but up until 2 years ago, my eye muscles were still strong enough to offset it. It was a mild correction. If it had been a significant one, my eyes couldn’t have coped with it. I hope he is right. If this doesn’t work then the wavefront exam is next.
Once again Debbie D went out of her way to help with my lens. On my last order in November for the re-grind and extra lens, it looked like it was going to take 6 weeks for the re-grind and 8 weeks for the second set of lenses because of various delays in production. Debbie called and once she knew what had happened she got the time line back on track. I really appreciate Debbie’s help. She is first class. As I’ve said before, for me she has been a major factor in the positive feelings I have about the company. She is helping me get this new set of plano lens, along with my second pair of Superfocus glasses.
Unfortunately, Superfocus LLC is taking a long time to both ship the glasses initially and process new lens orders. Typically it takes me 5 to 10 days to get in new lenses for my progressives. Four to six weeks for a pair of new Superfocus lenses is well above the industry standard. Eight weeks and longer to get the initial order out is also on the far side of reasonable. I hope the company gets their manufacturing house in order before too long because other competition is coming to the market. The company has done a great job of selling the glasses, and the customers that have them like them. But it appears that maybe they’ve out sold their ability to produce the glasses, which is a major potential problem. (I’ve spoken with a couple of members of the Superfocus LLC management team, including Adrian Koppes, the CEO. I think they are committed to reducing the fulfillment times. The longer lead times may continue for three or so more months, but then it should start to decline. That’s my best guess based on the information I have. I hope they are able to bring it down to within 4 weeks.)
The new lenses with the new astigmatism adjust are much better than the first pair and even though they’re still have an astigmatism correction which 3rd Eye Docs says I don’t need. Even with the astigmatism correction they have helped me to manage my vision issues even better than before, so I am pleased with that. I’ve recommended and demonstrated the glasses to several opticians, ophthalmologists, and a whole lot of other people with problems similar to mine.
A second set of lens only cost $79 (the $29 shipping charge seems a bit excessive) so buying extra sets with different scripts for different applications isn’t a problem. I don’t particularly like the airline pricing scheme either. Extra charges for the proper size temples is a very uncommon practice also.
As I said, I like the Superfocus glasses and I have ordered a second pair. I need a backup in case the first pair breaks or needs repair. If Superfocus LLC finds a way to improve these, I’ll upgrade. I will use these daily until a better technology comes along.
The bottom line is if you’ve got the patience to handle the long shipping times, these glasses might benefit you just like they have me. It’s been well worth it for me.
(I found 4th Eye Doc who has a Wavefront machine, so that exam is next. Once my eyes are completely mapped, it will either confirm that my right has no astigmatism, or that there are other attributes I need to have corrected. If there are, I’ll have a lens ground to match my eye map and how light bounces off my retina. That should be interesting. The Wavefront machine might find I do have an astigmatism, and maybe a third arm too.)
6 Comments
Jack,
As far as I can see, the wait times you experienced are a direct result of how successful this company is becoming. I have seen the ads on TV. Friends who were procrastinating are now placing orders. It is clear that sales are really increasing. But, the company appears to be ramping up production carefully, to insure quality — just what we all want.
My wife and I are both completely addicted to these glasses. We cannot imagine doing without them. There ARE no alternatives/competitors on the horizon. Pixel Optics is working on an expensive progressive lens in which the close focus area can be switched between mid-distance and close focus. Not a Big Deal to me. and certainly not worth having to carry around a battery in the glasses frame.
What makes Superfocus unique is the ability to focus the entire lens to the precise distance you need. Nothing else can do that. So, we are delighted that Superfocus is doing so well.
Hello Jon,
I know you like your Trufocals. Most people that have them like them.. I like mine. That’s why I bought a 2nd pair. I also like many of the people I have worked with at the company.
I agree the glasses are selling well. I spent 30 years managing companies, and fortunately, I did it pretty effectively. When I see long lead times on products like the Trufocal glasses, I get concerned. Sales may be growing but production capacity isn’t keeping up. Maybe I’m wrong, but it appears to me that the company has outsold its ability to ship within a rational time frame for this particular market, which I estimate to be 4 weeks, not the 8 plus weeks it’s taking.
Right now Superfocus LLC has the longest lead times in the optical industry. In general, most opticians say that orders that take more than 15 days illicit customer complaints. From your perspective, you’ll say it’s worth the wait. Some customers may also say that, but for other customers it might create negative feelings despite the fact that they like the glasses. That’s not a good situation.
When I see sales growing faster than production’s ability to keep pace with, it creates some very tricky problems for a company in terms of finance, supply, and hiring. Those problems can, at the very least, really stress the company, and at the worst, put them out of business. In between stress and failure there’s the ever looming problem of quality control. Fast growing companies can consume cash faster than their ability to generate it. Hiring and training often get fast tracked, which means a lot of hiring mistakes get made, and a lot of people wind up working in customer service or sales who don’t know what they’re doing. Then suppliers get pushed for faster shipments. There’s constant pressure on production and service employees to get more out the door, and in the end all of those factors wind up hurting the company. Cash flow becomes a constant problem, quality drops, service drops and customer satisfaction goes with it.
I’m not suggesting that Superfocus LLC has any of the problems I’ve described. I don’t have the data I would need to analyze the situation. I’m just saying that these kind of issues can be a problem. So called “growing pains” are really planning and management issues. Sometimes managers get too concerned about making the “numbers” and forget what is important in the long term to the success of the company.
I want the company to do well so they will be there when I need more glasses or lenses. I’ve spent over 40 hours doing referral marketing with opticians, ophthalmologists and potential customers. I wouldn’t have done that if I didn’t like the product.
Repeat business is critical to the optical business. I imagine Superfocus LLC is going to have to build repeat business based on three factors, how well the customers like the glasses, how good the customer service is, which ultimately contributes in a major way to customer satisfaction and the customer’s desire to buy the product multiple times, and finally, the overall quality of the product.
Superfocus might not be able to generate a lot of new business with new lenses or frames once the product has been on the market for a couple of years. The basic technology of the glasses limits that. And of course, there are quality improvements that will likely have to be made as field use failure rates become known. Hopefully, the company will track those numbers, and respond to the problems that may occur with the temples, the hinges and the slide.
As far as competition goes, I used to tell our employees that no matter what technology we developed nor how good it was, there were at least 10 other companies, or people, in the world who were working on the same thing and were very close to having it in the market. The only products that don’t attract competition are the products that don’t make any money. And I’ve even seen plenty of loser products copied. The more money a product makes, the more competition it spurs. Apple makes great computers, but they only have an 8% share of the PC market. If the Superfocus glasses are really successful, they’ll be plenty of competition. You can count on it.
The bottom line is I hope Superfocus LLC is successful for many years. I know everyone that works there wants that also. I want to be able to buy their glasses whenever I need them, and I know you do to. My posts are directed toward those ends, as well as to give a positive recommendation to the product.
I’m glad you and your wife like the glasses, and happy New Year to your family and all the Superfocus employees.
I amended my previous post to reflect some conversations I’ve had,, and so I’ll add that here also. I’ve spoken with a couple of members of the Superfocus LLC management team, including Adrian Koppes, the CEO. I think they are committed to reducing the fulfillment times. The longer lead times may continue for three or so more months, but then it should start to decline. That’s my best guess based on the information I have. I hope they are able to bring it down to within 4 weeks.
Incidentally, everyone I have worked with in customer service has been very good, especially Debbie D. In the executive group, Adrian Koppes and Steve Hecker are also very pleasant individuals, aside from their management skills. I appreciate that aspect of the company.
I have to agree that shipping time is a problem. I placed an order for glasses with Corbu frames on 17.Nov.2010. They acknowledged the order the same day and gave an estimated ship date of 12.Jan.2011. This was a bit disappointing to begin with, but now it has come and gone, so I e-mailed asking for an update. To their credit, they did reply promptly, but the new estimated ship date is 22.Feb.2011.
Yeah, the shipping times are still long, especially if you order a new product like the Corbu. I don’t see that changing for at least 3 more months.
I don’t know how much outsourcing Superfocus LLC does, but it appears to be significant. I think some of the delays come from parts suppliers and some come from backlogs grinding lenses. They need more lens grinding capacity as well as better parts supplies.
I stopped a lot of outsourcing when I became the CEO of the company I’m retired from . There were two problems–the quality from suppliers was inconsistent and there were frequent delays which frustrated customers as well as ourselves. Initially bringing a lot of the parts fabrication in house was expensive, but in the long run it turned out to be much cheaper. In addition, we could shift production on a dime to match order inflow. Using outsourcing, we had to project demand, and projections are often wrong.
The long wait for the glasses is frustrating but you will like them when you get them. I’ve gone from wearing mine two or three hours a day to 8 hours or more. Basically, I wear them whenever I work on the computer, have to do projects or watch TV after I’m done reading in the evening. They seem to relieve a lot of the eye stress I have with progressives. Reduced stress helps alleviate late day vision declines.
I hope they work well for you.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t at all obvious that selecting the Corbu frame might cause additional delays at the time I placed my order. In fact there was nothing which gave any indication of lead time during the ordering process. I was only provided a lead time of 8 weeks after my order was confirmed via e-mail. Now it’s 5 weeks more, for a total of 13. Yes I will wait; after all, it’s not like I can get a similar product somewhere else.
I do have to give Superfocus some credit for allowing customers to “vent” a bit here in their own blog — not every company would permit that.
Will they work for me? In terms of optics, I’m quite confident they will. I’d been fantasizing about a pair of glasses with a small knob at the temple which would adjust the focal distance ever since I gave up on progressives, so I had a bit of a “Eureka” moment when I found Superfocus. What has me a bit worried is whether I’ll get used to the frames because I’ve always worn plastic frames and never really cared much for metal.