Buyer's Guide
We want to make things clear for you – with your purchase experience and with your new eyeglasses! Hence, we have included a ton of information on our Buying Guide here.
The more you know, the better decisions you make, and the less likely you will pay for something you don’t need.
Anytime you feel ready, visit us at our Yak locations.
Got specific questions? Head over to our comprehensive FAQ
What's in here:
Our honest pricing system, explained
Shows the available prescription range of each type of lenses
Get to know the functions and features of our lenses
Explains the difference between single vision and progressive lenses
How to read a spectacles prescription
The anatomy of a spectacle frame
Why pay for someone to upsell you options you don’t need? Visit our Yak website whenever you feel like and choose with confidence knowing you have gotten the best deal. You don’t
need to be an expert in haggling – we don’t hardsell, our prices are transparent, and like you, we are consumers too! 🙂
1. Pricing Guide:
📢 Psst, all prices are in SGD 😉
💡 We have a good range of frames available across our price range. 💡
Lens features are explained in the next parts of this guide.
3. Lens Prescription Range Guide:
3.1 Single Vision Lenses
📢 Most of us will fall inside the green common range 🙂
This covers myopia up to -800 and hyperopia or reading up to +600, and astigmatism up to -200.
We are working to bring in high astigmatism special-order lenses, talk to us if you have high astigmatism
📢 High myopia? If you are -825 to -1000, select the upgrade to 1.67 super high-index lenses! Still not inside our huge range? Contact us 😉
📢 Some shops will ask you to go for super high index 1.67 even if your prescription is just -300. What’s the point really? 🤷♂️ To lighten your wallet? We will always practice transparent pricing and we don’t appreciate being pressured into taking options we don’t need – hey we are consumers too! 🤝
📢 The above photochromic lenses feature automatic-tinting under the the sun – the lenses react to ultra-violet exposure. We don’t keep these in stock so there’s a waiting time, but good things are worth waiting for!
3.2 Progressive Lenses
📢 Progressive lenses are all made to order, which is why there is a huge range available by default. As these are all made-to-order, the waiting time is a little longer 😉
4. Lens Features Guide:
Anti-reflective (AR) and Ultraviolet-blocking (UV)
coating reduces irritating reflections and helps protect your eyes from harmful UV rays. Our default lens options come with this as a standard, at no extra cost.
HEV420
blocks high-energy light. This feature comes as a standard on our default single vision lens option, or as a top-up on progressive lenses.
Easy-Clean Coating
ensures greater smudge-resistance with a smooth hydrophobic and oleophobic coating, making it easy to care for your lenses.
1.67 Super High Index
allows for even thinner lenses for high myopia should 1.60 High Index be insufficient.
Photochromic
lenses will automatically tint under direct sunlight or UV, giving extra comfort when outdoors.
Corridor Customisation
for progressive lenses allow for a wider field-of-view, or personalised for office-workspace use.
AR UV Coating
High-Index
HEV420
Photochromic
Single Vision Lenses
Progressive Lenses, Office Lenses, and Wide-Corridor Optimisation
Did you know that exposure to Ultra-Violet rays from the sun is one of the causes of cataracts? The Anti-Reflective (AR) Ultra-Violet (UV) Coating reduces irritating reflections and protects your eyes from harmful UV rays from the sun. The AR coat makes it easier for you to view the world through the lenses as light transmission is increased. Our lenses come with these coatings as a standard.
We use “1.60” high-index lenses for its durability and good cosmetic appearance as they are thinner than standard “1.50” or “1.56” lenses. The higher the refractive index of the lenses (“1.67”, “1.74”), the thinner the lenses. However, the higher the index, the lower the light transmission, and the lower the Abbe value. This results in more chromatic aberrations – colour distortion and fringing. Hence, we use 1.60 high-index lenses as a default with and an option for 1.67 if you require even thinner lenses. Unless your myopia is significantly high, we don’t recommend using 1.67 (or even 1.74) index – it probably wouldn’t go much thinner but it will make your wallet much lighter.😉
High Energy Visible (HEV) 420 coating blocks most of violet light from 400nm to 420nm. Violet light, being close to Ultra-Violet (100nm to 400nm), has higher energy compared to the other colours in the visible light spectrum, and can be harmful in larger amounts [1], hence the need for it, especially if spending more time outdoors in daylight. We do not use the “blue-light blocking” lenses with a blue-coating, as there is little evidence to support using blue-light filtering lenses to prevent digital eye strain [2] and The American Academy of Ophthalmology does not recommend any special blue-light blocking eyewear for computer use [3]. However, this is available as an option if you still prefer it.
[1] (Sapkota, 2016 ; Youn, 2009 ; Grimm, 2001)
[2] (Rosenfield et. al., 2020)
[3] (Vimont, 2021)
No more forgetting your sunnies! Get superior comfort with lenses that turn dark when exposed to Ultra-Violet rays. While they aren’t as dark as a pair of sunglasses would typically be, they transition smoothly from clear to dark and back to clear automatically. Darkness can depend on various factors such as UV levels, temperature, lens index, and age of lens, and may not change if you’re driving behind a windscreen affixed with a UV-blocking film. If you need something darker, ask us for permanent-tinted sunglasses lenses instead.
These lenses serve a single function – to correct your vision either for distant, intermediate, or near vision. If you are under 40 years old, a pair of eyeglasses corrected for distant vision would usually present no issues for all your visuals needs, distance or near. However, at the age of about 40 years old, when presbyopia, or old-age / “old-flower” eye sets in. Eyeglasses for distant vision only work for distanct vision, with near vision getting difficult and uncomfortable. Hence, you will have a prescription for distance vision and an “addition” for intermediate or near vision. You could either choose to have two or more pairs of eyeglasses for different uses, or you could just do it all-in-one using progressive lenses.
Also known as multi-focal and vari-focal lenses, and sometimes as invisible bi-focals, these allow a combination of two prescriptions inside each pair of lenses, without the ugly line or segments. Typically, a wearer would have the distance and near prescriptions inside a pair of progressives, but increasingly consumers are asking for lenses that work just for the office workspace – intermediate distance for viewing a desktop at 1.5m and near for reading and writing. Wide-corridor optimisation takes into account more factors when producing the lenses (yes they are all made-to-order, just for you!), allowing for a wider low-distortion usable area. Customisations can also be done to account for your lifestyle or preferred usage of the progressives, such as increasing the area for reading, or making it easier for outdoor activities. Talk to us about your visual requirements when making your pair of progressives
5. Lens Type Guide:
Single Vision / Bi-Focal / Progressives
6. Prescription Reading Guide:
