Glass lenses cost me Rs 1000 (about $12.5) a few months back (myopia, -5) - I'd say these were on the cheaper side, and no special coating (they cost as much as the lenses themselves!!). Frames on the cheaper end also cost around this much.
I also prefer glass lenses. The tradeoffs seem to be weight (glass weighs more) and durability (glass can be cleaned with cloth or a towel without scratching, plastic lenses need to be babied with a microcloth or else you get little swirly scratches that will eventually ruin the lenses).
I'd rather have my glasses weigh a bit more if the lenses are more durable.
The scratches are caused by particles of dust pressed by you against the lens, and then rubbed all around. A quick rinse removes almost all the dust, and then you can dry them with any clean towel, tissue or even the shirt. I also use a drop of soap to degrease them.
I have plastic lenses with zero scratches after five years of use.
Oh, I know about this. I did rinse them thoroughly. Then I used a few drops of Dawn dish detergent to wash them. But what I found was that even if you clean plastic lenses thoroughly, what counts is how you dry them. If you use paper or even a towel it can scratch them incrementally over time.
It's so much more convenient (or maybe I'm just lazy!) to be able to dry glass lenses with a towel, paper towel, a t-shirt, or anything absorbent.
Interesting. Are you referring to Windex or one of the optical-grade solutions? I used to use dish soap but I found that I can just run mine under warm water for thirty seconds or so and that gets them pretty clean.
Yeah, scratching was the biggest reason I went back to glasses. Got a plastic one last year and within months it got plenty of scratches. Before that I had glass lenses that lasted more than 5 years (though one of lenses did break, which is why I wanted to try plastic).
Glass lenses cost me Rs 1000 (about $12.5) a few months back (myopia, -5) - I'd say these were on the cheaper side, and no special coating (they cost as much as the lenses themselves!!). Frames on the cheaper end also cost around this much.