Hubble Contacts seems to be exploding in popularity. So much so that it is now expanding into different countries. Now, Hubble Contacts is in Canada, but is it a good deal for Canadians?
What is Hubble Contacts?
For anyone who hasn’t heard, Hubble Contacts is a company that offers daily contact lens subscriptions. Every month, they ship you 2 new boxes of their daily contact lenses for a monthly fee.
They don’t make their own contact lenses but instead source them from the contact lens factory St. Shine Optical Co., Ltd in Taiwan.
Their lenses are for spherical prescriptions only (not for astigmatism), they come in a base curve (B.C) of 8.6 and a diameter (DIA) of 14.2. Their prescription range is from -0.50 to -12.00 (for nearsighted people only).
Direct-to-consumer?
They have been called a ‘direct-to-consumer’ contact lens brand, but I don’t see where that claim comes from. Hubble Contacts is the middle man between you and St. Shine Optical Co., Ltd who make the lenses.
This is no different than if you were to order say, Acuvue Oasys from Lens.com, Lens.com would be the middle man between you and Johnson & Johnson (the makers of Acuvue Oasys).
In my opinion, a true direct-to-consumer contact lens brand would manufacture their own lenses and ship them directly to you without any middlemen. Under this direct-to-consumer definition, I only know of one company that actually meets the criteria, and that is DaySoft.
Is Hubble Contacts in Canada a Good Deal?
Since its inception, Hubble Contacts has claimed to be a high-quality, low-cost alternative to other mainstream contact lens brands.
I have already written two articles (Are Hubble Contact Lenses Really ‘Half The Price’? & Are Hubble Contact Lenses Really That Cheap?) that show that Hubble Contacts is actually about mid-ranged when it comes to prices for daily disposable contact lenses. There are numerous brands that I much less expensive than Hubble, and several brands that are more expensive as well.
The cost of Hubble Contacts in the United States & Canada is:
| United States | Canada | |
| Cost / Month | $30 USD | $40 CAD |
$40 instead of $30 eh? Let’s look a little deeper into this.
Today (Sept 1, 2017), the value of $1 CAD is $0.81 USD
This means that $30 USD is $37.19 CAD.
Since Hubble Contacts charges Canadians $40 CAD, Hubble Contacts in Canada is comparatively more expensive than in the United States (by $2.81 CAD / month)
Of course, as everybody knows, the USD CAD exchange rate changes all the time, but presumably, the prices set by Hubble Contacts are fixed (i.e., they don’t change every to reflect the latest exchange rate).
Who gets the better deal as the USD CAD exchange rate changes?
For Americans and Canadians to pay the same price when corrected for the exchange rate, the Canadian Dollar would have to be worth exactly 3/4 (0.75) of the U.S Dollar.
$40 CAD x 0.75 = $30 USD
Or, if you’re more familiar with the USD to CAD rate, the U.S Dollar would have to be worth 4/3 (1.333) of the Canadian Dollar.
$30 USD x 1.333 = $40 CAD
This mean, as a rule:
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The question is then, how often is the Canadian Dollar 0.75 or lower?
The answer is almost never.
Over the past 10 years, the Canadian Dollar has only dipped below 0.75 of U.S Dollar for a total of approximately 7 months.
The average is typically in the 0.80 – 0.90 range.
For example:
Today the exchange rate is 0.81.
$40 CAD x 0.81 = $32.27 USD
That means that you are paying $32.27 USD for something that is worth $30 USD. In other words, you are overpaying by $2.27 USD for that month. The next month, who knows?
Let’s see what happens if the conversion rate increase to 0.85 and 0.90.
$40 CAD x 0.85 = $34.00 USD ==> overpaying by $4 USD for that month.
$40 CAD x 0.90 = $36.00 USD ==> overpaying by $6 USD for that month.
Is Hubble Contacts in Canada a Good Deal?
If Hubble Contacts adjusts the price for Canadians as the conversion rate rises and falls, then the price would remain fair and equal to that which Americans pay. But everyone reading this know that isn’t going to happen. The price will remain fixed at $40 CAD regardless of the conversion rate.
Will Hubble Contacts still be less expensive than purchasing contact lenses from your eye doctor? Most likely. But are they the best deal for contact lenses on the internet? Not by a long shot.
Considering that Hubble Contacts is made of a rather low-quality contact lens material, that there are many higher quality brands that are even less expensive than Hubble, and that Canadians are paying even more than Americans for it, I would say perhaps it’s not the best deal.
If price is not an issue for you and you decided to try Hubble Contacts, I would be very interested in reading about your experience with their lenses, so leave a comment below!
10 Responses
Brandy Joice
hi my name is Brandy Joice I just received Hubble Contacts two week trial pair of contacts and they are already taking money out of my bank account I don’t want any more from them because I can’t wear them and I want my money back.
Julie
Hi Brandy, I’ve heard this from many people that Hubble Contacts automatically sign you up for their monthly subscription when you get the free trial. That seems really sneaky. Thanks for sharing your experience with them. I hope you’re able to cancel and get your money. Please let us know how things work out :)
Simone
They tell you just like all the other companies with a trail offer (ie anything from iTunes) that you will be charged. Not sure why this is such a shock to people still. You say there’s cheaper options a number of times but didn’t say who. So who? I’ve been using Hubble since August and have never had a problem with their lenses. Using clearly contacts before and there was Always at least two pairs a box that I couldn’t wear. Hubble has been great, and really? 2.81$ is breaking the bank you might as well wear glasses.
Julie
Hi Simone, in this article I didn’t go into the long list of brands that are less expensive than Hubble because I’ve already written two other articles about it, which I left links to at the top of this article. They are:
Thanks for reading!
Kathy
Hi my name is kathy and i receievd the trial pack of $1 from hubble like a week ago, then they charged my card not even a week after of $44 bucks and sent me the subscription package. I was just busy i wasn’t able to try the contacts right away and the subscription box didn’t really seem like a big deal for me since i was actually needing daily contact lense. But i trial them today, and guess what it was like I just stick a piece of plastic on my eyes. There was no grade on it while i precisely stated what my eye grades are. I obviously can’t wear a piece of plastic and I want my money back. But their return policy is stating you can’t return something you opened. This is false advertisement. What a shame.
Alexandra
I have been using Hubble contacts for over a year. In general I am satisfied but sometimes the contact simply seem to big for my eye and I have to dispose of at least 5 contacts per month. I would be interested in recommendations on other higher quality contacts at a cheaper price.
Julie
Hi Alexandra! Thanks for your question.
Interestingly, the diameter of Hubble contacts is not significantly bigger than most other brands. For example, it has the exact same diameter as the extremely popular brand Acuvue 1-day Moist. However, there’s no question that the Hubble contacts material is of lower breathability (and overall quality) than most other brands which can make them feel uncomfortable in different ways.
I always recommended testing different brands of contact lenses and having your eye doctors check them out on your eyes before you start wearing any brand. But for a list of contact lens brands that are higher quality and cheaper than Hubble, I would say look into the following brands:
1. Dailies AquaComfort Plus
2. Proclear 1-day
*WARNING* –> Prices of contact lens brands like the 2 I just listed vary a lot from website to website. Please consult ContactsAdvice.com’s homepage to find where the lowest price for these contact lenses is.
For a brand that is less easily available through your eye doctor, but by far the cheapest price point, I would suggest looking into DaySoft contact lenses.
Hope this has helped :)
Lindsay
I’ve been using Hubble contacts for a couple years how, I’ve been happy with them, the one time I had an issue with them getting stuck at customs, I called them to point this out. They not only sent me a new package right away, I asked if they could do anything else for the inconvenience, as they didn’t spot the problem, they gladly added another 2 boxes to my order for free!
Also with the $1.00 trial; So after you put your order through, go back to your profile on the website, and select “subscriptions” you can change that next change and delivery in a simple click. You can make it as long as, every 168 days, then change your “charge date” to say 5 months from now! Hit save and you’re done! Giving you the time to try them out.
I’ve had to cancel once, as I was traveling. You just call the 1800 number. It’s done in a couple minutes!
Julie
Hi Lindsay, thanks for taking the time to post this. It’s good to know that it’s not all bad, as a lot of these comments would suggest!
I’m curious, how do you find the comfort of Hubble contacts?
Wayne Karpik
I cancelled my reorder over 2 months ago. However they shipped another supply and billed my Master card. I have returned their product, I want them to refund me stop auto shipping. They also do not work as expected. I cannot see close up with them in my eyes. Totally useless to me.
Wayne