Intro:

I'm always interested in the latest tech products. Recently, I came across the Ray-Ban Meta "smart" glasses, a collaboration between Facebook (Meta) and Ray-Ban. You might have seen Mark Zuckerberg wearing these glasses in some of his recent social media posts.

I remember hearing about Ray-Ban Stories a few years ago. At the time, I wasn’t too excited about them and felt they were a bit ahead of their time, similar to Google Glass. However, given the positive feedback these glasses have been receiving, I decided to give them a try. I’ve been using the glasses for about two months now, and so far, my experience has been quite positive.

Cost:

The glasses were on the pricier side, costing me about $369 CAD plus tax, which came to approximately $420 for the Matte Clear lens model. For comparison, my Ray-Ban Aviator sunglasses only cost $200. My goal was to swap the lenses for transitional prescription lenses.

When I spoke with the sales associate, Ray-Ban was currently offering 50% off lens upgrades, including options such as prescription, blue light, and transitional lenses. Even with the discount, the lens upgrade was still quite costly. A prescription lens alone cost nearly $200, and the combination of transitional and prescription lenses was around $300!

My plan was to visit my local glasses store to purchase the transitional + prescription lenses, which is why I initially bought the Clear lens model at the Ray-Ban store—it was the cheapest Matte model available. At the local store, the high-quality lenses cost $180, while the lower-quality ones were $100. I opted for the $180 lenses for better quality.

Luckily, all the costs were covered by my work insurance for the glasses and my spouse's insurance for the lenses.

My thoughts:

I purchased these glasses primarily because I cherish capturing my life's moments. My memory isn't always reliable, so I rely on scrolling through my images to refresh my memory of what happened on that day. Also, I am not very good at verbally expressing myself, so images are the way to go!

Pros:

• It's awesome being able to record from your glasses.

• Able to listen to music and take phone calls using the mic and speakers.

• I have used the voice assistance a couple of times when my hands were occupied.

Cons:

• The frame is kind of thick. My face size is considered small, so wearing such thick and large glasses on my face seems a bit odd. My friend and family says the frame is not suitable for my face and I agree. Note, I only wear these glasses when I'm out so I wouldn't say it affects my daily lifestyle.

• I prefer Aviator glasses over Wayfarers. I understand that the electronics can’t fit into such a small frame, so I completely get that. This is just a personal preference. I simply think I look better in Aviators.

• When importing video and photo files from your glasses to your mobile device, all files are transferred simultaneously. As a result, the files may appear out of order on your mobile device if your image folder is sorted by date.

• My hairstyle consists of a side fade. When I attempt to remove my glasses, I can feel my side hair digging into the speakers of the glasses, which can be uncomfortable.

• This con might be targeting wayfarers in general. My face gets very oily and I do wear makeup. The grease will easily to caught at the edges of the lens between the lens and frame. There is also a small opening at the nose area and I'm afraid the oil can get into the cracks.

• Since it records video at 30 fps, the playback can be a bit jarring and might even cause a headache if your head moves frequently while recording. While filming, you kind of have to move your head slowly which can be awkward.

Here is a list of voice commands that you can say to interact with the Meta voice assistant:

https://www.meta.com/help/smart-glasses/articles/voice-controls/hey-meta-ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses/

Side note:

If you see me wearing these glasses, it's okay, you're not being filmed unless you see a solid light on the right side of the glasses.