Best Smart Glasses for Athletes? Oakley x Meta Vanguard Review

Powder aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.

When I’m testing gear, the two biggest questions I’m looking to answer, beyond simply the product’s quality, are: “What is the use case?” and “How will this product enhance my experience out in the field?” Just earlier this year, Oakley released their Meta HSTN Limited Edition AI-enabled smart glasses, a product so radically different from anything I had ever tested. I was quite impressed with the tech and the product’s quality, but it left me scratching my head about how to answer those two questions. 

I couldn’t quite pinpoint the use case–despite Mikaela Shiffrin and other Oakley ski athletes wearing these all over the place–these lifestyle-forward shades really didn’t seem to be usable in any sort of ski scenario. Secondly, I never felt that the Meta tech actually “enhanced” my experience in the mountains, but I wanted to give it all another chance when Oakley announced the release of their second-generation smart glasses, the Oakley Meta Vanguard. With a much more performance-oriented design, streamlined features, and direct integration with apps like Garmin and Strava, these glasses are clearly aimed at athletes. 

I’ve been testing Oakley’s Meta Vanguard glasses, featuring Oakley’s polarized Prizm 24K lens, packed with the full suite of Meta-powered artificial intelligence features, including immersive audio, photo and video cameras, AI-app connectivity, and integration with Garmin devices and the Strava app. 

Oakley Meta Vanguard Sunglasses Specs

• Features: Meta AI app integration, immersive audio, 12MP photo camera, 3K video camera, Oakley Prizm 24K Lens, Garmin device integration, Strava integration, IP67 waterproofing, touch and voice control
• Battery Life: 9 hours under normal use, with charging case that holds up to 36 hours
• Price: $499

What Are Oakley’s New “Smart Glasses”?

As “smart glasses” still seem to be a pretty obscure and niche accessory outside of Silicon Valley these days, I’ll do my best to explain what they actually do. For the most part, they are, well…just sunglasses. They protect your eyes from the sun and the wind. Connect them to your smartphone, however, and they quickly become a whole lot more.

Perhaps the two most immediately usable features are the built-in immersive audio system (think: tiny speakers) and the integrated photo and video camera. The audio quality on the immersive speakers is very impressive, and the fact that nothing actually goes into your ear means that you can still hear your surroundings–a key feature for skiers, mountain bikers, runners, and the like. I’ve actually mostly stopped wearing in-ear headphones or wireless earbuds when skiing or biking because I’ve found them to throw off my balance, not to mention it’s good to hear your surroundings when out in the mountains. 

The integrated camera offers a sleek alternative to traditional, bulky POV cameras for quick image or video capture. The image quality isn’t as good as a more robust GoPro or Insta360 camera, but it’s good enough for social media-quality capture. Photos and video can be taken by pressing a hidden button on the right arm. To combat any potential privacy concerns, the camera lens flashes a white light on the front of the glasses to indicate recording.

Finally, much like asking your iPhone’s Siri AI system to help you understand the world around you, it’s possible to talk to your glasses. “Hey Meta” is the command, and you can ask it pretty much anything you would want to ask an AI system, like about the weather forecast for your location, recommendations on trails or restaurants, what type of tree you are looking at, or even about training plans to get you stronger for your next race or event. 

How Do The Oakley Meta Vanguard Glasses Perform?

When reviewing Oakley’s HSTN smart glasses, my biggest gripe was that they were a pair of small-framed lifestyle glasses that were not well-suited for anything athletic beyond going for a swift walk. The reading-glasses-shaped frame was too small, didn’t provide proper protective coverage, and bounced around on my face. It reminded me that there’s a good reason I like to wear bigger, wraparound-style glasses when skiing or mountain biking.

The new Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses directly address the fit and style issue, packing the same Meta AI tech into a package that actually makes sense for intense athletic activity. Sure, the actual styling might be a matter of taste, but there’s no denying that these are more than capable of protecting your eyes at high speeds and in intense situations. I did however find that the oversized sunglass arms didn’t play nice with some bike helmets.

The Vanguards moved the 12MP camera from the temple to the nosebridge of the glasses, centering it on your face. There’s also two additional function buttons on the arms (the HSTNs simply had a capture button). These can be programmed via the Meta app to do various things like change camera settings, activate certain AI features or even start a call with an accessibility service called Be My Eyes, which connects a vision-impaired person wearing the glasses with a sighted person to assist them in recognizing objects and navigate the world around them.

Using the glasses to capture video and photos is very easy, either by pressing the capture button or saying “Hey Meta, record a video.” Again, the video and photo quality is fine at best, but it’s very cleanly integrated. 

The music control and audio quality is excellent, and like I found with the HSTN glasses, the integrated speakers offer a much better surround-sound experience than in-ear headphones, while also allowing a user to hear their environment.

The Garmin and Strava integration is where I hoped things would finally get interesting. The glasses can connect with a GPS-enabled device like a bike computer, sports watch, or simply your phone running the Strava app. It’s possible to talk to the glasses and ask questions about real-time performance, like distance covered, pacing, lap times, speed and other metrics. When I’m skiing or biking, I hate having to take my phone out of my pocket to check real-time elevation or other stats, though I do like to keep track of these things for training purposes. In a ski setting, I can see the real-time info being useful in situations like pacing on big vert touring days, a skimo race (nerds!), or even riding chairlifts on a sunny day when you want to track your runs. 

Who Are The Oakley Meta Vanguard Glasses Best For?

Going back to the two questions I mentioned earlier, there’s definitely a clear answer to the first one. The use case is clearly addressed, and they do provide some novel features for skiers, bikers, and other athletes.

All in all, however, I must say that I was a bit underwhelmed by the whole experience wearing the glasses, and can’t really say that they brought me a tangibly better experience while playing outdoors. In fact, I constantly felt distracted from the pure experience of trail running or mountain biking by the thought of “what other feature in the glasses can I use?”

Sure, they’re much more appropriate sunglasses for high-intensity outdoor sports than the Oakley HSTN or Ray-Ban models, but why not just wear much lighter, more durable shades like the Oakley Sutro for those activities? The app integration is cool, but it’s cool in the way of gadgets I used to find at luxury tech stores like The Sharper Image when growing up in New York City. In other words, it’s impressive, but the luster wears off really quickly once you start using it. 

I found myself thinking again and again about what the point of all the tech was. Why do I need to wear a computer that transmits wi-fi and bluetooth signals on my face? Isn’t the point of being in the mountains to escape the drudgery of all that in my day-to-day life? Call me a Luddite, but I’ll probably stick to lower-tech options.