Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses Review: Actually Good?

We test and review the new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, the 2nd-generation glasses that capture photos, video, and work as bluetooth speakers. Based on Ray-Ban's Wayfarer design, these successfully pass off as normal sunglasses or prescription glasses while packing a lot of technology into its frame. We examine photo and video quality, battery life, and the surprising practical use cases for these smart glasses.

Disclosure: This product was sent to us by the manufacturer for purposes of review.

Shot by Joey Fameli and edited by Norman Chan
Music by Jinglepunks

Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks:

Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman

Thanks for watching!

[tested]

Disclosure: This product was sent to us by the manufacturer for purposes of review.

[reticenti]

I also love the form factor of speakers and micophones in the glasses. Its like having it in my head, love it.

[rundeks]

Thank you for talking about the battery lifetime! The lack of full day usage is a show stopper for me.

[daviday]

The inability to control the shutter speed for the reasons you mentioned is a huge downside, along with the lack of horizontal video. Hopefully the next iteration will offer these options.

[captain_zed]

So, when I think of "smart glasses" I think of lenses that can display stuff to me, not just another set of cameras/mics/speakers. This feels like more "influencer" crap that isn't going to be useful for most people. A pair of bone conduction headphones fills 99% of the same functionality for me.

[rickeymariu]

So, as a blind man, there's a company out there that has had this for us for over 5 years. However they were about 1, 800$. I refused because that was too much to pay for me to be able to see with current technology. What are your thoughts about costs?

[CaptainCruise]

Finally figured out that a small dot of black fingernail polish on the light covers it up and everything still works

[AppliedCryogenics]

Without a HUD, its just an IoT cam strapped to your face.

[scottvarley]

I just want a little HUD for like date, time, and maybe a compass.

[NotChar]

I wear raybans as my go-to sunglasses and if they released wayfarers with the speakers but no camera I'd buy it in a second.

[davidmarden]

I'd be interested in how durable they are. Working on cars and trucks my glasses take a beating but being able to take pictures hand free would be great.

[bob_smite]

I wish the glasses used a physical camera cover. The creepy part of smart glasses is the exposed lens where people can't tell if they are being recorded.

I also wish this was like some sort of dash cam. As a pedestrian and cyclist, I can never remember license plates of cars that almost hit me.

[alsmith]

If someonenturned up in my company wearing those I would ask them to leave. Hidden cameras in glasses are the creepiest thing I have ever seen. I cannot think of an idea I am more uncomfortable with.

[troophq]

Your reviews are so comprehensive and informative, thank you so much Norm.

[bjam]

i think the reason people didnt react was, who would have guessed that random white dot means someone is filming, just feels like it isnt enough as a sign that people are filming

[daisuke]

As someone that lives in SEA, i wonder how will the contact points for charging will fare against the constant sweat and humility of the tropics, if the prescriptions lenses gets dirty, can we use water and lil detergent to clean the lens without shortcircuiting it?

[StewartMidwinter]

I've never seen so many Rubbermaid storage boxes before, except inside a Dollarama store!

[TheThursty]

With the cameras I only want beam splitters and such to get an AR Hud.

Google Maps has a nice feature when you're walking around. You hold your camera up and it shows you where to go, even displaying giant arrows when you need to turn. Imagine seeing that in your glasses. That's all I'm saying.

Also maybe just a map, time, notifications, Health points and bullets in your gun visible all the time in the corner would just be amazing!

Probably drains the battery like crazy though

[destinypremo]

Kinda don’t like the fact that it shows the light when taking pictures/recording. In some cases it’s important that a person knows they’re being filmed, but in other cases someone would’ve been able to use it to prove something like domestic abuse in a divorce case or something and if the person knows they’re being filmed it can be a problem… but I get too that this isn’t for “spying” but for live streaming and content creation. Also kinda disappointed in the battery life and the fact that videos can only be up to a minute long… I’d use it to film a project I’m working on and then speed it up in an editor, but I can’t do that if the camera only films up to a minute.

[bnryklLa]

i really want something like this that thrives in low light so i can stream onstage at music festivals but want no meta or platform lockdowns