Oakley Meta Vanguard hands-on: what athletes really need

When the Oakley Meta HSTN arrived earlier this yr, it wasn’t what I assumed Oakley-branded good glasses could be. Sure, that they had Oakley’s well-known PRIZM lenses, however the place was the wraparound design? Where have been the athlete-focused options like stronger water and sweat resistance? Confusingly, it felt just like the HSTN glasses have been simply Ray-Ban Meta glasses by one other title. But that’s as a result of Meta had the actual athlete-focused glasses in its again pocket. Today, the corporate unveiled the brand new $499 Oakley Meta Vanguard — and it has all the pieces outdoorsy athletes may need after which some.

“When we started building HSTN, it was an easier process of developing because most of the things we wanted for low-impact sports, like skating, don’t require a lot of technology in the eyewear from a performance standpoint,” says Oakley international president Caio Amato. Conversely, Amato says, the Vanguards have been envisiond as a “revolution” not only for elite sports activities stars, however weekend warriors and on a regular basis athletes.

Putting on the Vanguards, I felt myself morph into Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights. They’re the quintessential wraparound Oakleys beloved by sports activities coaches, hardcore outside lovers, and Patagonia-clad dads. At 66g, they’re barely extra hefty than the common Ray-Ban Meta glasses, however nonetheless really feel light-weight and safe sufficient for extra intense exercise. That’s partly as a result of the Vanguards will ship with three swappable nosepads to make sure match. The design has additionally been crafted with hats and biking helmets in thoughts, which is why the management buttons are positioned beneath the arms as an alternative of above.

Speaking of buttons, there’s additionally a brand new Action Button that acts as a shortcut for the varied digicam modes. Yes, you learn that proper: modes. The Vanguards have a 12MP, 122-degree digicam positioned smack-dab within the nostril bridge, with a recording indicator mild positioned proper above it. You can now report in 1080p with 30 frames per second for 5 minutes, 1080p at 60fps for 3 minutes, 3K at 30fps for 3 minutes, and 720p at 120fps in a brand new slo-mo mode. There’s additionally a brand new hyperlapse mode that permits you to sew collectively and compress in a kind of spotlight reel. (Hyperlapse and slo-mo will are available a software program replace to all of Meta’s glasses later this fall.) There’s additionally adjustable stabilization, so you possibly can customise based mostly on the depth of the exercise you’re doing. Athletes may program the glasses to begin recording at sure milestones — like after they’re nearing a race’s end line, for example. It’s mainly like placing a GoPro in your face and not using a foolish little face-mount.

The digicam, Amato says, was the largest problem in creating the Vanguards. The need was to seize a first-person perspective, however “from an engineering and design standpoint, it change[d] everything completely from where Ray-Ban Meta were before.” For instance, to get that first-person perspective, Amato says the digicam required a a lot wider subject of view, stronger stabilization, and 3K high quality.

The Vanguards have additionally been tweaked to cater to out of doors efficiency. The lenses are swappable, and a low-light choice shall be obtainable later this yr. Amato says the completely different colours are optimized for sure actions. For instance, should you’re into fishing, it’s your decision the blue lenses as they neutralize blue hues extra.

The audio system are 6db louder. That may not appear to be a lot, however having pushed the quantity, I guarantee you, they will get fairly loud. Amato says that the audio system have been examined on bicycles going as much as 30mph with crowds current, in addition to at highway races, in order that runners may believe their tunes wouldn’t be drowned out on race day. Unlike the common Ray-Ban glasses, these even have a formidable IP67 water- and sweat-resistance ranking. Meaning should you fall out of a kayak, you don’t have to fret concerning the glasses getting wrecked. Battery life additionally has an estimated max of 9 hours, and 6 hours of steady music playback — sufficient for most individuals to complete a marathon. With a case, you get a complete of 36 hours and may cost roughly 50 % in 20 minutes.

But the athlete-focused options don’t cease there. Meta can also be partnering with Strava and Garmin. For the previous, you possibly can add your footage straight to the platform. You’ll additionally be capable to ask Meta’s AI about your historic Strava information. But maybe what’s cooler is that the glasses can pair instantly with sure Garmin watches. (I used to be advised “most newer Garmins should work.”) You can see a Meta AI icon on the Garmin watch, and, mid-run, you possibly can ask the glasses to offer you a readout of your coronary heart price and different stats. Afterward, you possibly can put an overlay along with your exercise’s key metrics in your video footage for sharing on social media. Garmin customers may program the glasses to robotically seize snippets at key moments — for instance, every time you end a mile.

“We wanted to have Garmin and Strava [as partners] because they’re leaders and because they have a community of sports people around them,” says Amato. “We really like the whole idea of this eyewear as enabling those sport communities to not only be their best version, but also to communicate and record better while capturing life.”

There’s extra excellent news should you like coronary heart price zone coaching. There’s a brand new LED mild above the fitting eye that turns pink should you enterprise exterior the goal zone for a given exercise. The LED mild will also be configured to supply pacing alerts.

I took the glasses for a quick spin on a treadmill run and used them to report common and slo-mo video. It was easy and simple through the motion button, however you can even simply ask Meta’s AI to begin recording. There was subsequent to no latency once I requested the glasses to offer me a readout on my coronary heart price. That’s not sufficient to ship a whole verdict, however my first impression is that that is a formidable function set that may enchantment to all types of athletes. I used to be such an enormous fan of the Bose Frames Tempo that I ran a complete half-marathon in them. I’ve felt a bit bereft since they have been discontinued. However, these have been merely audio glasses, and I nonetheless had to make use of my cellphone to seize moments from my race. The capability to condense sun shades, headphones, and a digicam into one piece of kit is vastly interesting whenever you’re attempting to handle a water vest, salt chews, power goos, and sunscreen.

Amato says the response from elite athletes to date has been extremely promising. The firm had superstars like bike owner Mark Cavendish, NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé assist develop and supply suggestions on the system. According to Amato, the glasses left the normally opinionated Cavendish speechless over all the chances. Mahomes purportedly stated that the Vanguards “were not eyewear anymore” however “something completely new.”

I’m no skilled athlete, and we’ll need to put these to the check within the coming weeks. But if they will exchange my Bose Tempo? I’m all the way down to be the captain of Team Jabroni.

The Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses can be found for preorder as we speak and can ship October twenty first.