A Year and a Half with Smart Glasses from a Blindness Perspective

AUDIO VERSION

By Jeffrey Stark

If you're blind and considering smart glasses, you've likely heard the promises and some of the buzz around the glasses. I’ve had the opportunity to use these glasses and a number of previous similar tools (e.g. Envision glasses, OrCam, etc).  After spending a year and a half using both the Ray-Ban Meta glasses and more recently switching to the Meta Oakley Vanguard, I want to share what these devices actually do and where they fall short.

The Meta glasses generally run the same platform and have the same features whether you are looking at the Meta Ray-Bans or the Meta Vanguards. There are several versions of each, but I'll be talking specifically about the ones I’ve owned and used extensively.

Ray-Ban Gen 1 vs Gen 2

The original Ray-Ban Meta had significant battery limitations. You would get approximately two to three hours of continuous use before needing to charge. The Gen2 version addresses this with eight-plus hours of battery life, making all-day use feasible.

The design does have a potential negative consideration: light enters from the sides of the lenses, creating reflections that some users find distracting or headache-inducing. The impact varies by person, but it's worth noting if you're sensitive to light reflections or ambient light.

The Ray-Ban has one programmable button. The single control button can be used to launch a custom feature or function. This single control option limits customization without accessing your phone's interface or verbalising a command with the glasses.

Oakley Vanguard

Oakley’s Vanguard uses a visor-style design rather than traditional eyeglass frames. This design keeps light from entering the sides. It also has the camera in the middle rather than the sides of the glasses.

Battery performance is solid: like the Ray-Bans Gen2 with eight-plus hours with an additional 36 hours available through the charging case. This means you can maintain extended use throughout a day without searching for a power outlet.

The centered camera position on the Vanguards makes a measurable difference when trying to focus on specific objects. It eliminates the fighting-with-angles problem you encounter with the Ray-Bans which have an off-center lens.

You get two programmable buttons on the Vanguard. This matters because you can assign one button to launch functions like Live AI mode without navigating menus or verbalising a command which is a practical advantage for quick access.

The Vanguard is built with better weather and water resistance than the Ray-Bans. If you spend time outside in varying weather conditions, this durability translates to longer device lifespan and a better outdoor experience.

What the AI Actually Does (and Doesn't Do)

All the various units use the same AI engine from Meta.  After a year and a half of use, my experience is that the AI capabilities are solid at specific tasks and limited elsewhere.

The AI provides accurate descriptions of scenes and environments. Walking into a room and asking "what's in here" returns useful spatial information. I've used it to locate an empty seat in a room when arriving at an unfamiliar space. This is practical, everyday use that actually helps.

The AI cannot read car license plates or extract text from medical labels--refusing to do so because it might give the impression of violating your privacy or the privacy of others. It struggles with extended text passages. If you need to read a document or multi-paragraph information, these glasses aren't the tool for that task.

Live mode has significant limitations with moving subjects. I attempted to use it during a Christmas parade to describe floats as they passed. The AI would lock onto a float and fail to update when I asked it to look again, even as new floats moved into view. My sighted daughter confirmed the glasses were stuck on outdated information rather than capturing current items. I ran into this same scenario a number of times in other situations. This real-time tracking gap is substantial.

Finding specific objects can be unreliable. I've tried using the AI to locate elevators or doorways in buildings. Sometimes it works; frequently it doesn't. You cannot depend on it as a navigation tool.

Also, the AI performs less effectively at factual lookups and information retrieval compared to Google or Alexa. It's not designed as a general knowledge assistant; it's built for visual tasks.

For Christmas, I often do all my wrapping at once and this year, in addition to using phone apps like Be my eyes, Seeing AI and Lookout, I also had the Meta Vanguards with me. The goal was to read text or look up images to identify the content of packages to know what’s inside before wrapping.  I will say the glasses were often useful but using quick OCR on the phone was faster and more reliable for this task.

My Conclusion

After eighteen months, the distinction between marketing promises and actual capability is clear. These glasses won't replace your phone's camera and apps in all situations. They're useful for specific functions: getting environmental context without pulling out your phone, understanding room layouts, and quick scene descriptions.

Once you identify what these glasses do well for your needs, they become a practical addition to your toolkit rather than a revolutionary device. Your choice depends on what matters most to you and how you'll use the glasses.

If you want glasses that look like traditional eyewear, Ray-Ban frames have a conventional appearance. You don't need extensive weather resistance. You'll be working with one programmable button and managing the side light reflection issue.

Vanguard is the better fit if light is a concern or you're outside frequently and need durability against weather conditions. Additionally, two programmable buttons give you meaningful functionality without accessing your phone constantly. The centered camera position works better for how you interact with the glasses. The trade-off is they look less like conventional glasses and they do cost more than the Ray-Bans.

A year and a half of use has taught me these are practical tools with clear strengths and limitations. The Ray-Bans work if you want a less visible device. The Vanguard offers better construction and more control options.

No matter which set you are considering, go in with accurate expectations about what they can and cannot do. That's when they become genuinely useful.