I went on a sightseeing run in London with the Oakley Meta Vanguard smart glasses — here’s 5 things I like and 2 I disliked

I’ve lived in London for over 10 years, and yet I’ve probably done less sightseeing in the city than the average tourist does in a week. When you live somewhere, it’s always too easy to put off visiting landmarks for another day.

When the Oakley Meta Vanguard smart glasses arrived for testing, it seemed the perfect incentive to go and take in some sights, because I could do it on my lunch run while filming with the glasses.

I’m used to using one of the best action cameras or my phone to record my activities, but I was greatly impressed by the Vanguard glasses on my run.

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You can check out the highlights of my run in this Instagram post, and I’ve dived into what I liked and disliked about using the Oakley Meta Vanguard smart glasses on the run below.

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Like #1: They’re more convenient than a phone or action camera

I’ve been on plenty of runs where I’ve had to take sunglasses, headphones, and an action camera with me, and the Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses cover all those bases.

They’re particularly convenient for filming clips. You can just press the button or give a voice command and film away, as opposed to having to get my phone or camera out of a running belt.

It meant I could take clips of the London landmarks I passed easily without having to pause my run, and in general, I find the simplicity of using the glasses means I take more clips and photos on my runs.

Like #2: The stabilization works well for running

Videos you film while running with the glasses are not as buttery-smooth as when cycling or skiing; the stabilization is still impressive, with just a little bit of bouncing.

I’ve also been impressed by the quality of the videos taken on the glasses — they really can replace a phone or camera without worrying you’re getting sub-standard clips.

Like #3: The sound quality is surprisingly good

I mostly use open- or bone-conduction headphones when running, and the Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses sound just as good when playing music or podcasts on the go.

The speakers are also loud — louder than on bone conduction headphones — so I could still hear my audio clearly even when running in busy areas in the center of London.

Like #4: You can link them to your Garmin watch

Oakley Meta Vanguard and Garmin Forerunner 970 — (Image credit: Future)

The Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses link easily to the best Garmin watches, which means you can overlay your stats from the run directly onto the videos you film in the Meta app.

You can also ask the glasses for live stats like your pace and heart rate during the run, though I don’t find this that useful myself — glancing at my watch is still quicker and easier than asking my glasses.

To link your Garmin watch, you need to install the metadata field from the Garmin Connect IQ app store, then select which activities you want to sync with the glasses.

Like #5: It’s simple to get the clips onto your phone

One thing that always puts me off using any new filming equipment is if it’s hard to access the clips afterwards. I like using my phone for that reason, because it’s so simple to send the clips to other apps and edit them.

The Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses make things very easy on this front. You open the Meta app, and the clips quickly sync to your phone. Then it’s easy to use those clips in apps like Capcut or Edits to make videos for social media.

Dislike #1: You can’t shoot in landscape mode

I make YouTube videos covering new running gear and tech, and I hoped the Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses would be useful for this, but the lack of a landscape filming mode means that they’re really only useful for social media, where portrait video reigns supreme.

The lack of a landscape mode also means it’s sometimes difficult to capture everything you want to in one shot, especially when taking in an epic view.

Dislike #2: It takes time to get used to the field of view

The field of view on the Oakley Meta Vanguard is tall and narrow, and I often accidentally had my running cap in frame, or didn’t tilt my head forward enough to film things like my watch on my wrist.

I also found that I didn’t get close enough to some landmarks to film them well — Marble Arch is absent from my reel as a result — even though it felt like I was near enough to get a good video.

It takes a little while to get used to what you film with the Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses, so you might miss out on some highlights you thought you’d filmed in your first few attempts to use them.

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