Oakley Meta Vanguard hands-on: GoPro has some real competition

Meta is taking its smart glasses to the outdoors — and might give GoPro a real run for its money. Announced today at Meta Connect, the Oakley Meta Vanguard smart glasses are meant for those who want to record all their daring feats.

Plus, thanks to a partnership with Garmin, they'll also be able to keep tabs on their vitals while they're running, skiing, or biking. We had a chance to go hands-on with the Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses at Meta Connect 2025 — here's our early impressions of these fun new specs, and how they compare to some of the best smart glasses..

Oakley Meta Vanguard: 5 things to know

• 3K camera has a wider field of view than Ray-Bans, and can take slo-mo video
• 9 hours of battery life
• IP67 water resistance
• Can be paired with Garmin watches to report heart rate and other stats
• Available in October for $599

Oakley Meta Vanguard: Price and availability

The Vanguards will be available for preorder today (Sept. 17) and go on sale in October. They'll cost $499/€549/£499 and come in four frame and lens color combos: Black, Road, Sapphire, and 24K, the last of which is gold, and really looked stunning in person.

Fortunately, the lenses for the Vanguard are replaceable — a must if you're prone to hard-core activities, or simply want to change your look. Lenses will cost $85 each.

Oakley Meta Vanguard: Design and fit

The Vanguard's wrap-around design made me feel like Jose Canseco or Mark McGuire circa 1989 (minus the bulging biceps). While it's a look that's not for everyone, I did appreciate that their more immersive lenses did a better job at blocking the sun than other models.

They're also very comfortable. At 66 grams, they're heavier than the 52-gram Ray-Bans, but I barely felt the weight as I was wearing them.

The Vanguards are also designed to have a replaceable nose piece, to better fit your face. Unlike the Ray-Bans, where the camera is on the right side, the camera for the Vanguard sits in the bridge of the nose, so as to better capture your derrings-do.

The Vanguard's speakers and microphones have also been modified for the outdoors; the glasses have five microphones, and are designed to work even when you're traveling at up to 30 MPH. Same for the speakers, which are louder than the Ray-Bans.

The Vanguard also has two buttons on one of its arms. One controls photos and video, and the other is customizable.

Oakley Meta Vanguard: Camera

Like the Ray-Ban meta gen 2 smart glasses, the Vanguard has a camera that can record video at resolutions up to 3K (at 30 fps). However, it has a wider 122-degree field of view, as opposed to 110 degrees on meta's other glasses.

Additionally, the Vanguard can record 1080p video at 30 fps for up to 5 minutes, 1080p/60fps for up to three minutes, and 720p video at 120 fps. There's also a time-lapse feature for when you want to record even longer videos.

You also get electronic image stabilization, and can select from low, medium, or high. Considering how well GoPro and Insta360 have perfected this feature, we're curious to see how it works on the Vanguard.

Oakley Meta Vanguard: Garmin integration

One of the cooler things about the Vanguard is its integration with Garmin watches. When you pair your watch with the glasses, you can have it tell you your heart rate, pace, distance, and other metrics.

You can also simply say "hey meta, how am I doing?" and the glasses will give you a summary of your activity to that point.

When you're finished with your ride/run/skiing, you can use the Meta app to overlay your fitness metrics on top of your video.

Oakley Meta Vanguard: Battery life

Because you're presumably going to use them a lot more outdoors, the Vanguard have a longer battery life than their counterparts. Meta says the Vanguard will last up to 9 hours, though that will depend on how much you're using the camera and features like electronic image stabilization.

The glasses come with a rather sizable charging case that can provide an additional 36 hours of battery life. And, you can get a 50% charge in just 20 minutes.

Oakley Meta Vanguard: Early verdict

GoPro could have some real competition here. Whenever I go skiing or biking, I like to bring one of the best action cameras with me to capture whatever it is I'm doing. However, the idea of having the camera integrated into my glasses themselves has real appeal — especially if the electronic image stabilization is legit.

Now, I doubt that the quality of the Vanguard's camera will come anywhere close to a GoPro (which has a far bigger sensor), but the Vanguard has other uses outside of photography and video could make it the more appealing device for those who don't necessarily want to capture 4K video.

And, those who already have one of the best Garmin watches will also find additional appeal in the Vanguard, as it'll save them from having to look down at their wrist while they're running or biking.

We can't wait to put the Oakley Meta Vanguard through their paces as we work up a sweat, so stay tuned.

More from Tom's Guide

• Meta Hypernova smart glasses: Rumors, leaks and everything we know
• I just tried Ray-Ban Meta's latest AI updates
• Oakley Meta HSTN smart glasses review: What I love (and what's .missing)