The Oakley Meta Vanguard are a great pair of running glasses with a built-in camera that’s capable of capturing good quality video and photos. The onboard speakers also deliver strong open-ear audio, while integration with Garmin watches and Strava works surprisingly well to give them added runner appeal.
They do come with a premium price and are only available with a wraparound-style design. If you’re looking for glasses that can do a solid job of replacing your camera, action camera and headphones and want to sharing your running sights on the likes of Instagram and TikTok, then you’ll like what the Vanguard has to offer.
Beyond those features, they do feel like running with a regular pair of Oakley running sunglasses, despite the added weight to compensate for the added hardware.
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Design & Key Stats
- Price: £499/$499
- Size: 136 x 59 x 120mm
- Weight: 66g
- Lenses: Oakley Prizm
- Prescription lenses: Not officially available
- Camera: 12-Megapixel photos, up to 3k resolution video
- Audio: Two open-ear speakers
- Connectivity: Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
- Water resistance: IP67
- Battery life: Up to 9 hours
- Storage: 32GB
Oakley Meta Vanguard Review
The Run Test: Likes
The Oakley Meta Vanguard feels like wearing a normal pair of Oakley running glasses. The wraparound frame sits snug with optional nose pads included to improve the fit and overall comfort.
There’s a combination of both physical and touch controls that both work well on the move. The physical ones are used for capturing video and photos, while the touch ones are assigned to control audio streaming. There’s a nice big surface area where the touch controls live to make them easy to reach out for.
The built-in camera is capable of capturing some really rewarding results, with features like added stabilisation to compensate for movement and a crop cap mode to help cut out running caps from footage.
We really liked the sound quality from the speakers, which offers some of the best open-ear sound we’ve experienced. It’s up there with some of the best open-ear headphones we’ve tested for overall performance.
The integration with Garmin watches works well too. Particularly the ability to overlay data from runs over footage and use Meta’s voice assistant to ask about your key running metrics. An auto capture mode that captures video and photos based on running performance can also yield good results.
The Run Test: Dislikes
From a design point of view, the Oakley Meta Vanguard weighs heavier than a regular pair of Oakley running glasses. That weight hasn’t been an issue in our testing, but if you want one of the lightest pair of running glasses, the Vanguard are not the ones for you. The Vanguard unfortunately doesn’t officially support the ability to add in prescription lenses and also comes with a very large charging case.
The built-in camera can take good photos and video, but still won’t match what you can get from a similarly priced smartphone. You need to play around and get to grips with shooting from the glasses to get the most rewarding results. You can only shoot in portrait mode, which is ideal if you’re sharing to the likes of Instagram but not so much if you’re planning to use footage for YouTube.
We didn’t love the Meta AI integration all that much, which is a section of the app we largely ignored. The battery isn’t top notch if you’re planning to stream audio and make use of the onboard camera during a run.
Lastly, there’s the price. These are a very expensive pair of glasses, even for Oakley. These are the most expensive Meta-powered glasses available.
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Verdict And Alternatives
The Oakley Meta Vanguard is a pretty unique proposition. There aren’t many running glasses that offer the combination of a camera, speakers and a built-in voice assistant.
You’d probably have to look to the Oakley Meta HSTN or Ray-Ban Meta glasses as alternatives. These glasses offer similar features, including the Vanguard’s Garmin and Strava integration. They are also cheaper and support adding in prescription lenses.
Those glasses are not specifically built with fitness in mind. That includes offering weaker protection against moisture and lacking the more secure and customisable Vanguard design that’s built for activities like running and cycling.
If you want something built for running, the Vanguard are smart running glasses that pretty much standalone.