Goal has just presented a new model of its new smart glasses and does so by repeating experience with Oakley. However, instead of betting on a mounting -oriented assembly, it is committed to a niche of Very concrete user For their Oakley Meta Vanguard: the High intensity athletes who want to share their training and experiences.
Although my incipient belly and the increase in my pulsations when climbing stairs betrayed That was not the user profile Objective to which these connected glasses were directed, the goal engineers let me try them equally. Although when I took them, I still did not feel like putting on Run a marathon Or pedal for 200 km, I must recognize that it is a product very well focused on its audience.
Real sports design
The first view makes it clear that we are not talking about glasses that fit the outfit that anyone would choose to go out with the friends of the afternoon or on vacation, as would probably do with the Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer or with them Oakley Meta HSTN. They are not casual glasses, but their enveloping design already points to sports use.
The first thing that surprised me when they took them was their weight. Despite being glasses with considerable glass coverage and thick sideburns that end up integrating with the frontal glass, only They weigh 66 gramswhich are 13 grams more than the Meta HSTN.
While it is true that they are not as light as the “analog” sports glasses (which are around 35-45 grams) The Vanguard targets use some tricks that Oakley has applied in their design to look lighter. Instead of dropping the weight on the ears and the bridge of the nose, they distribute it along the surface of the pin that remains in contact with the head.
In addition, the bridge is rubber and removable, which allows the glasses to settle correctly on the nose and prevent it from sliding with the movement or sweat. This accessory would be the equivalent of the headphones pads, but to adapt the goggles bridge to your nose.
Even at the risk of being shot, I could not resist jumping and moving my head as if he were the guitarist of a rock group of the 80s. Not a millimeter moved of your position. That led me to remember the experience of my partner Javier Lacort With the Oakley Meta HSTNthey did move when it ran.
The most prominent element are polarized and interchangeable prizm lenses that protect from the sun even on the sides. They are more heavy than conventional sports glasses, but the three -point adjustment system (bridge and after the ears) distributes the weight of the glasses so that it is barely noticeable.
How could it be otherwise, glasses They have IP67 protection And they resist sweat, rain, splashes, dust, snow and even mud. In addition, the lenses have anti -ñazos resistance in their four glass finishes: 24k (golden), black, road (violet) and saphire (blue). If the crystal will be damaged (for a fall, for example) or want to change style, it can be replaced by another replacement that is sold separately by 85 dollars.
Audio, Chamber and … Action !!
So far, the Oakley Meta Vanguard could be any of the sports glasses to the use of the Oakley catalog, but it is now when it is time to discover the goal hand.
Something that I realize is that, beyond the obvious design change, in reality (and with some nuances that I will designate below) the avant -garde technology does not contribute (almost) nothing new with respect to the HSTN goal, with which Share 90% of its equipment of sound, camera functions or functions of artificial goal intelligence. That makes the “wow” effect be diluted to be before a new product.
Like the rest of the goal smart glasses, it has a system of five proximity microphones. That makes, although whoever is by your side also has finish glasses, when running voice commands for the goal assistant AI, only the glasses you wear are activated.
Although I could not check it for myself, the goal engineers assured me that these microphones had optimized to filter external noise and wind, more than reasonable in a device with which it is possible to respond to a call while descending skiing the slope of a snowy mountain or traveling the paths of a forest at full speed.
What I could try is the sound. Second surprise: They sound really good. As they told me in the finish line, the speakers are 60% more powerful than in previous models. As in the previous models of finish glasses, the speakers are located at the bottom of the pin and oriented towards the auditory pavilion, which makes the sound arrive naturally.
Against all prognosis, the bass had enough presence and gave the feeling of canned sound. Again, I could not try them in a noisy or wind environment, but in a room with several people around me talking animatedly and with an average volume, the audio remained well defined.
One of the details that I could see is that up to 60 or 70% nobody by your side listen to what you are listening, from that level a murmur is heard (as in normal headphones) but it is not possible to clearly identify what it sounds like.
The main difference of the Vanguard target with respect to the other two models of target glasses, is that the camera is not on one side, but is located just above the nose. When working, an LED light turns on the upper edge.
This location and its 122º field of vision It makes the feeling of being recording exactly what you see, since the perspective of the glasses coincides with that of your eyes. As in the Oakley Meta HSTN, this 12 megapixel camera records with a 3K resolution at 30 fps. In addition to being able to take photos, there are three video modes: normal, hyperlapse (fast camera) and slow motion (slow camera).
Control assisted by AI
The way to control the glasses is the same as in the rest of the goal models: a button under the dust makes the functions of the camera and start the video recording, but they can also be activated by invoking the finish line with a “hey target” and ask to take a photo, video or slow motion. To stop it, just repeat the command. A small LED located inside the pin allows you to confirm looking sideways if, indeed, it is recording or if it has stopped.
Unfortunately, the finish lines did not allow me to export the photos and videos that I made to an external device to see the result on a larger screen, but from what I could see on the iPhone 16 screen they were using as support, the quality of the photos and videos is good
In the right patilla there is a touch zone with which the volume of the sound sliding up or down; go to the next song or the previous sliding forward or backward; or pause and play music with a pulsation or two. If you want to change the playlist, you just have to pronounce the magical words and ask the AI.
The voice assistant is not the only function that allows AI. As sports glasses that are precious from being, one of the novelties of this model is its Integration with the Garmin Connect and Strava appswhich uses as a source to know data such as your pulsations, the distance traveled or your training rhythm. Through a voice command, you can ask the vanguard that, for example, you indicate your times back, distance, etc., from time to time, so that the need to look at is avoided The clock screen or the app.
Based on these data, the Meta AI can activate the Auto Capture function to automatically record when those moments in the form of small video clips with the best moments of your training and join them in a video ready to share it on networks. Everything without having to do anything.
All the capacity of the glasses is based on the app that you have installed on the mobile, hence, beyond the auto capture function, it is the same one that we find in the Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer or the Oakley Meta HSTN.
On paper, the Oakley Meta Vanguard They promise up to 9 hours of mixed use or about 6 hours of continuous audio playback. The case adds another 36 hours. In theory it is enough to cover a week of training without worrying too much about the charger, but it is something that we will have to check more carefully.
With the Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer, goal put the goal in Develop a new product and put all the technology of connected glasses and that they do not seem. The published data by Wired citing Counterpoint they point out that they succeeded and they are selling them very well, since global shipments of this type of wearables shot at 156% year -on -year in 2023 and in 210% in 2024, representing in 2024 60% of the entire world market.
As we highlighted in the Analysis of the Oakley Meta HSTNthe second goal model stayed a bit in nobody’s land. They were neither 100% sports, nor 100% “casual”. Instead, the Oakley Meta Vanguard, do have a well -defined and perimetering audience, and it is also An audience that tends to share their achievements in social networksso in order (Instagram parent company, ThreadsWhatsApp and Facebook), honey on flakes.
Its benefits and design are consistent with that audience that usually already uses glasses of these characteristics, it carries some Bone driving headphones For their training and a chamber of action is mounted in the helmet or in a harness. That audience now has everything in a single device.
Image | Xataka, goal
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