Meta’s latest attempt to strap cameras to your face comes in the form of $299 Ray-Bans that are essentially glorified spy glasses with a chatbot thrown in for good measure. Sure, they look like normal Wayfarers, but let’s call them what they are: Zuckerberg’s latest bid to normalize surveillance tech under the guise of fashion.

The sales pitch is classic Silicon Valley: They’re “just” glasses that happen to record everything you see, stream audio into your ears and let you chat with an AI that’s probably mining your conversations for ad data.

Yes, the camera quality is decent, and the audio works fine unless you’re anywhere noisy. The AI features? The LLM (Meta AI’s Llama 3) passed a couple of tests by identifying the artist of a painting hanging on a wall in front of me and the actor in the Netflix show I was watching. But I quickly learned to keep queries simple because complex questions were answered as though I were asking Siri to explain a broken wing iron butterfly.

But here’s the real kicker: I loved them. Sure, it’s a masterclass in making the creepy seem cool—but, they are cool! I can see how the product has sold an estimated 700,000 units in its first year and more than doubled shipments from the first and second quarters of 2024. Market intelligence firm IDC estimates over 1.8 million smart glasses will be sold this year. I will take the “over.”

I called friends via WhatsApp and essentially livestreamed what I was seeing to them. The translation feature worked exceptionally well on a French novella, and the camera took great images with a simple touch to the temple. The microphone is excellent, and the speakers are better than you’d expect. The only real negative: Battery life. Record a three one-minute videos, and you will lose 10% of your charge. Normal to frequent use resulted in the battery dying in four to five hours, forcing you to carry around a charging case like some kind of reluctant digital nomad. You can charge from zero back to 50% in about 20 minutes.

The bottom line?

I found them genuinely useful as everyday glasses, and prescription lenses are available. After returning them, I thought of dozens of use cases. Not too mention, they’re pretty stylish as sunglasses. So, I will be a buyer. Turns out my niece has a 15% employee discount.

So, I’m thinking the Dusty Blue Wayfarers ($329).

The Luckbox rating:

4.5 out of 5 luckboxes