Our thoughts on the Meta Ray Ban smart glasses for nosework

The guest co-author on this blog post is Rhonda Lockwood.  Rhonda's partner is Raven, a very accomplished German Shepherd Dog.  They split their time between South Dakota and Arizona and compete in NACSW nosework and AKC Scent Work.  Rhonda got her Meta Ray Ban smart glasses soon after I got mine and she generously agreed to provide her thoughts.  

I believe capturing video for review in both practice and competition nosework searches is one of the most important things one can do to identify team weaknesses and mistakes and thus drive improvement.   It's fun to use video to participate in online classes and exercises like the NACSW Skills Challenges, and the videos make for wonderful memories, too.  Possibly most importantly, they document progress and also let you cherish and celebrate times where things went really right.  

There are basically two types of videos possible under the rules (not all are allowed by all venues): 

1. Handler viewpoint, usually characterized as "chest" or "head" mount
2. Onlooker viewpoint, including professional videographer services, stationary tripod mount or handheld video by another person.

Both types can provide a lot of value.  Onlooker viewpoint gives a "big picture" that shows how you are moving, shifting your weight, what direction your feet, hips and shoulders are facing.  It may show what is going on around you during the search.  Personally, if professional video is available, I'm going to buy it.  And I use tripod-mount for a lot of class and other online submissions because the guidelines often specify that the video should show both handler and dog.

In handler viewpoint, it's pretty easy to tell if you weren't oriented toward your dog, or weren't looking at your dog, and just discovering that can be worth it.  Handler viewpoint video is handy for any exercise requiring a video submission when you need to move around a corner or cover a big area.  And it is so great to have for trials -- you can review it right after a run, "what happened in there?"  You don't have to find a friend who is not entered or who has already searched to video you.  And you have a record to review in the situations where there is no professional videographer. 

For handler viewpoint, the vast majority of people are using Go-Pro type cameras, often the same ones the professional videographers are using, with a chest mount, a headband mount, or clipped onto a headband or at the waist.  I originally wrote that I thought Go-Pro was the "gold standard" for handler-viewpoint video.  Not everyone agreed, and Rhonda put together this terrific analysis: 

Further, Rhonda has recorded three different searches using all three methods at once, in order to compare and contrast.  Each video shows the search from the perspective of the cell phone and tripod, then the Go Pro chest mount, then the Meta Ray Ban glasses:

Interior Search #1

Interior Search #2

Containers 

People often ask what they look like, what styles are available, how much do they cost, etc.  The best resources for that are the Meta Store, The Ray Ban Store, Reddit groups or Facebook Groups (lots of selfies on that last, not my favorite resource).  A couple of important things: 

• There are presently 3 frame styles.  Try to find frames at a sticks and bricks retailer to try on, but be aware sales associates are often not familiar with the options and one can usually find the broadest range of options online through Meta or Ray Ban
• Wayfarer   (comes in two sizes and the large is REALLY large)
• Headliner  (comes in two nosebridge heights)  
• Skyler 

• Frame colors vary.  Some are translucent.  There are limited frame color / lens combinations, i.e. you can only get the red lenses in the blue frames.  They occasionally offer limited edition colors for substantial markup.  

• Standard lens options are
• Clear 
• Blue-violet light screening (computer use)
• Transition
• Do not darken behind U/V protection glass like a windshield
• Do not get REALLY dark 
• Be aware some of the "clear" Transitions are subtly tinted 
• No "factory" Transition lenses are polarized
• These take about 30 seconds to fully darken or lighten 
• Sunnies
• Lens colors vary
• Only some are polarized
• Prescription lenses are available through Meta and they say they will take FSA and HSA.
• Other lens colors -- sunglasses, transitions, tints, polarization, and prescription are also available from other vendors.  Many users "pop these in" themselves.  

• If you have access to an educator or student email, look for discounts available to you  
• Lots of "influencers" got free glasses, sometimes several pairs, and those are often available 'new in box' on Ebay
• Meta has just announced a collab with Oakley, for "performance" smart glasses, "coming soon."  UPDATE: Info shows they have additional storage and polarized lenses but no mention of longer video capability

Here's the Meta article on what the smart glasses can do and how they work.  

• An app is required, so you need either an Android or ios Phone or Tablet.  There is no way to connect the glasses to a laptop or desktop computer.
• Both Rhonda (ios) and I (Android) found the app to be very user-friendly and intuitive.  
• The app is how you change settings, like the default length of a video.  Choices are 30 seconds, 1 minute or 3 minutes.  
• I also turn on "auto import" so if the glasses are in range of the phone, videos and pictures will automatically get sucked onto the phone's memory and deleted from the glasses.
• Not much works at the same time as video is recording!  You can set timers, play music, ask "what am I looking at?" or "what time is it" or lots of other "automated assistant" things but pretty much nothing works at the same time as video recording.  
• So you could use these to time your search and to play music during your search but if you turn on video, both those things stop.
• They do seem to understand all my spoken commands quite well with the exception of playing music.  They do that through the apps on my phone so maybe it's just my apps but if I say, for example, "play the soundtrack from Dear Evan Hansen" I'm more likely to get "Here are Country favorites by Jennifer Hanson on Sirius XM" or (heaven help me) "Here's mmmBop from Hanson on Amazon Music." 

I haven't played around with all the AI things the glasses can do, which seems ridiculous given the expense, but I'm like, "no, these are my NOSEWORK glasses, I just do NOSEWORK with them."

• Many of the AI features only work in the US, which is unfortunate if you really wanted to use the real-time translation feature to enter an SDDA trial in Quebec and don't speak French, for example.
•  The "what am I looking at?" feature has hugely variable results, but, often, it provides a very broad description:

The glasses say this is "A bush, or maybe some flowers"
(which was funny because, moments before, it identified sagebrush and gave the Latin name, too!) 

Other than nosework, however, my main enjoyment with them has been the ability to take pictures and video, especially while walking the dogs... Now, there are lots of times when I say "gosh, I wish I had the camera glasses on right now!"  They are a bit heavier than my "usual" (drug store Foster Grant) sunglasses and not quite as comfortable, but definitely not such an irritation that I think about them during a search.  In fact, one problem has been forgetting which sunglasses I have on and going to a search with the wrong ones!  Rhonda says "I love it for dog walking, taking pictures and videos and I also love it for talking on the phone. It’s as clear for the people on the other end as my AirPods!!"

Initially, friends were taken aback by the glasses, saying, nervously, "we'll have to watch what we say around Kristi now, with the spy glasses!"  There is an externally-visible LED that comes on when you are recording, though, and Meta has made it pretty darned impossible to cover that up.  But with the 3 minute limit and the very visible/audible on/off mechanisms, it's kind of hard to get much covert action out of them (which is great, imo).  

There is a 'status" light on the inside of the right temple.  It turns on when recording video but I find it impossible to see in any kind of light at all.  This photo was taken in the dark.  

LED glows when recording - but it is hard to see in sunlight
There are cameras on both sides, but the LED is only on the right side.

But, specific to nosework, things to know: 

It is true that the glasses, right now, are limited to 3 minutes of recording.  That has been okay for NACSW for me so far through NW3.  For AKC Detective, I've needed to press the button on the right temple to re-start video when they have timed out.  I could use voice to re-start but it would likely distract my dog.  And I did have to set the time to 3 minutes from the default 30 seconds using the app, but only had to do that once.  The videos splice nicely, it's hard to spot the missing action if you move smoothly to restart recording, and its easy to train yourself to do that based on the "video stopped" tone in your ear.   Rhonda says "sometimes I am too much in the moment and I forget to restart it in a longer search."

The battery life has been great.  Using the glasses to stream audio from your phone or voice in the case of phone calls, runs the battery down the most.  The case that they come with is also a charging bank.  I "fill" the charge on the case before a trial.  When I return from a search, I transfer the video for the search to my phone and then put the glasses in the case to fully recharge and so I don't sit on them or something.   I do think I could probably go a full weekend without recharging the case but it's just a USB-C plug and that's what I have for my phone, so I typically recharge the case at night at the hotel or wherever, just as with my Ryobi batteries, better safe than sorry and all that. 

The case is a battery bank.  The light comes on whenever you close the case and is green if the glasses are fully charged, yellow if they are not.  You can check the charge level of the case on the phone app. 

The other reason I slap them back into my case quickly, though, is that I don't want to be careless with them.  I've seen plenty of reports where the glasses stopped working and people have reported significant issues getting even warranty service.  People have also said the glasses are badly affected by sweat.  Anyone who knows me will tell you I flop sweat like it's my job, especially at a trial, but that might be a good reason to look at the Oakley version of the glasses when they come out because they should be more environmentally-tough.  

The glasses will hold up to 33 minutes of video but if you offload after each search, like I do, they will delete from the glasses, so running out of storage isn't a problem (at least on the glasses... on my phone... that's another issue!) 

If you are recording video and within reach of your phone when you receive a call, the video will stop!  I had relied on being out of range of my phone when searching, but Rhonda said: "I just say 'Hey, Meta!  Stop all notifications for two hours.'"  😮   Rhonda is so smart! 

  
The temple button to trigger video recording or take a photograph is straightforward with clear confirmation tones so you know what it's doing.  They just changed the tones with version 16 at the end of June, 2025.  That will take some getting used to.  The on/off switch is also easy, inside the left temple.  The right earpiece has a touchpad along the outside, so pushing a piece of hair out of the way can Accidentally Make Things Happen, mostly adjusting audio volume.  For those who play music during their searches, this would be a great option as it really isn't audible to anybody but you, with the speakers right there by your ears.  But you can't play music and record video at the same time.

There is a countdown timer function but you can't use it at the same time as recording video.

The glasses are 12 MP wide angle, but not as wide angle as I might like.  I'm super happy with the stabilization although not everyone is and there are claims that there will be software improvements in it over time.  The bigger issue is they only record in portrait mode.   Portrait mode uploads to YouTube typically go into their "Shorts" folder which does not show the time signature when the video plays... so I can't directly upload a video to YouTube for a class and tell my instructor "see the thing at 32 seconds."  To get that back, I can change the video format with an editing program before I upload or I can use Vimeo instead of YouTube because Vimeo will still show the time signature, but it's kind of irritating.  

You need to watch out for hat brims and hair!  A low brim will be in frame.  And you'll be amazed at the hair that your brain totally screens out because it's only over one eye and not both -- but it totally obscures video.  

Nice search completely blocked by my chin-length hair, even though it's indoors with no wind!

The transition lenses do not get *really* dark and none of the factory-issue transition lenses are polarized.  People, including me, don't like these glasses for driving, not least because the UV protection in your windshield keeps them from darkening at all when in the car.  The transition takes about 30 seconds to fully darken or clear.  However, I think they are just about perfect for searching, especially dark interior to bright exterior (or vice versa) situations.  It almost feels like the transition helps my eyes adjust gradually instead of just being "I'm blind!" as I walk in the door and my dog alterts on a threshold hide.  

The glasses are capable of live streaming.    IF you are connected to the internet through your phone and your phone is in proximity to the glasses, you can live stream what you are seeing from the glasses to the internet.  Anyone with appropriate permissions through your Facebook or Instagram can see what you are seeing through the glasses.  

• Could they thus be used to cheat? Well, cheaters gonna cheat, right?  One of the organizations used to ban cell phones in the search area, because of the potential for "double handling."  At least some of the Go Pro cameras can also live stream, so this isn't exactly a new thing for our sport to deal with.
• Possibly the more interesting idea is whether this might mean a way around the 3 minute limit.  Livestreams are limited in length only to the battery life of the glasses, estimated at 30-45 minutes.  
• Can you save the video?  When I did a short Facebook Live, the video showed up on my Facebook feed.  But at the end of the Live, I was offered the opportunity to download the video.  I thought that would end up on my phone, but it downloaded to the glasses!  And then I imported it from there.  So one would think the 33 minute storage limit would also come into play?  
• It is possible to create a Facebook Live whose view is limited to "just me."  BUT wouldn't it be awful beyond belief should you forget to tick that box and your search went out "over the air" to anyone and everyone.  😱😱😱😱   I think it comes under the same heading as "make sure no one can see and you turn the volume down if you review your video when you get back to the car."  
• And the setup is a bit more involved and you have to be able to see your phone screen, which I hardly ever can outdoors.  But I do think its worth exploring.  
• After exploration, I think the issue is that your internet has to be high-speed, rock solid.  If you've watched many Lives, you'll have seen that there are often connectivity issues, even when the presenters are sitting at computers.  Walking around, getting in the "shadow" of buildings and vegetation...  Dang it, I don't think this is a solution.  But I'd love to hear from anyone who thinks differently! 

So that's what Rhonda and I think about the glasses.  If you have them and would like me to add your comments to this, we would love to do that!  If you have questions we haven't answered, we'd be glad to do that, too.  A comment here on the blog will reach us.