Meta just dropped its most ambitious wearable yet - the $499 Oakley Meta Vanguard smart glasses designed specifically for high-intensity athletes. Announced at Meta Connect by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, these AI-powered specs promise to revolutionize how athletes train and capture their performance with real-time coaching, automatic video capture, and seamless integration with Garmin and Strava.
Meta is betting big on the intersection of AI and athletics with today's launch of the Oakley Meta Vanguard, smart glasses that transform how serious athletes train, track, and share their performance. The $499 wearable represents a significant evolution from earlier smart glasses, packing enterprise-grade durability into a consumer device that can withstand everything from mountain biking to marathon running.
The timing couldn't be better for Meta. While competitors like Apple focus on general fitness tracking through the Apple Watch, Meta is carving out the high-performance athletics niche with purpose-built hardware. The Vanguard glasses feature IP67 water resistance - the most durable frames Meta has produced - along with Oakley's signature wraparound design and PRIZM lens technology for wind, sun, and dust protection.
What sets these apart isn't just the rugged build, but the deep integration with serious training platforms. Garmin users can now ask "Hey Meta, what's my heart rate?" during a run and get instant voice feedback without breaking stride. The glasses will even light up a status LED in your peripheral vision when you're hitting target metrics like pace or heart rate zones, according to Meta's announcement.
The autocapture feature represents a genuine breakthrough for action sports documentation. The glasses automatically record video clips when athletes hit distance milestones or see spikes in heart rate, speed, or elevation - essentially creating highlight reels without any manual intervention. "You can stay immersed in your workout knowing you'll never miss the shot," Meta explains in their technical specifications.
For Strava enthusiasts, the integration goes beyond basic sharing. Athletes can overlay real-time performance metrics directly onto their 3K video footage, creating rich content that showcases both the visual experience and the data behind their achievements. The 12-megapixel camera with its 122-degree wide-angle lens captures everything from ski slopes to cycling routes in crisp detail.
