A Skier's Review: Oakley Meta HSTN Smart Sunglasses

Oakley Meta HSTN Sunglasses Specs

• Features: Meta AI app integration, immersive audio, 12MP photo camera, 3K video camera, Oakley Prizm 4K Lens
• Battery Life: 8 hours under normal use
• Price: $499

What Are Oakley’s New “Smart Glasses”?

As “smart” glasses still seem to be a pretty obscure and niche accessory outside of Silicon Valley these days, I’ll do my best to explain what they actually do. For the most part, they are, well…just sunglasses. They protect your eyes from the sun. Connect them to your smartphone, however, and they quickly become a whole lot more.

Perhaps the two most usable features for mountain athletes are the built-in immersive audio system (think: tiny speakers) and the integrated photo and video camera. The audio quality on the immersive speakers is very impressive, and the fact that nothing actually goes into your ear means that you can still hear your surroundings–a key feature for athletes. I’ve actually mostly stopped wearing in-ear headphones or wireless earbuds when skiing or biking because I’ve found them to throw off my balance. Having a sense of ambient noise and not having an object plugging my ear canal seems to help remedy that.

The integrated camera offers a sleek alternative to traditional, bulky POV cameras for quick image capture, and the potential for livestreaming video through the Meta AI app and its social media integrations. The video quality isn’t as good as a GoPro or Insta360, but it’s passable for that use case. Photos and video can be taken by pressing a hidden button on the right temple. To remedy any potential privacy concerns, Oakley built in a feature where the camera lens flashes a white light on the front of the glasses to indicate recording. I'm not sure that fully assuages those concerns, but it's a start.

Finally, much like asking your iPhone’s Siri AI system to help you understand the world around you, it’s possible to talk to your glasses to control them and inquire about your surroundings. “Hey Meta” is the command, and you can ask it pretty much anything you would want to ask an AI system, like about the weather forecast for your location, recommendations on trails or restaurants, or even about training plans to get you stronger for your next race or event. 

How Do The Oakley Meta HSTN Glasses Perform?

From a fit standpoint, Oakley’s Meta HSTN glasses are a bit on the smaller side, but fit my generally larger face comfortably. The lower-profile glasses don’t offer the same face coverage as something larger like the Oakley Sutro or Oakley Windjacket, but the arms and nosebridge are very comfortable. The entire battery, camera, and speaker system is integrated into the sunglass arms, making these nearly indistinguishable from standard-fare sunglasses.

The “smart” features are all controlled by tapping or swiping either arm (these controls can be configured to your liking in the Meta AI app), or pressing the small button on top of the right arm. That includes image capture, play/pause/next and volume control, call control, and summoning the Meta AI system to do your bidding.

When running or biking, the glasses stayed on my face comfortably, with no bounce or shifting (crucial!), and I found accessing the controls to be quite easy even when wearing a bike helmet. It’s fun to be able to just tap your glasses to take a picture of what you’re looking at, instead of fishing around in your pocket for your phone or carry a whole separate camera system.

In terms of capturing video, the camera quality falls short for anything beyond a social media post viewed on a phone. I found the color range to be lacking, and 30fps doesn't quite cut it for crisp action footage. Therefore, it's no replacement for a dedicated camera like an Insta 360 X5, but the convenience factor of it being ready to go whenever you wear the glasses is kind of cool.

On the other hand, the audio quality is very impressive, and I never had the issue of earbuds falling out of my head on rough sections of trail. The advertised 8-hour battery life is a bit of a stretch in my experience–I found it to last more in the ballpark of 6-7 hours when playing music. The battery does recharge very quickly when the glasses are placed back into the charging case.

From a sports standpoint, these glasses make the most sense to wear when training outside, commuting, working outside, or on shorter rides/runs/ski tours where you want to skip the earphones but want some jams.  

Can I Wear The Oakley Meta HSTN Glasses While Skiing?

Well, that’s the million dollar question isn’t it? Of course you can–in the sense that you could wear anything skiing. In my experience, however, these aren’t the most comfortable or protective glasses for high-output and potentially high-impact activities like skiing or mountain biking.

They’re certainly light enough to stay put on your face, and the integrated audio and camera is a solid alternative to wearing headphones and a helmet camera like an Insta360 or GoPro, but from a sunglasses perspective, there are certainly better options for skiers.

Overall, I'd give these glasses a B+. The product is beautifully finished, the optics are awesome (it's Oakley, after all), and the "smart" features they do offer work well. However, the tech is clearly still in it's infancy, and I was left scratching my head as to what the point of them really was. Sure, photos and tunes are cool, but there's really no measurable impact to any sort of performance from the Meta HSTNs, and I'm surprised Oakley chose one of their most lifestyle-oriented frames to debut the tech.

While there’s no official word on whether Oakley is planning to integrate the Meta tech into more ski-appropriate eyewear like sport sunglasses or even ski goggles, I sure hope they do. I'd love to see the tech in a pair of Sutros, Eye Jackets, or goggles like the Line Miner Pros.