Why I Actually Wear Ray-Ban Meta Glasses

 

I've been wearing Ray-Ban Meta glasses for a couple of years now.

I didn't start wearing them because I needed another gadget. And honestly, I don't use half the flashy features people tend to talk about when they review them.

I wear them for a much simpler reason.

Sometimes pulling out your phone means missing the thing you wanted to capture in the first place.

That's become especially obvious to me after using these glasses in the garage, around cars, traveling, and just spending time with my family.

The Phone Changes the Moment

Anybody with kids or grandkids knows how quickly a moment can disappear.

You're sitting there doing something together, somebody says something funny, they finally get something right—or something happens that you know you're going to want to remember.

By the time you reach for your phone, unlock it, open the camera and start recording, the moment may already be gone.

And even when you do catch it, something changes.

You're not completely participating anymore.

You're filming.

One afternoon I was sitting with my grandson while he worked on one of his little monster trucks. He was putting a wheel back on, turning the screw himself while I sat beside him encouraging him.

I didn't have to stop what we were doing.

I didn't have to put a phone between us.

I just captured what I was already seeing.

That's probably the simplest explanation I can give for why I like these glasses.

In the Garage, I Need Both Hands

This is where Ray-Ban Meta glasses became particularly useful for the kind of content I create.

I've spent more than 40 years working on cars, and a lot of what I try to show people isn't complicated once you can actually see what I'm seeing.

The problem is getting a camera there.

Recently I was using a borescope to look down through the intake on my C10. I'm feeding the camera through the engine with one hand, manipulating it with the other and looking over at the diagnostic screen to see where I've ended up.

There's no particularly good way to hold a phone while doing that.

With the glasses, there doesn't need to be.

When I'm trying to show somebody how I actually do something, the best camera angle is usually the same angle I'm looking from.

That's become one of the biggest advantages for me.

Cars Are Better From Behind Your Own Eyes

I've also started using the glasses when I'm walking around car shows, collections and other automotive events.

That's a completely different kind of footage from a traditional walkaround.

If I see an engine that catches my attention, I look at it.

If I notice something unusual inside the car, my eyes go there.

If I walk around the back because something catches my attention, that's where the video goes.

In other words, you're seeing the car the way I saw it.

For somebody watching my videos, I think there's something fundamentally different about that.

I'm not presenting the car to you.

You're basically walking around it with me.

Then I Started Traveling With Them

This is probably where my appreciation for the glasses changed the most.

There are places where I don't want to experience the world through a phone screen.

Monument Valley is a perfect example.

Walking outside and seeing that landscape stretched out in front of you is one of those experiences where I don't want my first reaction to be:

Where's my phone?

I want to look at it.

With the glasses, I can.

And I can still bring the moment home.

The Moment That Really Sold Me

Then there was the helicopter.

I was sitting in the front of a helicopter as we approached a massive rock formation.

We came toward it, descended and landed on top.

After we landed, I got out and looked across the landscape. I turned my head, and there was the helicopter sitting behind me.

Eventually we climbed back aboard, started up and lifted off again.

And I captured the whole experience from where I was sitting and standing.

I wasn't holding a camera in front of my face.

I wasn't watching the landing through a phone screen.

I was watching the landing.

But I still have the video.

That's the difference.

Would I Buy Them Again?

Yes.

And after a couple of years of actually using them, that's probably the simplest review I can give.

I'm not going to tell you everybody needs a pair.

I'm also not going to run through every specification, AI feature or menu option. Meta can do a much better job of giving you a specification sheet than I can.

What I can tell you is why I keep wearing mine.

I can work with both hands.

I can show people what I'm actually seeing.

I can walk around a car without turning the experience into a camera production.

And when something happens that I want to remember, I don't necessarily have to stop experiencing it in order to record it.

That's what matters to me.

Stay in the moment. Capture the moment.

If that sounds useful to you too, you can take a look at the current Ray-Ban Meta glasses, frames and lens options here:

SHOP RAY-BAN META GLASSES →

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