In the course of testing the Meta Ray-Ban Display, the Ray-Ban Meta, and the Oakley Meta Vanguard smart glasses for Tom's Guide, we've taken them on trains, planes, the subway, to Target, skiing, and even while running around London.
What we haven't done yet, though, was take them to a sporting event (though we did use them to watch the Super Bowl halftime show). So, on a fine spring day, I wore the Ray-Ban Metas to a Yankees/Orioles baseball game to see how well these smart glasses would serve as my ballpark companion.
They're great for trivia
There's nothing baseball fans love more than the minutiae of the game. If you know what WAR and BABIP means, Meta's AI is a veritable encyclopedia at your fingertips. And, the stats are pretty up to date. During the fourth inning, I asked Meta what Aaron Judge's OPS was, and what it told me matched the scoreboard — 1.027.
A few innings later, after he walked, struck out and singled, I asked it again, and it gave me the correct answer - 1.031.
I happened to be at the game with a long-suffering Mets fan (he wanted to see what winning baseball looked like), and we got talking about fan-favorite Mets who left or were traded away. We both got stumped thinking of one particular pitcher, so I asked Meta "what Mets knuckleballer went to Toronto?" and the glasses came back with the correct answer: R.A. Dickey.
Suitably impressed, I also threw at it the "City Slickers" trivia question: Who played third base for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960? Meta came right back with the response: Don Hoak.
You can keep your phone in your pocket
In the third inning, Aaron Judge came up to bat with a runner on second. I don't know why, but I had an inkling something might happen, so as the pitcher went into the windup, I pressed the button on the Ray-Ban's to start recording video.
Boom! Judge smashed a homer over the center-field fence, and the stadium erupted. And I caught it all on film, without having to take my phone out, or step out of the moment.
The one caveat is that video quality isn't geared for long-distance shots. I filmed at 1080p (you can boost it to 3K), and while I was able to capture the overall experience, trying to zoom in to see an actual player wasn't great. Judge looked like a little blob as he rounded the bases.
I also found that the brim of my hat curved down to the top of the video; the same thing happened when I went skiing with the Oakley Vanguards.
The speakers can't compete with the PA system
One of the drawbacks of open-ear headphones like those on the Ray-Bans is that they're extremely susceptible to ambient noise. Yankee Stadium's PA system was just too loud, so if I wanted to hear anything from the glasses, I had to cup my hands over my ears.
I was also keen to try listening to the play-by-play commentary for the game, which I could stream from iHeartRadio. Unfortunately, unlike an AM broadcast, the stream was delayed by a good 20-30 seconds. So, not only was it hard to hear, but it was super-late, too.
Bottom line
A few caveats aside, the Ray-Ban Metas proved to be pretty capable at the park. While I wish video was higher quality (or maybe I need to get better seats), I liked that the glasses allowed me to stay present, while still being able to capture important moments.
If you're using them for outdoor activities, I would recommend picking up a pair with tinted lenses, or, if you can afford them, the transition lenses, which go from clear to tinted based on the ambient light.
And, having Meta's AI at my disposal let me settle a lot of debates between my friends — or at least, gave them more ammunition when arguing who was a better player.
