6 top tested smart glasses of 2022

Smart glasses look a lot like traditional glasses, but unlike ordinary glasses, these wearables can connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to provide features like audio streaming or photo and video capture. Some smart glasses even have AR capabilities that let you see beyond the screen in front of you.

Smart glasses are worth it for anyone who wants to be connected and hands-free at the same time, whether you’re in an office environment, playing sports or walking the dog. Most of the pairs we feature come with audio capabilities, meaning you can listen to music playing through your smart glasses while shielding your eyes from the sun or the blue light from your computer screen. What’s unique about smart glasses is that those with audio capabilities use open-ear audio, meaning your ears are never blocked or covered. If you find earbuds uncomfortable after a few hours or want to hear your surroundings while running or working, smart glasses offer the best of both worlds. However, if you plan on using your smart glasses to make calls, we recommend sticking to a quiet environment, as wind and background noise are easily picked up as smart glasses don’t have noise isolation. If your smart glasses come with built-in cameras, the quality probably won’t compare to that of a modern smartphone, but our pros love the fact that this feature lets you capture content from the perspective of your eyes, and often just upload it to social media.

We test smart glasses at the Good Housekeeping Institute’s Media & Tech Lab by wearing each pair and doing what we normally do – commuting, working in the office, taking calls, exercising and capturing everything on camera whenever possible. We also asked our group of consumer testers to try these smart glasses in their daily lives and give us feedback.

We evaluated eight smart glasses for several hours at a time over several weeks. We evaluated how easy it is to set up, pair and charge the smart glasses. We paid attention to whether the smart glasses require a special charger or come with a wireless charging case. We also rated how comfortable each pair was and whether the design was sleek or eye-catching, taking into account each pair’s weight and bulk. We played music through our glasses to compare the audio quality, and we called friends and family while walking through Midtown NYC to rate the built-in mics and speakers. If the smart glasses could take photos and videos, we rated the image quality and how easy it was to download them to our smartphones. Finally, we rated whether the smart glasses and their controls felt intuitive and easy to use, and rated features like turning them on and off and adjusting the volume.

Media and Tech Reviews Analyst Olivia Lipski oversees product reviews, covering everything from consumer technology to smart home devices and devices to health, home and fitness. She’s dabbled in audio over the years, writing about outdoor speakers, wireless earbuds, and noise-cancelling headphones. She continues to keep up to date with the latest innovations in the industry and helps readers make better purchasing decisions by testing and rating the best gadgets to hit the market. Most recently, she led smart glasses tests, trying on each pair on her daily drive around NYC.