Sunglasses are one of my favorite accessories, but I never really got into smart glasses until now. They aren’t new—WIRED wrote about Bluetooth sunglasses in 2009—but my regular glasses do plenty just by helping me see better, and I definitely didn’t want glasses that looked like they were out of a sci-fi movie.
However, I’ve been listening to music, following GPS directions, and answering calls with the Lucyd 2.0 frames for a few weeks now, and I’m impressed by their incognito utility. You wouldn’t know based on the frames that these are hiding speakers and microphones inside. I’ve tried other app-connected glasses before, like the Ampere Dusk, and they just reminded me too much of the giant plastic frames they hand out at 3D movie theaters.
Sun Blocked
Lucyd’s eyewear connects to your phone or computer via Bluetooth, and each arm is equipped with two tiny speakers and a microphone. They’re slightly thicker than your typical sunglass arms, but you get used to that pretty quickly.
My usual Pink Floyd and Machine Gun Kelly fare sounded surprisingly nice, considering I was blasting it through sunglass arms. If I cranked it too loud, it could get a little tinny. Audiophiles will probably disagree—and we have plenty of suggestions elsewhere if you don’t mind carrying another accessory—but for casual listening, it was all I needed.
As with other Bluetooth headphones, you can control volume, play, and pause, as well as skipping songs, answering calls, and activating your device’s voice assistant with the buttons on the arms. I could also hear the world around me pretty easily.
Photograph: Lucyd
These are mostly quiet for those around you, but the sound is not undetectable. I would still avoid using them on full blast in public. Please don’t be that person who thinks everyone else on the train wants to hear their FaceTime conversation.
My personal favorite use for them is listening to my GPS. I hate having to stare at my phone while walking somewhere new, especially in a big city, so I like that I can just turn Bluetooth on and know where I’m going. You can always connect your phone to your car if it has Bluetooth capabilities, but I honestly hate the way it cuts through the music to give you the next direction. Walking is more peaceful.
Phone calls sounded OK to me, but I was told I sounded very far away on the other end. This has been a problem with every pair of Bluetooth headphones I’ve tried as of yet, including my Beats.
Lucyd says you can even use these to record podcasts. I didn’t try that, but voice memos (and a TikTok draft!) recorded with the on-board microphones sounded normal. I’d stay fairly close to your phone though, as the connection started to break up at the other end of my apartment.
Eye Candy
I tried the brand’s Moonshot, along with an older style that is no longer available. While Lucyd offers a few different frames, they’re all similar, and I wish there were more fun ones (and designs meant for big heads like mine). Unfortunately, I like the older version I have more than any of the current styles.
In my testing, I found that between listening to music and podcasts the battery delivered the claimed 12 hours. The glasses charge via a magnetic pogo-pin charger with pins that stick to each arm. Unlike competitors’ products, these come with a charging block (I’m glaring at you, Apple).
