XR glasses are super cool Link to heading
For years, I’ve wanted a pair of XR glasses because the idea of having a giant display floating in front of me sounded super cool, especially at that form factor.
I’ve had so many project ideas around what I’d love to do if I ever got my hands on a pair, like what kind of setups can I build with it, how portable can I make a gaming/entertainment setup, and more.
I was initially looking at XREAL products, which started around $400-$500 at the time. That was way too expensive for glasses, so I decided to wait for prices to go down.
Fast forward a few years, and if it wasn’t for this Reddit post showing someone playing Wuthering Waves on a train using their phone and a controller, I would have forgotten about this idea entirely:
After seeing this post, I hoped these were more affordable, so I started to shop around! Not only did I find that XREAL had introduced cheaper glasses like the XREAL Air 2, but I also learned about the VITURE Pro glasses, both of which were available secondhand/refurbished for around $140-$150.
VITURE Pro vs. XREAL Air Link to heading
At that price, I was pretty comfortable giving these glasses a shot. I did have a few requirements for myself, though.
Since I couldn’t wear my existing glasses and didn’t want to pay for prescription lenses, per-eye focus adjustment would make the glasses usable for me. I also wanted to play with spatial tracking, since the idea of having the screen stay in one place sounded really cool, and I wanted to be able to play with it without buying additional hardware.
With those requirements, the VITURE Pros seemed like the best option. They have per-eye focus built in and natively support SpaceWalker on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows, which allows you to hold the display in place.
The XREAL Air 2 doesn’t support per-eye focus. Additionally, XREAL’s Nebula software, which is now end-of-life, was unavailable on mobile, and requires the purchase of an external device called Beam to support display anchoring on devices not running Mac or Windows.
Knowing this, especially as an experimental first step into XR glasses, I felt the VITURE Pros were a much better option for the price. I found a refurbished pair on eBay and immediately bought it!
VITURE Pro experience Link to heading
I have been loving this thing!
I recently had an injury where I couldn’t walk for over a week, and while I was recovering, these glasses were perfect for work and keeping me entertained. While in bed, I watched lots of anime, movies, and read manga with the glasses connected to my iPhone.
The display is 1080p and runs at up to 120Hz, and the colors and brightness are incredible. Everything is super vibrant and looks really good. Even though it’s only 1080p, it looks great for the size of the display, and I don’t really find myself wishing it had a higher resolution.
I also connected my Vader 4 Pro controller to my iPhone via Bluetooth, opened up Moonlight, and streamed games in Steam Big Picture from my PC. This made a pretty perfect console experience, and this setup actually made playing video games while I was recovering way easier and more enjoyable. :)
The fact that I can bring my phone, controller, AirPods, and glasses anywhere and have a widescreen gaming/entertainment setup is awesome. I can lie in bed, have a giant screen in front of me, and play games from my PC without needing to actually sit at my desk.
Lastly, this setup is great for ergonomics since I no longer need to crank my neck to look at a screen when lying in bed. Instead, I can just lie however is comfortable, put the glasses on, and have the screen right in front of me.
I didn’t get the chance to use the glasses extensively in a car or on a plane yet, but sitting up and watching anime or movies is still fairly comfortable. I just have to be a little more conscious of moving my head around.
What I don’t like Link to heading
In my opinion, the cons are fairly minimal, but I wanted to bring them up anyways:
- I rarely use the SpaceWalker display anchoring, so having the screen stay immediately in front of my eyes can get a little weird when I move my head around. It’s not bad, it just gets a little hard to focus sometimes.
- The speakers aren’t great, but I always use my AirPods anyways.
- The per-eye adjustment isn’t perfect. I still get some blurry edges and can’t seem to nail it down. However, it’s only noticeable when using my MacBook with small text, which is far from my main use case. It’s perfectly fine on iPhone.
- The nose pieces are fine, but not amazing.
- Sometimes being able to tilt the glasses toward/away from your eyes would be nice, even by just a teeny bit.
- When sitting in a dark room, the lowest brightness setting feels slightly too bright.
Regardless, I’m still super happy with these. I’m stoked to finally have a pair, and I can finally get started on all of the fun projects I’ve wanted to do with them for a while! :)