At Meta Connect 2025, Meta pushed deeper into wearables with its Oakley line, unveiling the Oakley Meta Vanguard, a new class of smart glasses built for athletes and high-intensity users. These aren’t just fashion statements: Meta designed them to stand up to rain, sweat, wind, and speed, while also giving you real-time fitness feedback, capturing moments, and keeping you connected — all without pulling out your phone.

What Meta Says: Design Meets “Athletic Intelligence”

Meta describes the Vanguard as part of its new “Performance AI” class of eyewear, meant to fuse hardware, software, and fitness data under a concept it calls Athletic Intelligence. The goal: let you stay present while still getting AI-powered metrics, coaching, health feedback, and media capture during workouts.

The glasses use Oakley’s Three-Point Fit system with three interchangeable nose pads (low, medium, high bridge) to secure fit under movement, plus compatibility with helmets and hats. They’re wrapped in PRIZM™ lens technology to filter light, wind, and sun glare, useful when you’re outdoors at speed. The frame and optics hold an IP67 dust/water resistance rating, making the Vanguard more robust than earlier Oakley Meta models.

Meta also enhanced the audio and mic hardware: the Vanguard has an open-ear speaker array and a five-microphone setup tuned to reduce wind noise. Compared to Oakley’s earlier HSTN smart glasses, Vanguard claims ~6 dB louder audio, making voice prompts or AI feedback audible even outdoors.

This improved hardware supports features like hands-free voice queries: you can ask “Hey Meta, what’s my pace?” or “What’s my heart rate?” and get spoken answers mid-stride. Meta says the glasses sync with Garmin watches and bike computers for real-time metrics, and integrate with Strava for sharing.

Key Specs

Based on hands-on previews and leaks, here’s how Vanguard stacks up:

  • Camera & Video: A 12 MP sensor with a 122° field of view. It supports recording 3K at 30 fps, as well as standard and slow-motion modes.
  • Battery Life: Meta advertises up to 9 hours of use on a full charge. The included charging case offers additional reserve power (estimates around 36 extra hours). A 20-minute top-up can reach 50% charge.
  • Weight & Form: 66 grams. Though heavier than some non-sport smart glasses, testers report the weight is well balanced and comfortable over workouts.
  • Storage & Connectivity: The glasses support 32 GB onboard storage, Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi (for syncing and data transfer).
  • Durability & Usability: IP67 rating (dust- and water-resistant), enhanced audio, wind-optimized microphones, and replaceable nose pads for secure fit during motion.
  • Lenses & Customization: The Vanguard supports swappable lenses. Meta and Oakley plan to offer replacements (e.g. $85 each) including specialty PRIZM variants (Road, 24K, Sapphire).

Release Date & Pricing

Oakley Meta Vanguard is priced at $499 USD. It becomes available in multiple countries on October 21st, 2025, with preorders opening immediately after its announcement.

Meta is launching the Vanguard in many major markets: U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Australia. Other regions like Mexico, India, Brazil, and UAE are expected later.

Vanguard joins Meta’s expanded smart glasses ecosystem, which also includes Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 and the display-equipped Ray-Ban Display glasses.

Most smart glasses to date target lifestyle, social, or AR overlay use. Oakley Vanguard is one of the first smart glasses explicitly built for athletic use. Its focus on action capture, real-time fitness data, weather durability, and secure fit under motion sets it apart.

It also signals how Meta is pursuing a segmented wearables strategy: Ray-Ban for everyday and AR display use, and Oakley for sport and performance. That helps avoid trying to make one device do everything poorly.

If Vanguard succeeds, it could challenge action cameras like GoPro, conflate workout tech and eyewear, and push more adoption of face-based devices in training, outdoor, and extreme sports domains.