Review: Snapchat Spectacles prescription transition lenses by Revant Optics
Vision-impaired millennials of the world, here’s what it’s like to wear Spectacles as your main glasses and have Snapchat on your face all the time. I’ve been testing Spectacles with a custom set of transition lenses from Revant Optics.
Here’s the tl;dr:
Spectacles as prescription glasses are kind of fun, especially in the moments where I can capture something special that I couldn’t with my phone, but wearing Spectacles all the time signals a whole lot more of “that guy” image than I’d like. There are too many everyday life situations where having a camera on your face just isn’t appropriate: public restrooms, airport security, confidential meetings, fights with your partner (more on that later). Let’s face it, society just isn’t ready for us to wear cameras on our faces all day.
Let me start from the beginning. I have this strange compulsion for waiting in lines. If I see people on the street waiting in a line, my first instinct is to join it without knowing what they’re waiting for. I once spent six hours blogging from the Franklin Barbecue line in Austin so I could try their brisket, and my first time visiting New York, I wore my toddler for two hours while waiting in line to get cronuts. He was not pleased.
So when the elusive Snapbot appeared on 5th Ave in New York on a chilly morning November, I made a beeline for it. On the way out the door, my wife called out, “Wait, where are you going?” “Gotta go, Snapchat pop-up store,” and then I disappeared. She also was not pleased. I’ve included her review down below of what it’s like to have to perpetually look at someone wearing Spectacles.
When I made it to the line, it didn’t look that long, but in between restocking the SnapMinion and customer credit card problems (apparently, banks don’t take kindly to $140 vending machine purchases), it took a ridiculous five hours to get through. I took a work call as I was nearing the front of the line, and the poor guy on the other end said he couldn’t hear me because it sounded like I was in an arcade (Snapbot makes a lot of beeps and boops when completing a transaction) or a club (Snap likes to blast the hippest music in its Spectacles store). Sorry, dude.
Since I wanted to see clearly while wearing Spectacles, I had to find a company willing to custom-cut prescription lenses to fit the glasses’ unique shape. I inquired with a few shops, including Lenscrafters and Cohen’s, around New York, and got a quote from a lab that would cut lenses for $329. When I tweeted about my search, Revant Optics reached out saying they could cut a custom pair of transition lenses for review. Revant specializes in replacement lenses for sunglasses like Ray-Bans and Oakleys, but they also do custom prescription lens shapes and are getting into the Spectacles game. Regular lenses from them start at $149, and the transition lenses I ordered go for $249, with a $40 fee for the custom job.
Rochester Optical also makes Spectacles lenses that I’ll be reviewing next, and if you’re on a budget, GlassesUSA offers basic lenses at $29, but I’m skeptical about their quality.
I chose the clear to grey transitions option, but Revant also has a bunch of other colors. I’m curious how well the blue or red mirrorshields would match the Teal and Coral Spectacles models. The grey lenses when darkened aren’t quite as mysterious as the lenses that Spectacles come with, but they work well enough at reducing the sun’s harshness.
Revant’s custom cut around the edge where the camera sticks out turned out quite well, with no noticeable gap. It’s my own fault, but my prescription is really strong, so my lenses are quite thick and have a coke bottle effect, which does add to the absurdity of the whole look.
Prior to this, I’d only owned one pair of prescription sunglasses, a set of hilarious Hugo Boss aviators that Bad Ass Optical made for me when I was in college. (Side note: I also own a pair of prescription swimming goggles, which I didn’t know existed until I found a pair at a market in Beijing. These have drastically improved the swimming experience. If you wear glasses and don’t own a pair of Rx goggles, you should buy one today.)
Back to the sunglasses. I’ve been told transition outdoor-to-indoor lenses are more of a 70-year-old style item, but I enjoy the convenience. It’s a nice bit of old-person magic when you head outdoors and the lenses automatically darken. I stepped off a bus into the full glare of the sun on a work trip, and my coworkers, who were lamenting that they’d forgotten their shades, shrieked when they saw the lenses change. Like the sofa-bed of glasses, there are a few tradeoffs to transitions. Sometimes the lenses have a smoky tint to them while you’re indoors. It’s also frustrating how unreadable the phone screen gets when outdoors, but that’s a necessary compromise.
Wearing prescription Spectacles comes with a small handful of benefits. I spent a day at Disneyland Shanghai in January, and got some really fun videos on rides while still being able to enjoy the experience. Unfortunately, I had to stow my glasses on the new TRON ride, so I didn’t get footage of blasting around on a lightcycle. Even so, an outing like Disneyland, where you’re spending a lot of time outdoors with unique experiences to capture is really the ideal use case for Spectacles.
My two boys, 3 and 1, are into the Spectacles life. If my older son wants to document something, he’ll ask me to push the button (“Daddy, record me!”), or he’ll just walk over and push it himself so he can show off in front of the camera. Yes, I’m raising a monster, but at least I have the freedom to capture memories, like a spontaneous tickle fight or a funny dance move, without mediating them (or more likely, missing them) through a phone. My 1-year-old likes watching the spinning light come on when the camera is recording, so he’ll come over and grunt at me while poking the yellow circles.
Years ago when I was writing for The Next Web, I had a pair of prescription lenses made for Google Glass. That was a total waste of money because Google Glass made you look like the world’s lamest cyborg. Spectacles aren’t nearly as bad, but they are still pretty high on the douchebaggery scale. Prescription Spectacles are even worse, since not only did I wait in line to buy a pair of Snapchat face cameras, I also went through the trouble of ordering custom lenses for them, and am now wearing them indoors.
The product raises an interesting issue for those of with vision impairments, though. As wearable face technology like AR and VR advances, will us pre-existing four-eyes be included? I never did manage to get my Oculus DK2 unit working comfortably; my glasses would just mash into my face and fog up. In theory, existing glasses-wearers should be the natural first market for head-mounted tech, but we’re often an afterthought.
Snap took a different route from Google Glass and hasn’t worked directly with any opticians to certify prescription providers. On its support site, the company recommends that you “consult a professional ABO-certified optician for guidance” if you want to upgrade to prescription lenses (with a max strength of -5 diopters). The included lenses from Spectacles aren’t polarized or anti-reflective, but they are UV-rated at ANSI Z80.3.
One thing Snapchat did learn from Google was to dial back the world-changing rhetoric. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel set expectations low by calling the device “a toy” when it first launched. By making them sunglasses, it also (kind of) dodged the privacy issue, since they’re technically designed for outdoor activities. But flashy sunglasses play into Snapchat’s existing douche factor. Spectacles turn you into a literal jerkface.
It’s precisely that douche factor that has me questioning whether to continue wearing these as my main glasses. When you’re out living your life, people make (pardon the pun) snap judgments of you and your fashion choices, and wearing Spectacles is the equivalent of putting a neon sign above your head saying “Look at me, I’m a ridiculous tech-bro/tech-girl.” Snap wants to reduce the distance pulling out your phone to take pictures creates, but Spectacles put up a wall between you and the world in their own way.
Constantly pointing a camera at someone tends to put them on their guard. Most of us have resigned ourselves to the fact that ubiquitous smartphones mean we could be recorded at any time, but in this unfortunate age of creepshots and surveillance, choosing to wear a camera in public is an aggrandizement of the social contract. People haven’t reacted as vehemently as they did to Google Glass, in part because much of the public is unaware that these glasses come with a camera even if the LED light is spinning, but Spectacles wearers ought to follow Joanna Stern’s ground rules on how and when to record.
Social issues aside, Spectacles themselves are an amazing product. The buying experience, and the marketing around it, are a masterclass in hype. They’re fantastically designed, and the charging system is great. My two complaints are that the temple arms are a little short for my big head and the bulkier frame obstructs some of your vision, making it harder to forget that you’re wearing glasses.
Battery life is solid, and I can get by with charging once a week during light use. The Disneyland trip was the only day when I drained a full battery, recording about 75 snaps. The circular video format is unique, albeit a little gimmicky. The videos of course work seamlessly in Snapchat, and, predictably, look terrible with the extra white space when you export for Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Default video quality is on the low-side. You can download HD versions of your videos from the Snapchat app over WiFi that are passable if recorded in good light, but the HD versions don’t seem to be available for export.
For the past two months, I’ve used the excuse that I’m testing a review pair to dodge the question on whether these will become my main glasses. Weighing the pros and cons, I’m leaning toward no. I simply can’t justify the nominal benefits given the corresponding social and personal costs. And that’s okay, because Snap never designed these for full-time wear. My wife will be the first to admit that Spectacles have contributed to an increase in the severity of our arguments, because, let’s be honest, you’d get more upset too if you had to stare down an ostentatious hipster social media face camera when trying to sort out a tiff.
I’m planning to store this pair of Spectacles in their case on a shelf and toss them in my bag when I travel or go out on day trips. I can place my regular glasses in the charging case when I’m wearing them, and then switch back when I’m done with the outing.
Marilyn’s review follows below. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a marriage to repair.
Why I hate my husband’s Spectacles
by Marilyn Ong
When Josh told me a couple labs were sending him prescription lenses for his Spectacles so he could wear them full time, all I could think was, “Oh dear God.”
Maybe you could use some contextualization. I should start off by saying that I love my husband. He is kind, unassuming, hilarious and humble, and his obsession with all things tech is one of the things I’ve always admired about him. But sometimes, he can turn into a techno-lusting werewolf who kind of enjoys being “that guy.” You know, the one who has his hands on the latest gadget that everyone on the internet is talking about but few have seen in person. It doesn’t help that he actually enjoys standing in lines. When I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt, his early adoption is fueled by a pure, child-like wonder at new technologies. When I’m being bitchy, I accuse him of just wanting the attention (because what’s a good wife for?). So let’s put it this way: With Spectacles, it’s hard to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I mean, really. They are huge and round and have big yellow circles above the frames. They cannot be unseen the way some glasses can. They do not blend. He also has a pretty high prescription, so the lenses are coke-bottle thick. His eyes are so, so far away. Even when I try to look into them to make some semblance of human connection, I’m still walled off by layers of plastic and the ghosts of a few thousand social media followers. (Yes, I’m aware that he’s not actually recording anything unless the little circle is blinking.) It might not bother you if you’re walking down the street or sharing an elevator with a guy wearing them. But just about the worst time in the world to have to stare at a guy in Spectacles is when you’re standing in your bedroom fighting about your 3-year-old’s screen time limits. It definitely makes every fight worse. It might even cause some of them, because hey, if you’re worried your 3-year-old is self-lobotomizing on YouTube videos, who do you blame but the guy wearing Spectacles?
Sarah LaFleur, a founder of a new line of women’s workwear, has said, “Your clothes should be the least interesting thing about you.” One of the things I dislike most about the Spectacles is how loudly they shout over my husband. When he’s being “that guy” in the elevator, people might think his Spectacles are cool, or they might judge him for wearing them. But all they see are the glasses; they don’t see him. If, 20 years from now, every baby is handed a pair of Spectacles as they’re delivered by robot OB/GYNs, maybe it won’t be an issue. But today, when someone stops to have a conversation with my husband over his glasses, I wish for someone else to notice something more interesting about him. (There’s lots to choose from.)
I don’t hate the Spectacles completely. There are times when we’re hanging out and the kids do something cute and he snaps it and we all get a warm fuzzy feeling that we managed to capture something in the spur of the moment. But would I rather have my husband’s normal eyes back so I can look into them without wanting to kind of punch him in the face? I think the answer’s yes.
