REVIEW β Have you ever been wearing your boring old sunglasses and thought βI wish these would auto dim in this bright light, or be less shaded in this shady areaβ? And also thought βooh and they should let me take phone calls and play my music and podcasts tooβ? If so, youβve come to the right place.Β Wicue sent over their new Smart Bluetooth Audio Polarized Auto Dimming IP66 Waterproof sunglasses, and theyβve become an inseparable companion to my biking and scootering around town.
What is it?
The Wicue Smart Bluetooth Audio Polarized Auto Dimming IP66 Waterproof sunglasses is a pair of classic style sunglasses that hide some neat tricks. Said tricks include polarized lenses, Bluetooth 5.0 low power speakers, and nearly-instant auto-dimming to adjust to different light conditions.
Whatβs in the box?
- Wicue Smart Bluetooth Audio Polarized Auto Dimming IP66 Waterproof sunglasses
- USB to dual-magnetic charger
- Carrying case
- Cleaning cloth
- Polarized Tester
- Manual
Hardware specs
- 0.1 second auto-dimming Liquid Crystal Film (with all types of light, not just UV)
- 7 β 37% Light Transmittance Reduction (typical sunglasses are around 12% in all conditions)
- Bluetooth 5.0 low power connectivity
- Open-ear TWS speakers
- 100% UV protection
- Magnetic fast charging (30 mins to fully charge from empty)
- 7 days standby-time, 3+ hours call time, 2.5 hours music playback
- IP66 water and dust proof
- βHigh Definition noise reduction microphoneβ
Design and features
The design of the Wicue Smart Bluetooth Audio Polarized Auto Dimming IP66 Waterproof sunglasses is very similar to my usual cheap Amazon polarized sunglasses that I wear while driving or outside in the sun. At a glance you wouldnβt be able to tell that these have a ton of features hidden away, which I love. Iβve seen other speaker-enabled sunglasses that look pretty goofy with bulky frames and obvious speaker ports.
Hereβs the top view, the sunglasses fold nearly flat, but not quite. Good enough for me, they fit easily into the carrying case for transport. I do wish they had safety hinges at this price point, the hinges are metal but if pushed too far theyβd likely snap.
Shown here is one of two speaker grills. These are placed where they direct the sound right into your ear canal, and I like how well theyβre hidden.
This is the included charger, though thereβs no wall plug included. This should be fine, since you can simply plug it into any available USB port and then connect one lead to each side of the sunglasses to charge them up.
Installation and setup
Installation is as simple as charging the glasses (the Amazon listing quotes a 30 minute full charge time, but it was about 20 from dead for me, very fast). A temporary sticker shows the capacitive touch zone on each temple, this is the extent of controls (one on each temple).
On the inside is an LED light thatβs invisible when itβs not on β I took this picture right after it finished charging, so youβll have to use your imagination. The light is red, if that helps.
When finished charging, youβll hear a voice say βpower on!β. If youβre not planning on using them right away, youβll want to long press both touch spots to shut them down. Wicue claims a 7 day standby time while on, so itβs not a huge worry if you forget, but they will slowly drain over time.
Performance
I immediately went outside to test out the Wicue Smart Bluetooth Audio Polarized Auto Dimming IP66 Waterproof sunglasses, and in direct bright sunlight they were darker than my usual pair. The manual claims that they range from 7% light reduction to 37% (normal sunglasses average around 12%). For the most part, they felt better than my usual sunglasses in terms of sun and glare protection. Interestingly, this auto-dimming works even when the sunglasses are fully powered off. Iβd guess that theyβre still drawing a tiny bit of power to do the dimming trick, but I canβt find details on Wicueβs public facing sites to confirm. Using them for several trips without turning on the Bluetooth Audio seemed to not drain the battery much, if at all.
Going indoors or into shade results in a nearly clear lens as shown above. They were especially great in twilight or dawn light where it can alternate between glaring light right into your eyes and very dark shadowy areas as you travel. Overall, the adjustable dimming was something I never thought I needed but which Iβll always miss now that Iβve experienced it. I hope I donβt lose these as fast as I lose my usual pairs of sunglasses.
Finally, the audio. I tried out the sunglasses with both Android and iOS devices, and they worked as easily as any other Bluetooth device with both. For whatever reason the battery remaining displayed on Android but not on iPhone. Sound quality was average, there was almost no bass and at highest volume everything sounded a bit blown out. At a reasonable volume things sounded OK. A similarly priced set of earbuds will probably blow these out of the water, but if you donβt like earbuds and/or find it more convenient to just have sound through your glasses (especially for phone calls or podcasts/audiobooks) these are good. I also really like that you can still easily hear ambient noise and other people while using these. Call quality was good, the other parties commented that I sounded as clear as on any other device until I started moving on a bike or scooter, then wind noise was very bad. At low speeds, my Samsung Buds Pro do a good job of cutting all wind noise so I can take a call while on the bike, but with the Wicue Smart Bluetooth Audio Polarized Auto Dimming IP66 Waterproof sunglasses I have to fully stop.
As a final note on the audio, I regularly use an Oculus Quest 2 headset for VR workouts (especially Beat Saber), and they use an audio system very similar to these sunglasses. In the case of the Oculus, they are capable of much higher volume, and a better overall sound. Iβd bet that the tiny batteries in the sunglasses simply canβt put out the power needed for similar sound though, Wicue likely would have had to increase the bulk of the device to accommodate larger speaker drivers and batteries, so Iβm fine with their implementation here.
What I like
- Very fast auto-dim adjustment
- Decent music playback and controls
- Classic sunglasses look β not obviously electronic
What Iβd change
- Better wind and noise cancelling on the microphone
- Better battery life (as long as size/shape of the sunglasses isnβt affected)
Final thoughts
Overall, the Wicue Smart Bluetooth Audio Polarized Auto Dimming IP66 Waterproof sunglasses are a great addition to my adventures.
Price: $179
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Wicue
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I bought a pair, without the bluetooth part, after reading your review. They are now on their way back to Amazon because 1-if you are in a car and it is very bright outside they do not get dark enough unless you stick your head out the window, and 2- the instructions say not to let them get wet, not good for me here in Hawaii with frequent brief rain showers.
Also I noticed a color shift to blue when turning my head in direct sun, but that was not a deal breaker for me.
Good to know on the driving brightness issue! While I did test them in the car a bit, most of my testing was riding or outdoors.