REVIEW – I am a sunglass snob. I love high-quality sunglasses that fit well and do a great job protecting my eyes. I also love wearing earbuds when I take walks and work in the yard. Lucyd and their Lyte smart eyewear promise to combine both into a single item. Let’s see how well they work.
What is it?
Lucyd Lyte smart eyewear are sunglasses that can come in prescription or nonprescription. They also say they can do any tint you want on any of the styles of sunglasses. They also come with Bluetooth and can pair with your smartphone to play music or take phone calls.
What’s in the box?
- Quick start guide
- Fold flat storage case
- Lens cleaning cloth
- Sunglasses
- Charging cable
- Charging adapter
- Soft storage bag
Hardware specs
I brought over the picture from the Lucyd website to show the sizing for the Darkside version of the sunglasses I received.
- Polarized UV400 lenses
- Open air audio – nothing goes in your ears
- 6.5-8 hours of battery life
- Physical control buttons
- Bluetooth 5.2
- 100 foot connection range
- Prescription adaptable
- Noise cancelling microphone
Design and features
Right off the bat, I was really impressed with the hard case that came with the Lucyd Lyte glasses. It is made of a leather-type substitute and feels really nice and sturdy. It unfolds to make a sunglass case like the one below.
The Lucyd Lyte glasses arms are pretty thick compared to normal sunglasses. This is mainly due to the amount of tech inside them. On both frames, you will find a charging port for the special charging cord provided with the glasses.
You plug the cord into both sides of the frame via magnets on the charging cord. When the frames are charging, a small LED lights up red on both frames, like in the picture below.
Both arms also have a small silver button underneath them near the front part of the glasses. You can use these buttons to control various functions on the frames.
- Unplugging the frames from the charger automatically puts them in pairing mode unless you have already paired them with your device.
- Pushing both buttons simultaneously until you hear the words “Power On” will turn them on.
- Holding either button down for six seconds will turn them off.
- Pressing the left button once with turn the music volume down
- Pressing the right button once will turn the music volume up
- Double-tapping either button will play/pause the music.
- Triple-tap the left button to go back a track
- Triple-tap the right button to go forward a track.
- Double-tapping either button will answer a call.
- Single tap either button to hang up from a call
- While on a call and a call is incoming, short press either button to hold the first call and switch to a new one, hold for two seconds to hang up and switch over, or double tap to decline a new one.
You will also notice a small hole down the arm slightly to the right of the button. That is the microphone hole and it is in both arms.
The Lucyd Lyte glasses have four sets of speakers. Two are on the outside of the frame towards the back, and two are on the underside of the frame right before the hook in them where your ears would go.
The Lucyd Lyte glasses also have the voice command feature available to them. Holding down either button for two seconds will activate the voice assistant. You can tell it to do a variety of commands:
- send a voice message to a contact
- call contact
- send money to a contact – follows Siri prompts to confirm to Venmo or Apple Pay.
- check my messages
- check my mailbox
- find ‘cuisine type’ food nearby
- call me an Uber
- what time is it
- Play song/artist – plays via Apple Music
- get me directions to a location
- take a memo
Those commands were specific to Apple and would differ slightly on Android. I only have Apple so I could not test the Android functionality.
Setup
The setup was pretty simple. I charged the frames for less than an hour. When they are depleted of battery, they can take two hours to charge. When I pulled them off the charger, they powered on and went into pairing mode. I found the “Lucyd Lyte” in my Bluetooth connection on my phone and paired it.
Performance
I could play music, audible books, and take phone calls with the Lucyd Lyte glasses. The wind-blocking was pretty good, and my caller could hear me clearly. The frames did a great job of treating the music like a stereo recording. I could hear various instruments on either side of the frame. Technology-wise, these glasses are awesome. They have a great Bluetooth range and are very ‘smart’ when it comes to controlling things on my phone.
The downsides, however, would keep me from personally purchasing these glasses. I found these particular frames too big for my face. I am used to wearing more form-fitting sport-type glasses like Oakley. I know this may be the trend, but for me, that was a big minus. I am posting a picture of myself and my husband below wearing them. Facing forward, I think these glasses fit him better than me. However, when you look at the side, you can see the arms do not go back far enough on his head and seem to fit my head properly.
This leads me to my second issue with the Lucyd Lyte glasses, the sound quality. The picture above shows that the rearmost speaker outside the frame is pretty much directly behind my ear. The one that runs on the inside bend is positioned correctly to put sound into my ear. I found the sound rather ‘thin’ with little to no base. I could hear it just fine, but it was nowhere near the same sound quality I can get from many cheaper earbuds out there. It would sound great if I cupped my hands over my ears, but who will always do that? The other issue with these speakers is that the sound they are playing can be noticeable to others around you because they are mounted on the outside of the frames. If you are in a quiet environment, I am pretty sure the person next to you will be able to hear your phone call or at least know you are taking one.
What I like
- Great Bluetooth range
- I love the voice commands
- Phone calls are clear, and I can be heard
- Many tint choices and prescriptions are available
What I’d change
- Get some better speakers or speaker placement – bone conducting would make these a winner!
Final thoughts
If you are looking for smart sunglasses that can take a prescription, play music, take phone calls, and come in various styles and tint choices, the Lucyd Lyte sunglasses may be the glasses for you. My husband has some Bose sunglasses that use the ‘bone’ technology that plays music through the bones on the side of your head. Those sound incredible but don’t begin to have the features and functionality of these glasses. If I could find sunglasses with both types of technology, those would be the winners. Until then, especially if you need prescription glasses and want all the other features, these may be what you want.
Price: They start at $199 and go up based on tint and prescription
Where to buy: Lucyd.co and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Lucyd.
