Blade Refurbished AR Smart Glasses

I primarily purchased these glasses for their video playback features. I am very impressed with the performance and quality of the projected video. I am not interested in photo or video recording, web browsing, screen mirroring, paid video streaming services or proprietary games which all work wonderfully on these glasses. So i will only write my review on the onboard video playback performance and features.VIDEO PLAYBACK QUALITYI was expecting half as much resolution from these glasses. The moment i played a .mp4 video file i knew this was a great buy. If i had to describe the resolution of the projected virtual screen i would place it right next to a budget android phone screen from 2012 era. Not HD but very enjoyable. The letters in video captions are clearly readable. The virtual screen can be moved up or down in 15 increments vertically along the projection area. I decided to place it as high as possible to increase my viewing area of where i am walking, but that is just my personal preference. The projected screen brightness can be adjusted manually in 10 increments or automatically depending on the lighting conditions of your surroundings.VIDEO STORAGE CAPACITYI have to admit that the onboard storage is simply not enough for my needs. Fortunately these glasses have a MicroSD card slot which i can confirm accepts the 400Gb SanDisk Ultra card. I do not own any of the 1tb cards so i cannot confirm if it is compatible.VIDEO PLAYBACK APP AND PERFORMANCEI was incredibly happy when i saw the option to add the VLC video playback app onto these glasses via the VUZIX app store. I am a huge fan of the VLC player on both android and windows since 2012. The VLC app runs exactly the same as your smartphone version so you get a wonderful video file navigation with image previews and file information. I can confirm that the "Pop-Up" VLC player feature works perfectly while navigating other apps and settings on the glasses. I wanted to really test the video performance on these glasses so i stored the famous open project film "Big Buck Bunny" in the 1080p .mp4 video codec version onto my 400Gb Micro SDcard. These glasses were able to play the video perfectly which really impressed me. I was happy to know that these glasses can be used by themselves for video playback without being continuously tied to a WIFI network or bluetooth connected smartphone. Email and text messages notifications can be viewed regardless of the app being used including video playback. I was able to fix a strange random system crash by updating the BLADE'S software to the latest version 2.9 via the available companion app that runs on a bluetooth connected smartphone.BATTERY PERFORMANCEI was able to get 1 hour and 30 minutes of video playback viewing a 720p .mp4 video at 3,800kbps video rate via the optional MicroSD storage option The automatic screen brightness option was selected and the included earbuds were set at 20% volume. The WIFI and audio commands were also turned off which really helped to get the 1 hour and 30 minute runtime. I was expecting an hour of battery life at most especially after reading reviews stating 45 minutes of playback. so again i am impressed. I am sure i can get a longer battery runtime by converting the video files to something more appreciate considering the projected screen resolution. Something along 2,500kbps video rate might be optimal. I can confirm that these glasses can be used while charging. I was able to plug them into a small 5,200mah USB battery bank that ibplaced in my pants pocket after the onboard battery was depleted. It really defeats the purpose of having completely wire free glasses but it is nice to know that in can be done in case it is needed.NAVIGATION AND CONTROLSI have to admit that the touch controls can be a bit inconvenient, clunky and unresponsive at times. Fortunately the available companion app that runs on a blutooth connected smartphone has incredibly intuitive menus. A touchpad feature is included in the companion app that turns half of your smartphone's screen into a touchpad complete with dedicated back button and a home button. Everything from screen brightness, screen location, app management, software updates, WIFI and Bluetooth options, voice command options, image and video playback through your smarphone, battery and connectivity status can all be adjusted with the well thought out companion app. Something that i did not like about these glasses was a kack of 5GHZ WIFI connectivity. Only the older 2.4GHZ WIFI connectivity is available most likely due to a combination of an older android version, an older cpu and the lower battery drain of the 2.4GHZ signal. So keep this in mind if you have plans to use 5GHZ WIFI with these glasses.AMAZON SHIPPING AND AVAILABILITYI was happy to see the famous PRIME shipping option for these glasses. I live in an area where packages have been stolen so i was glad to see the AMAZON LOCKER shipment option for these glasses.CONCLUSIONHopefully my review clarified some of your questions regarding the onboard video storage playback of these glasses.

Note - the one star is for the amazon seller only.The amazon seller has and apparently continues to ship out used or broken units. In the reviews shows someone getting a used one where the past owners wifi network is still saved. My unit in this case broke in 2 weeks. In the beginning the screen would sometimes not work, i would then have to press the track pad a few times for it to work again. I thought it was a simple bug that could be fixed in future software updates. Well one day i wake up and put them on, and start playing my games, and i go to check the time and the screen does not work anymore. Restarting the device didnt work, factory reset didnt work, the screen just no longer turns on. Im sure if i bought from vuzix official site this wouldnt have happened. In terms of an actual review i give it 3 or 4 stars. But them sending me and a lot of other people broken or used units is a terrible first impression.

While the concept was well executed, I feel this product was not ready for every day wear for the average consumer. The glasses are pretty bulky. They are heavy on the face and caused pain across the bridge of my nose while wearing them for long periods of time (+/- 30 minutes). The stems were tight on my head causing discomfort. Vuzix tried hard to make these look and feel like Oakley glasses. They were not stylish enough in my opinion to go out in public without being laughed at. They concept was great though. The picture and clarity were great, though a little distracting and hard to see while driving. Video playback from Netflix was not great even connected over WiFi. The unit I received had a hard time staying connected to my phone even if it was right next to me via bluetooth. It also lost connection with the included bluetooth earphones. Apps ran slow and some messages did not appear on the glasses until much later after receiving them on my phone or watch. I was using a Samsung Galaxy S10+ and have a Galaxy watch both newer technology and no reason why these glasses lost signal regularly. I really like the concept, would like to test their newer products for the average consumer in the near future. Ultimate I decided to return these to Amazon only after 2 days because they were not comfortable, I could not see wearing these publicly and the connection issues. They are a good product, something I could get behind once some of the aforementioned issues were addressed.