Update Sept 18, 2023:
I've had the Airs for almost a month, and use them just about every evening to play games and watch movies with the Steam Deck in bed. They're still chugging along. They don't add much battery drain to the Deck if any compared to using the built-in screen.
In terms of nose rests, I ended up using an arc of 3M double-sided foam tape curved into the inside of the metal parts of the nose rests, with a generous strip of craft felt tucked inside the tape. The felt is soft against my nose and the tape adds some nice padding, so the combo is very comfortable and is usable for hours. The tape sticks to both the rests and the felt really well. At some point, I'll put in fresh tape and felt, but haven't needed to yet. Both the tape and felt are available on Amazon.
I'm also using a pair of super-cheapie plastic "wallet reading glasses" that have 2.5 magnification and clip onto the nose. They're small and flat enough that they slip between the Airs and my eyes no problem, and can clip onto the felt so I don't even feel them. They don't actually magnify anything, but they do make small text quite a bit clearer and make things easier for my eyes overall. They also add a layer of protection for the Airs' optics, and cling to the felt well enough that I just leave them on the Airs when I fold up the Airs and put them in their case. I'll probably upgrade to similar ThinOptics glasses with real glass lenses at some point, but for now the cheapies work fine, and do make a positive difference.
I usually put everything away and tuck the custom cable into the little case under the Airs, so coiling it up and uncoiling it regularly is tweaking it out a little, and I'm planning to buy a replacement cable, just in case it dies. Apparently Rokid's cable for their similar AR glasses is compatible?
Original review:
I bought the Xreal Airs mostly to watch movies in bed, connected to a Steam Deck. They work really well for that, once you get them adjusted, tweaked, and set up. I think of them as a bright, low-energy-usage $400 "movie projector" that also happen to be light, portable AR glasses.
I haven't tried any of the AR features and did not buy the HDMI / Apple adapter or Beam.
To do the initial setup of the glasses, I first connected them to a USB-C port on the back of my M1 Mac Mini, and used the Chrome browser to go to the Xreal web site's firmware update page. It made updating both the MCU and DP firmware quick and simple, basically just click on the two update buttons on the web page, and let it do its thing.
The special USB-C cable that comes with the glasses is pretty short, so hooking them up to the Mini that was inside a desk cubbyhole was awkward, but worked fine for the few minutes needed. The USB-C connector on the end of the cable was a very tight fit in the Mini's port. Anyone wanting to regularly use these with a desktop computer will probably want to get some sort of USB-C USB-4 extension cable or coupler and regular cable. The included cable is a reasonable length for connecting to a Steam Deck or laptop that is close to you.
The 1080p displays are quite bright and sharp, and the colors look accurate. I use a 40 inch TCL "TV" for my Mini's monitor which is about 2 1/2 feet from my eyes, and when sitting at my desk, the glasses' displays appeared to take up roughly half of my field of view compared to the 40" TV, about half as wide and half as tall. So, the displays appear to be pretty big, but not enormous. They're a good size for watching movies in full-screen mode. If I was to use them for computer tasks, I'd want them to be both larger in apparent size and to be 4K resolution, but they can be used with a computer in a pinch. Even small text is crisp and clear on them.
The left arm of the glasses gets fairly warm during use. The glasses otherwise stay cool.
The built-in speakers are pretty good, a lot better than nothing, but connecting wired or Bluetooth earbuds or compact headphones (such as the goofy-looking but very good and inexpensive "bedphones" Koss KSC75's) to the Deck is much better for movies.
Getting the glasses to sit perfectly on your nose and ears is the trickiest part. The built-in ability to adjust each of the arms of the glasses up or down a click is very useful if your ears are uneven (most are).
The three sets of included nose rests are somewhat less useful. You need to use the exact right nose rest to get the height of the glasses' displays to center between the frames so that the displays aren't partially blocked by the frames. I'm somewhere between the medium and tall nose rests, and the squishy pads on the rests are very uncomfortable with the weight they carry on my nose.
So, time to experiment. I thought at first that I could add small foam or felt pads to the medium rests' squisy pads, but nothing sticks to the squishy pads. However, the squishy pads can be carefully removed from the metal parts of the rests, by pulling them slowly through a small slot in one corner of the rests' squares that hold the pads in place. Then felt or foam pads can be stuck directly to the metal parts of the rests, and replace the sticky pads. I found that using the felt floor protectors that you'd normally stick on the bottom of chair feet worked pretty well to start. They stuck to the metal parts of the rests pretty well, and could be cut to cover the entire rests plus more. I then added thin foam tape inside of the felt pads since the felt was a little too firm and scratchy. This setup is much more comfy than the squishy pads, distributes the weight of the glasses better, and can be tweaked to get the height just right. Of course, it looks ugly, but for travel I can always switch back to the squishy pads.
My vision isn't perfect, but I don't want to spend hundreds to get prescription lenses for the Airs. I think that perhaps a pair of cheap, compact "reader" glasses tucked inside the Airs might do the trick, and am experimenting with both some ThinOptics and generic plastic readers that clip on the nose.
To watch movies on the Deck involves a couple of things. First, the version of Firefox installed on the Deck is fairly out of date, and can be added to Gaming mode, but doesn't work well there. But you can go into Desktop mode, use Discovery to search for Firefox and install (the Flatpack version of) it, which is up to date and works well in Desktop mode. Log into Amazon, Apple, etc. in Firefox and now you can watch movies full-screen. To get Firefox to show up on the glasses in native 1080p resolution, in Desktop mode, you need to go into System Settings -> Display and Monitor, select the Airs, set them to be both Enabled and Primary, and then optionally set the built-in display to not be Enabled (so it isn't still on while you're using the Airs), click on Accept, then click that you want to keep the current settings.
Overall, yes, these take some futzing to get them to work, but they work quite well when they're set up just right.
New Nreal Air Smart Xreal AR Glasses HD Private Giant Mobile Computer Projection Screen Portable Game Video Music Sunglasses
Promise : One year warranty, 100% new original(We don't sell Second-hand goods), ship within 2 days(In the business days).
How to identify whether the product is brand new?
Check whether the product packaging seal is intact
Features:
Feature 1 : projection screen is a 4 meters 130 inch screen, the AR space is a 6 meters 201 inch.It also supports the connection with mobile phones, tablets, laptops, handheld computers, game consoles and other devices. At the same time, Nreal also created a three-dimensional panoramic AR space for Nreal Air
Feature 2 : High level definition of spatial retina,In terms of display effect, the resolution of the Nreal Air is 3840 * 1080, MTF>0.7, and PPD=49. At the same time, Nreal Air has an ultra-high contrast ratio of 100000:1, a high color gamut of 108% sRGB, and an eye brightness of 400 nits
Feature 3 : Three gear adjustable glasses for the comfortable wearing experience,In the connection scheme, an Android mobile phone/tablet/Windows laptop/iPad/Mac equipped with Type-C interface and supporting DisplayPort output, as well as a Steam Deck or Windows game console directly connected to the Nreal Air, can achieve 130 inch super clear projection screen
Feature 4 : Immersive stereo dual speakers,Nreal Air brings three-dimensional panoramic AR space, equipped with a 201 inch sharp color sky screen, which can adjust the screen size, distance and position at will
Feature 1 : projection screen is a 4 meters 130 inch screen, the AR space is a 6 meters 201 inch.It also supports the connection with mobile phones, tablets, laptops, handheld computers, game consoles and other devices. At the same time, Nreal also created a three-dimensional panoramic AR space for Nreal Air
Feature 2 : High level definition of spatial retina,In terms of display effect, the resolution of the Nreal Air is 3840 * 1080, MTF>0.7, and PPD=49. At the same time, Nreal Air has an ultra-high contrast ratio of 100000:1, a high color gamut of 108% sRGB, and an eye brightness of 400 nits
Feature 3 : Three gear adjustable glasses for the comfortable wearing experience,In the connection scheme, an Android mobile phone/tablet/Windows laptop/iPad/Mac equipped with Type-C interface and supporting DisplayPort output, as well as a Steam Deck or Windows game console directly connected to the Nreal Air, can achieve 130 inch super clear projection screen
Feature 4 : Immersive stereo dual speakers,Nreal Air brings three-dimensional panoramic AR space, equipped with a 201 inch sharp color sky screen, which can adjust the screen size, distance and position at will
Feature 5 : Myopic popula-tion Friendly,For people with myopia or astigmatusm,optical lens customization is supported, and the visual experience is more accurate and extreme.(Customized myopic refractive magnetic lenses require additional fees. For details, please click to contact me,All lenses have passed the inspection and have clear correction, scratch resistance and reduced reflector function)
The gyroscope in the glasses can track the user's head movement to adjust the display content in real time
Parameter：
Screen : Sony Micro OLED
sRGB : 108%
resolving power : 3840 * 1080
PPD : 49
FOV : 46 Degree
contrast ratio : 100000 : 1
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Compatibility
 XREAL Air AR Glasses |
 Use with Beam |
 Use with Adapter |
|---|---|---|
CompatibilityUSB-C DP Output: Steam Deck, ROG Ally, iPhone 15, Android, iPad, Mac, Windows |
CompatibilityAdditional devices: PS 5, Xbox X/S (XREAL H-C Cable required), Nintendo Switch |
CompatibilityAdditional devices: PS 5, Xbox X/S, Nintendo Switch, iPhone 14 and earlier |
Display ModeAir Casting |
Display ModeAir Casting, Body Anchor, Smooth Follow, Sideview |
Display ModeAir Casting |
In the BoxGlasses, Nose pad (S/M/L), lens frame, Cloth, C-C cable, Light Dimmer, Case |
In the BoxXREAL Beam and XREAL C-C Cable |
In the BoxXREAL Adapter |
ConnectivityUSB-C DP |
ConnectivityUSB-C DP, HDMI Output |
ConnectivityUSB-C DP, HDMI Output, Lightning (Apple Lightning Digital AV Adapter required) |
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Top reviews from other countries
John G.
Great if you have a use for them!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2023
Amazon Customer
The single worst item, I have purchased from Amazon.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 8, 2023
Husain_0010
Worst product , not working in any device not even macbook
Reviewed in India on October 27, 2023
