Jason Hiner/ZDNET
Meta Ray-Bans have often been very difficult to find in stock at both retailers and online stores for the past two years -- and they rarely go on sale. But one of the best ways to not only get a 20% discount but also find some of the styles that have been discontinued or are rarely ever in stock is to use the little-known Meta Refurbished AI Glasses online store.
I recently ordered a pair of Meta Ray-Bans in the Skylar style with the Shiny Caramel finish with Polar Brown lenses. If you've followed Meta Ray-Bans, then you've probably seen these before because they are in a lot of the Meta promotional materials. The frames themselves are semi-transparent, so you can see a lot of the technology inside. And the lenses have that amber tint that's popular in lots of sunglasses because it gives the world a bit of warm orange glow.
I was able to buy these for $263, even though they normally retail for $329. Other configurations, like the black with blue transition lenses, were as much as $76 off. As of the writing of this article, Meta's refurbished store was selling the Wayfarer, Headliner, and Skyler styles. The Wayfarer is the most common style, while the Headliner and Skyler can be more difficult to find.
When my transparent brown Meta Ray-Bans arrived, they were in the original box and it was unopened, with the perforated pull tag still in perfect condition -- no different than the box of the original pair of black Meta Ray-Bans I bought when the product first launched two years ago.
Jason Hiner/ZDNET
When I opened the box, everything was in perfect order, just like a new pair. All the accessories, booklets, polishing cloth, and even the paper protectors over the arms of the glasses were all just as they are in the packaging of a brand new pair of Meta Ray-Bans that you'd buy at retail or online.
I pulled the little protective tab inside the case to activate charging and plugged the case into USB. After about 30 minutes, I opened up the Meta AI app, tapped the glasses button on the far right, hit the plus sign in the upper right corner, tapped on the Ray-Ban | Meta button, and the software immediately recognized that there was a pair of glasses in a case nearby. I accepted the prompt and tapped through the menus.
I pulled the glasses out of the case and examined them, and they were in perfect condition. I put them on and immediately started using them like the other pairs of Meta Ray-Bans I've been testing and using for the past couple years.
Jason Hiner/ZDNET
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