No one needs a TV they can wear on their face. But it’s fun. I’ve been living with display glasses for years now, and I’m pretty shocked with how good they’re getting. It’s also made me curious about how comparatively good different models can be.

Xreal and Viture’s latest glasses look like 1080p big-screen TVs floating in front of your eyes, with impressive clarity for their size. But there are competitors making more affordable options, too. TCL has a budget alternative: the $299 RayNeo Air 4 Pro, notably easier on the wallet than Xreal ($449 and up) and Viture ($399 and up). Of course, they also leave some key features out of the mix.

First, though: Display glasses aren’t exactly the same as other “smart glasses.” Unlike Meta’s Ray-Bans, which take photos and act like headphones while also being infused with camera-connected AI, display glasses are really just plug-in wearable monitors, with headphones built into the arms and largely AI free. They work with just about any device that has USB-C video out, from iPhones to laptops to PC gaming handhelds such as the Steam Deck.

I was curious how good RayNeo’s Air 4 Pros could be — and whether they’d make me forget about the fancier Xreal and Viture glasses. The short answer is no, but these RayNeos do have an HDR-capable micro-OLED display of excellent quality, meaning they can show images with higher contrast between bright and dark parts of the picture. If that’s all you care about, consider these. But they’re missing the extras that make higher-end glasses much more useful.

Similar design, impressive display

RayNeo Air 4 Pro’s design is just like all the other glasses on the market, for the most part: Using “birdbath” style lenses, these glasses reflect micro OLED displays in the top edge of the frames down into your eyes via prism-like angled lenses. It’s a cheaper way to get impressive image quality versus trying to refract displays right onto on-lens waveguides (like Meta’s Ray-Ban Displays), but it also means a chunkier, not truly transparent look. These are wearable monitors, not everyday glasses. But they also have optional prescription inserts that you’ll need if you wear glasses and don’t use contacts. These glasses don’t fit over your own frames.

In one sense, I’m impressed by the display quality of these RayNeos, which shouldn’t be a surprise since TCL already makes great TVs. Technically, these are HDR10-ready — a rarity for display glasses. While watching movies and YouTube, the difference can be hard to appreciate at times. Colors pop and brightness impresses, but overall these feel equivalent to what Xreal and Viture offer.

The 1080p micro-OLED display runs at both 60 and 120 Hz and can be adjusted to several color tones, including “film” and “eye comfort” modes. Brightness, rated at 1,200 nits, looks vibrant — but in HDR mode, it gets noticeably dimmer.

Missing features

What they lack, though, is audio punch and additional display configurations. The Bang & Olufsen-powered speakers don’t sound as loud or as good as those in Xreal’s One series, but in a pinch they’re fine for casual movie watching or gaming. (I’d recommend just popping in earbuds instead.)

Also missing is any way to “pin” a display in place — something Xreal and Viture’s newer glasses (Xreal One, Viture Luma Pro and Viture Beast) can do. I find it makes using a floating display for work far more helpful and natural-feeling, letting me move my head as needed while the display feels like it’s staying in one spot in my room. With these Air 4 Pros, though, the display’s just hard-glued to my eyes wherever I turn, following me. The glasses also lack deeper controls to make the screen larger or smaller or adjust the virtual depth. You can adjust the refresh rate to 120 Hz, though.

These glasses also can’t auto-dim. While other display glasses often have electrochromic lens dimming that activates various shades to help block light or let more ambient light in, these rely on simple sunglass-like overlays. You can also go fully dark with a pop-on plastic shade (without it, some room light still bleeds in).

That’s pretty much it. These glasses do show how good HDR can be on display glasses, though. Watching Avatar: Fire and Ash on them back and forth in comparison with Viture’s Beast glasses (which I’ll be reviewing soon), I preferred the Beast for its larger display size and more vibrant image, but TCL’s glasses did help make darker scenes feel less overlit. 

In an ideal world, I’d want HDR on every pair of display glasses. But even so, I’d prefer paying more for a more fully featured set of glasses rather than choosing the limited Air 4 Pro.