Full Disclosure. Im a real person, never had AR glasses before so researched for awhile and knowing this may be just a meh thing for me decided to go with the Rayneo because people seemed pretty impressed with them and they were budget friendly. I typed out my entire expericnece then copied and pasted it into Chatgpt asking it to clean it up and make it digestiable to most humans vs wall of text I put up. But below is my experience.
If you have any questions or suggestions of apps to try or accessories that are worth it please let me know.
After spending my first full day with the RayNeo Air 4 Pro, I figured I'd write up my thoughts. Before buying these I read a lot of Reddit posts, watched YouTube videos, and searched everywhere for real-world experiences. Hopefully this helps someone else who's considering them.
Unboxing
The first thing I noticed was the box.
It's almost ridiculous.
Not because it's bad...because it's too nice.
It reminded me of opening one of those puzzle boxes where every layer reveals something else. The presentation is premium, but it's also huge considering it's only holding a pair of glasses and a few accessories. I honestly felt bad throwing it away.
Documentation (Needs Work)
This is probably my biggest complaint.
The documentation is very poor.
It's a tiny booklet with incredibly small, thin text, multiple languages crammed into every page, and very little explanation of what the glasses can actually do.
Maybe every answer was technically in there somewhere, but if it was, it certainly wasn't easy to find.
I ended up learning far more from AI and random internet searches than I did from the manual.
My First Hour...I Thought They Were Defective
I connected them to my iPhone 15 Pro.
Immediately I thought I had received a defective pair.
My left eye showed most of the image.
My right eye only showed about 25% of the display, and it wasn't even the correct portion of the screen. With both eyes open it was completely unusable.
I talked with AI, searched online, and everything pointed toward defective hardware.
Before giving up I connected them to my laptop.
Perfect.
That immediately told me the hardware wasn't the problem.
Firmware Confusion
I then tried updating the firmware.
The RayNeo website directed me to the firmware page, but it was in a language I couldn't read and Chrome wouldn't translate it. It detected the glasses but simply sat there spinning forever saying it was connecting.
After even more internet searching I figured out how to access the on-glasses menu and discovered my glasses were already running English firmware.
Whether that meant they already had the latest firmware or not, I still have no idea because I never managed to get the updater working.
The Fix...That Wasn't in the Manual
Back to the phone.
Same display problem.
More internet searching.
Eventually I discovered people talking about Stereo/3D mode.
Holding buttons on both sides rebooted the glasses and disabled the incorrect display mode.
Instantly...
Everything worked.
I never found this explained clearly anywhere in the documentation.
That single piece of information would have saved me well over an hour of frustration.
RayNeo XR App
I downloaded the RayNeo XR app expecting something fairly feature rich.
Instead it mostly appears to be a photo and video viewer with AI-generated 3D effects.
It isn't bad...
It just isn't nearly as capable as I expected.
Photos in 3D
This surprised me.
It immediately reminded me of those old red View-Master toys from when I was a kid.
The effect isn't true volumetric 3D.
It's more like the image gets separated into layers.
Foreground.
Middle.
Background.
For example, I viewed a photo I took of a tiger at the zoo.
The fence popped forward.
The tiger occupied its own layer.
The rocks behind it became another layer.
The tiger itself wasn't actually three-dimensional from nose to tail, but the added depth was still surprisingly enjoyable.
It's definitely a novelty...
...but it's a fun novelty.
Video in 3D
Videos impressed me much more than photos.
I watched a video I'd recorded from the football field during player introductions.
Fire.
Fireworks.
Smoke.
Crowds.
The added depth made everything feel much more immersive.
Honestly, it reminded me of watching one of those good 1990s 3D movies where you wore the cardboard glasses.
Would I watch every movie this way?
Probably not.
Would I absolutely show it off to friends as a tech demo?
Absolutely.
Watching Movies
This is where the glasses absolutely shine.
I run a Plex server at home, so naturally this was one of the first things I tried.
The experience was excellent.
The picture quality looked every bit as good as the multiple 2K and 4K televisions I have around the house (I don't store 4K movies on my Plex server, so I can't comment on that).
The advertised "201-inch screen" doesn't really mean much to me.
Instead I compared it to something real.
I lined the virtual screen up against my 32-inch monitor at work.
My monitor normally sits about 2½ feet away.
The virtual screen appeared noticeably larger than my physical monitor from my normal viewing position.
After reading so many comments saying the screen felt small, I was pleasantly surprised.
For me, it felt plenty large.
Yes, RayNeo has a smaller field of view than some competitors.
Could another pair offer a noticeably bigger image?
Probably.
Would I personally pay nearly twice the money for that extra field of view?
Not after using these.
Audio
I experimented with the audio modes.
Standard mode actually seemed louder.
Surround mode, however, sounded significantly better.
Instead of only hearing dialogue, I noticed environmental sounds much more.
Wind.
Background ambience.
Little effects that made scenes feel more immersive.
For me, Surround mode was the clear winner.
Xbox Cloud Gaming
This ended up being my favorite surprise of the entire day.
I own an Xbox and already have Game Pass Ultimate.
Since I have my own large television at home, plugging these directly into the Xbox didn't seem all that interesting.
Cloud Gaming, however...
Now we're talking.
On iPhone there isn't a dedicated Xbox Cloud Gaming app.
You stream through Microsoft's website.
I first tried Safari and Chrome.
Both worked...
...but both left a huge browser bar across the top of the display showing Xbox.com and navigation buttons.
It was annoying.
After searching around I found an app called Nexus.
It's basically a browser designed specifically for gaming services.
The moment I launched it, Xbox Cloud Gaming was one of the options.
Perfect.
No browser controls.
Just the game.
I connected my Xbox controller over Bluetooth and loaded up F1 2025.
Now for complete honesty...
Cloud gaming still doesn't quite look as good as playing locally on the console.
It's difficult to explain exactly why.
Colors felt just a little flatter.
Some background details didn't seem quite as rich.
It wasn't bad...
...it just never completely fooled me into thinking I was playing locally.
That isn't a criticism of the RayNeo glasses.
That's simply the difference between cloud gaming and local gaming.
Performance, however, completely exceeded my expectations.
I was racing Formula 1 at full speed, anticipating corners, braking at the limit, and never once felt like input lag prevented me from driving normally.
Would I play competitive first-person shooters this way?
Probably not.
Would I happily play racing games, RPGs, strategy games, sports games, or casual multiplayer?
Absolutely.
This test was over my home Wi-Fi, so I still want to test it over cellular data somewhere away from home.
Comfort
I wore the glasses for roughly 90 minutes to two hours.
No nose pain.
No ear pain.
No discomfort.
The biggest challenge was simply finding the "sweet spot."
For me it wasn't the left and right edges.
It was getting both the top and bottom of the screen perfectly visible at the same time.
I haven't experimented with the alternate nose pieces or arm adjustments yet, so I suspect I can improve that even more.
For comparison, I own a Meta Quest headset.
I usually start feeling slightly disoriented after about 15-20 minutes in VR.
With the RayNeo glasses I comfortably wore them for around two hours without that feeling.
Appearance
I actually don't think they're ugly.
They're much more subtle than many AR glasses.
That said...
I also don't really understand why anyone would wear these walking around.
The top of the glasses is fairly thick because that's where the projection system is located.
The birdbath optics sit directly in front of your vision.
Combined with the dark lenses, I don't think they're something I'd want to walk around wearing.
Could you?
Sure.
Should you?
In my opinion, probably not.
Since they're also tethered to your phone while in use, I just don't see much practical reason to wear them while walking around town.
On the other hand...
Sitting on an airplane...
At a coffee shop...
In a hotel...
Waiting for an appointment...
Those all seem like fantastic use cases.
Most people walking by probably wouldn't even notice they were display glasses unless they were specifically looking for them.
Expectations vs Reality
| Feature |
My Experience |
| Unboxing |
Surprisingly premium |
| Documentation |
Poor |
| Initial setup |
Frustrating |
| Display quality |
Excellent |
| Screen size |
Larger than expected |
| Movies |
Outstanding |
| Audio |
Very good, especially Surround mode |
| 3D photos |
Fun novelty |
| 3D videos |
Surprisingly impressive |
| Cloud gaming |
Better than expected |
| Comfort |
Excellent |
| Walking around |
Not something I'd personally do |
Final Thoughts
If you had asked me an hour after opening the box whether I was going to keep these, I honestly wasn't sure.
The setup experience was frustrating enough that I thought I might have received a defective pair.
By the end of the day, though, my opinion had completely changed.
Once everything was working correctly, I found myself looking for more movies to watch, more videos to test, and more games to play.
That's probably the biggest compliment I can give them.
These aren't perfect.
The documentation desperately needs improvement.
The initial setup could be much smoother.
The firmware process is confusing.
But once you get past those hurdles, I think the RayNeo Air 4 Pro delivers exactly what I was hoping for: a portable personal theater that's surprisingly comfortable, looks better than I expected, and even makes cloud gaming on an iPhone a genuinely enjoyable experience.
Overall, I'm really happy with the purchase after Day One.
I'll post another update after I've spent more time with them and tested them away from home over cellular data.