The lowdown

Bluetooth headsets are great in concept, unfortunately in practise you often end up looking like a member of the Borg. Despite a pretty unenthusiastic market in the UK for such headsets, companies like Motorola keep trying new ideas and the RAZRWIRE tries the new angle of integrating the set with a decent quality pair of sunglasses.

What's good?

Though Oakley often delves into the wackier side of sunglasses design, the RAZRWIREs are actually one of better looking options and are available in a choice of three colours: black, silver or gold. Helpfully, the Bluetooth adaptor can be removed when you're out sunning yourself and not making calls, which looks a lot better. Furthermore, having the adaptor attached to the arm of glasses also means that the weight (20g) is evenly distributed to the whole of your head which eliminates the discomfort of wearing a piece of electronics on your ear for extended periods.

Setup and pairing the device with your mobile is about as simple as it gets but more important is the sound quality. The clarity is about the best we have ever experienced from a Bluetooth headset and this alone gives the RAZRWIRE an edge over the competition. On top of that, the battery life is also admirable, comfortably providing up to 6 hours talk time or 100 hours standby.

What's bad?

While the shades themselves look good, when the Bluetooth adaptor is attached the aesthetic is somewhat spoiled. Apparently modern science has yet to find a way of attaching earpieces to glasses without producing something that looks ridiculous. In spite of the adaptor's impressive specs, the multiple buttons, which allow for taking calls, muting, transferring and more, are a bit too fiddly to use comfortably and will take a lot of getting used to. Finally, the way the adaptor fits to the arm of the glasses also limits you to using it only whilst wearing them over your eyes; if you like balancing your glasses on top of your head whilst out of the sunlight you will be forced to slip them back down to take calls.

Do you need it?

There is one serious design flaw universal in all Bluetooth headset sunglasses; we're in the UK, not LA. Even in the height of summer I don't think you can reasonably expect to get an enormous amount of use out of these, slick though they may be. But people still seem to buy convertible cars in spite of our unenviable weather conditions and I imagine the RAZRWIRE could be well suited to someone who does a lot of driving or has to make a lot of calls from outdoors. Fortunately, Oakley's dedication to advanced lens technology also means they can be worn a bit more comfortably in a wider range of lighting conditions than most other sunglasses. The £200 price tag is a bit daunting, especially for a Bluetooth headset, but the inclusion of some nice sunnies makes the cost a bit more bearable.

Overview

Useful Links: Zoodex Features: Fully adjustable, removable Bluetooth 1.2 adaptor Oakley O-luminum frames and XYZ Optics 10m operating distance Verdict: