Razer Anzu smart glasses alternatives: the desk or the day.

What Razer Anzu is, from Razer’s own guide

The Razer Anzu is a pair of Bluetooth audio glasses. Razer’s master guide lists what is in the frame: touch input areas on the temples, built-in speakers, charging ports, status indicators, omnidirectional microphones, and lenses that are either blue-light filtering or polarized sunglass lenses. The lenses can be swapped, and Razer publishes a separate guide for replacing them. Frame styles vary by model. There is no camera, and nothing in the guide suggests one.

It works with any device that plays Bluetooth audio. You open both temples to switch it on and close them to switch it off, and an audio prompt confirms each. A tap answers or ends a call and plays or pauses media; a double tap skips forward; a triple tap goes back; a two-second hold rejects a call or wakes your phone’s virtual assistant. The free Razer Audio app (iOS 12 or Android 8.1 and up) sets the gestures, picks from preset EQs and turns Gaming Mode on or off.

Two details matter for a desk setup. The Anzu remembers up to six paired devices but connects to one mobile device at a time, and a four-second hold puts it back into pairing mode. It charges through pin connectors on both temples from a split USB cable, and Razer says a flat battery fills in about 1.5 hours.

Where Anzu wins: the desk and the game

We sell camera glasses, so it would be easy to write this page as if the Anzu were a lesser version of them. It is not. It is a different product for a different chair, and on three counts it does its job better than we would.

• Gaming Mode.Razer’s guide describes a mode, switched on by a triple tap and a two-second hold, in which the glasses run at a lower latency so sound keeps pace with what is on screen. OXIVUE publishes no latency figure and has no gaming mode. If audio lag in a game is the problem you are solving, the Anzu is built for it and our frames are not.
• A blue-light lens option. Razer sells the Anzu with a blue-light filtering lens, and a polarized sunglass lens for outdoors. OXIVUE makes no blue-light claim for any lens. More on what that claim is worth in the next section.
• No camera, by design. A frame with no lens aperture is camera-free without argument, which matters in an office, a classroom or a shared house. Our camera-free smart glasses for work guide covers the settings where that counts.

Add EQ presets and custom gestures in Razer’s app and the Anzu is a well-thought-out pair of headphones you wear on your face. If that is what you came for, it is a sensible buy.

The blue-light question, and why we make no claim

Blue-light filtering is one of the main reasons people search for the Anzu, so it deserves a straight answer rather than a feature row.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology states that it “does not recommend any special blue light-blocking eyewear for computer use.” Its explanation for tired eyes at a screen is simpler: “Most of us blink less when looking at screens, causing eye strain and dry eyes.” Its recommendation is the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at something at least 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. That advice costs nothing and works with any glasses, or none.

None of that makes a filtering lens wrong to buy. Some people simply prefer the look or the tint at night, and that is their call. It does explain our position. The OXIVUE M08 family comes with sunglasses, photochromic or clear lenses, and the clear lens is sold as a clear lens for daily wear. We do not describe it as blue-light filtering, eye-protecting or anti-strain, because we have no test result that would let us. If a blue-light lens is the whole reason you are shopping, stay with a frame that makes that claim.

Razer Anzu vs OXIVUE, side by side

Anzu entries come from Razer’s own user guide. Where the guide does not state a figure, we say so instead of filling the cell from memory; check Razer’s product page for its current price and numbers.

The rows that do not move are the ones to decide on: camera or none, blue-light lens or none, gaming mode or translation. Those are design choices, not specs that change by season.

What a camera frame adds

The M08 costs $149. What it does that the Anzu cannot comes down to two things.

1. A camera. The M08 has an 8 MP camera set flush into the corner of the frame, triggered by one deliberate touch rather than recording all the time. It is for the moments away from the desk: a sign in another language, a whiteboard at the end of a lecture, something your kid does that you would have missed reaching for a phone. If you record in public, read our recording laws by state first.
2. Translation.Through the free app, the M08 translates 40+ languages in real time. Razer’s guide does not mention translation. For how that works in practice, and where it falls short, see how translation glasses work.

The rest overlaps: open-ear sound, a microphone for calls, and a frame you wear like ordinary glasses, at ~42 g in TR90 on Bluetooth 5.4. There is no subscription and no Meta account involved. For the desk, pick the clear lens; U.S. orders with the clear or sunglasses lens ship from our U.S. warehouse in 5–9 business days, while the photochromic lens ships direct in 9–14. Free shipping applies from $99, so the M08 qualifies.

If most of your desk time is calls rather than games, the M08C ($169) is the same frame idea with a gold or silver trim, sold on translation and meeting transcription; the clear-lens M08C also ships from the U.S. warehouse in 5–9 business days. Our smart glasses for meetings guide covers that use.

What you give up moving from Anzu

Switching is not free. Here is the honest list, nothing softened.

• Gaming Mode. No OXIVUE frame has one, and we publish no latency number. For competitive play, keep the Anzu or a wired headset.
• A blue-light lens. None on any OXIVUE frame, for the reasons above.
• Prescription lenses. No OXIVUE frame takes prescription lenses, and third-party lens swaps are excluded from our warranty; see our prescription smart glasses guide.
• A change-of-mind refund. OXIVUE does not offer refunds. The one exception is an order that arrives damaged in transit, which is replaced or refunded. Faults after delivery are handled under the 2-year warranty by repair or replacement, not refund. Change of mind, fit, and features not matching your expectations are not refundable. Statutory rights where you live still apply.
• Guaranteed camera-free. A camera frame is, by definition, not one. If the glasses go into rooms where cameras are unwelcome, that alone can decide it.

Both come with a 2-year warranty. Razer’s guide says the Anzu carries a 2-year limited warranty; OXIVUE’s runs from the ship date and covers defects by repair or replacement. The details are on the warranty page.

The alternatives, by buyer

If you game at a desk and want low-latency audio: stay with the Anzu

It has the mode, the app and the lens you are looking for. Nothing we sell beats it at that job, and adding a camera would only add cost you will not use there.

If you want your glasses to work away from the desk too: OXIVUE M08, $149

The step up that adds a camera and translation, at the lowest OXIVUE price for a camera frame: 8 MP, one-touch capture, 40+ languages, 7 hours of listening, ~42 g, with a clear lens for indoors. See the M08.

If your desk time is mostly calls and meetings: OXIVUE M08C, $169

Gold or silver trim on a TR90 frame, with translation, meeting transcription and the same 8 MP camera. See the M08C.

If you only want audio: an audio frame, not a camera one

OXIVUE’s audio-only frame, the M01 Pro, reserves at $19.90 with no payment now; it is ~28 g with 8 hours of listening and a clear lens option, and it ships when the production run lands. It has no gaming mode and no blue-light claim either. To weigh other audio glasses, see our Lucyd alternatives and Bose Frames alternatives guides, and smart glasses vs earbuds if you are still deciding whether glasses beat what is already in your ears. Students weighing a pair for lectures and a dorm desk can start with smart glasses for students.

Bottom line

The Razer Anzu is desk and gaming audio done properly: open-ear speakers, touch controls, a low-latency Gaming Mode and a choice of blue-light filtering or polarized lenses, with no camera. If that is what you need, buy it. If you want glasses that also capture what you see and translate what you hear once you leave the desk, the OXIVUE M08 at $149 is the camera alternative, and the M08C at $169 suits a day of calls. Buy either knowing there is no blue-light claim, no gaming mode, no prescription lens and no change-of-mind refund. Every frame is side by side on the comparison page.

Frequently asked questions