The Aura glasses have a rimless frame and black temples with gold accents depicting the Sun emerging from a solar eclipse, and a matching gold tone on the bridge and hinges. They’re made from TP-90 thermoplastic, stainless steel, and titanium, and weigh just 40 grams (1.3 ounces). The lenses are rectangular in a slightly pinched-in aviator style. The bridge features metal nose pads, which I find preferable to replaceable silicone pads since they always wear down. While the frame doesn’t have spring hinges, I found it light and comfortable on my large head.

Style is subjective, but I don’t love the design. I just don’t think the rimless lenses or gold accents really suit my face shape or how I usually dress. The rimless style has been slowly growing on me, but the star accents on the front feel a bit extra. They might be perfect for you, though. I’d love to see an all-black design, or even a prismatic pair with Chamelo Prime frames (which are currently only available with dimmable, and not color-changing, lenses).

Chamelo noted that the Aura is rimless not just as a design choice but because it’s easier to engineer and manufacture prescription lenses with electrochromatic film without rims. The company will likely have full-rim prescription glasses down the line, but for now, it’s rimless-only.

It’s worth noting the Aura has a feature we haven’t seen in any of Chamelo’s glasses before: Prescription lens support. The Aura RX bumps the price up another $199 to a hefty $584 and takes 30 days after ordering to manufacture, but you won’t find any other way to get vision-sharpening lenses that change colors at a touch.

For this review, I tested a finalized version of the standard Aura and an early preproduction Aura RX unit in my prescription. Until I can test a finalized version of the Aura RX and verify the reliability of its electronics, the score here only applies to the standard Aura.

The high-end materials should ensure durability, but the Aura is still a pair of smart glasses with electronics (transmitters and receivers) built into the temples and delicate tinting films in the lenses. Those components are nestled inside the thermoplastic temples and sandwiched between layers of nylon for non-RX plano lenses or MR-7 1.67 material for prescription lenses, so the Aura should be able to handle most bumps and drops. They aren’t nearly as resilient as non-smart glasses with mostly titanium frames, so don’t bend the arms or bridge. You also shouldn’t submerge the glasses in water; they are rated IPX4, so you can gently rinse them off.

(Credit: Will Greenwald)

Each temple has a set of charging connectors located on the bottom edges, right behind the hinges. Both temples need to be connected to the included charger because each one separately powers a lens, and they aren’t electrically connected to each other. Instead of running a wire through the bridge, Chamelo uses a very short-range 2.4GHz wireless connection to sync the temples together. It seems like an odd choice, but it does keep the bridge simple and sturdier than it would be with a tiny, fragile wire running through it.

I didn’t experience any connectivity issues between the lenses with the standard Aura. However, on the preproduction Aura RX I tested, the two lenses seemed to desynchronize after a while, causing the left lens to lose its tint after a few seconds. It’s likely a fluke of preproduction assembly, and I’m eager to test the finalized Aura RX to confirm that, so stay tuned for more on that model.

According to Chamelo, the Aura’s batteries provide up to 47 hours of color changing, but exactly what that means isn’t clear, considering you’ll probably be tapping to switch tints whenever you feel like it rather than at any regular, consistent pace. The batteries charge to 80% in 30 minutes, though, so you probably won’t be left with glasses that don’t change color if you remember to occasionally plug them in.

(Credit: Will Greenwald)

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The Aura is controlled with a single tap on the tiny touch-sensitive control nub on the right temple. This cycles through the four tints. There’s no app control or sliding panel to adjust opacity like on the Dusk Classic or the Music Shield.

Besides the charging cable, the Aura comes with a flip-top hard case that safely protects the glasses and a microfiber cleaning cloth. The case is just big enough to hold both the glasses and the charging cable, but since there isn’t a separate pocket for the cable, you’ll occasionally have to fiddle with it to get both to fit.

(Credit: Will Greenwald)