Ampere Dusk Review — Tint Changing Smart Sunglasses
Today we’re taking a look at the Ampere Dusk smart sunglasses that allow you to change the darkness of the shades at the touch of a button — and feature microphones and speakers so you can listen to music, podcasts or take phone calls hands-free.
Ampere Dusk — Tint Control at the Touch of Button
Smart Sunglasses have many great use cases, perfect for outdoorsy people and much safer for commuters– whether you’re riding a bike or electric scooter, keeping your ears open to hear the world around you.
But the Ampere Dusk has one feature that the others don’t — tint control of the darkness of the sunglasses. It uses electrochromic technology, which has been used in luxury cars and office conference rooms for privacy and The Ampere Dusk are the world’s first smart sunglasses using this tech.
You can control the tint on the glasses using either the dedicated button on the glasses, which quickly lets you change from 4 different presets — from low to medium and dark tints. Or you can control the tint from the App, which allows you to change the tint control from 1–100%, choose your presets, and display the battery life of the glasses. The darkest tint level they get to is 4%, while the lightest is 38%.
Being able to change the tint level of the sunglasses can be super useful, especially while driving a car when the conditions can change throughout the day.
We also like that you can change the tint using the dedicated side button, even while the glasses are disconnected from your phone with the Bluetooth off.
Design & Features
Looking at the design of the sunglasses, they’re a Wayfarer style with a soft matte finish and come in 2 color options- Black or Navy with a teal inside.
We did notice the front of the frames are a little bit large around the lenses, compared to other wayfarer style sunglasses, and we wish they were a little bit thinner.
But, the lenses are polarized, and when ordering you have the option between the standard black or mirrored lenses. We got the black model with the standard black shades.
The Dusk smart sunglasses also have microphones and speakers built-in. This allows you to take phone calls, use Siri or Google for voice control, and listen to music or podcasts in the background. The speakers are located close to the ears and pointed in the direction of your ears.
Ampere Dusk — Sound Quality
For the sound quality of the speakers, it’s not bad — but not as good as other Smart sunglasses we’ve tested like the Ray Ban Stories vs the Bose Frames which have the best speakers for sunglasses. The speakers on the Ampere Dusk lack bass, and also don’t have very good isolation, so others around you might hear your music or calls coming from your glasses.
However, the speakers still do a decent job if you want soft music in the background or for listening to a podcast. The Dusk also has microphones so you can take phone calls, and it sounds pretty clear.
Looking at other specs, the sunglasses are IPX 4 waterproof, which means it’s protected from splashing water like rain from all directions, and also good against sweat.
Battery Life & Carrying Case
The battery life is up to 4 hours of playback for music, and up to 7 days of paired tint adjustment through the app. Charging the glasses, there’s a magnetic pin cable charger that can quickly charge them up to 80% in only 15 minutes.
While the Dusk only comes with a basic soft carrying case, but you can upgrade your order and add the Charging and travel case, which has a built in battery to wirelessly charge the glasses while in the case. It has a USB-C input, and even has a built-in space for an AirTag, to make sure you won’t misplace your new sunglasses.
Price & Final Thoughts
For price, the Dusk smart sunglasses start at $295 for the full version. The charging case costs $70, but there’s some deals available to add it to your cart for less than $50 bucks.
And if you don’t care for the speakers and microphones on the sunglasses, Ampere also sells the Dusk Lite which still has the tint control but without the mics and speakers, with that model coming in at just $195.
Alright, that’s it for now. Next, be sure to watch our comparison video of the Best Smart Sunglasses where we compare 5 different models from Bose, RayBan, Amazon’s Echos, and even a cheap pair for $39 bucks.
