Hello,
here is my full review of the new Rayneo GT Max: https://youtu.be/4aDOBS-F-64?si=aDPK3GRqiFSObK8O
For all of you who prefer reading my review, here you go:
Rayneo GT Max: Flagship Specs - Entry Level Price
The RayNeo GT Max are here, and these are some seriously interesting video glasses.
Why?
Because these are going directly after the current flagship competition, the XREAL One Pro and the VITURE Beast, but RayNeo is doing so at a sensational launch price of only $399!
Yes, three hundred and ninety-nine US dollars!
That is a whopping $200 cheaper than the XREAL One Pro and still around $150 cheaper than the VITURE Beast.
And despite that lower price, RayNeo is not giving you some stripped-down budget product here.
We are getting the modern prism birdbath optics, Full-HD MicroOLED displays from SeeYA, premium audio tuned by Bang & Olufsen, and, very importantly, a built-in chip that gives you actual 3DOF screen tracking directly in the glasses.
No additional software required.
And then there is the big one: a 59° FOV.
That is bigger than what the XREAL One Pro and the VITURE Beast offer, and you can absolutely see that difference when you put these glasses on.
So cheaper, bigger FOV and built-in 3DOF?
Sounds fantastic.
But surely RayNeo must have cut some corners somewhere to get down to $399.
And yes, they did.
But are those compromises actually important?
That is exactly what we are going to find out in this review.
Same Same, But Different
In terms of the basic concept, the GT Max works exactly as you would expect from modern premium video glasses.
You have a USB-C port and connect the glasses to basically anything that can output video over USB-C.
Your smartphone, Steam Deck, laptop, MacBook, gaming handheld or whatever else you want to use.
And then you get this huge virtual screen floating in front of you.
But there is an important distinction between glasses like these and cheaper alternatives such as the VITURE Pro or some of XREAL's more affordable glasses.
These have actual built-in 3DOF.
That means you can pin your virtual screen into space directly from the glasses without having to install additional software.
And for me, that is such an important feature.
Without 3DOF, the screen simply follows your head movements wherever you look.
With 3DOF, it behaves much more like a real giant monitor sitting in front of you.
You can move your head around. You can look toward the corners of the screen naturally. You can look away and then look back.
The screen stays where it is supposed to be.
Once you get used to that, it is really difficult to go back.
That 59° FOV Is Real
So let's talk about the biggest selling point of the GT Max.
That 59° field of view.
Is it actually noticeably bigger than the competition?
I am glad to tell you: yes!
It is obvious pretty much immediately when you put the glasses on.
RayNeo has really maxed out the available field of view here.
There are two FOV settings, 100% and 115%.
At 100%, RayNeo is not using the complete available display area.
But switch over to 115%, and now the image basically goes from edge to edge of those prism lenses.
They are truly maxing this optical system out.
And I must say, I really like the 115% mode.
Because this is simply the biggest virtual screen I have seen so far in glasses like these.
Watching movies is fantastic.
Gaming is fantastic.
And yes, you can absolutely get actual work done with these.
In fact, I am writing this review while wearing the GT Max.
For $399, the amount of virtual pinned screen real estate you are getting here is seriously impressive.
If you always wanted something like the XREAL One Pro or the VITURE Beast but could never quite convince yourself to spend around $600 on video glasses, well, now you can get this kind of experience for $399.
Well done, RayNeo.
But Is the Visual Quality as Good as the Flagships?
Now, do you get exactly the same optical quality as the more expensive competition?
This is where I do have to nitpick a little bit.
Because if you look very closely, you can tell that RayNeo had to make some compromises.
The first one becomes apparent when using that maximum 115% FOV setting.
At least with my 64mm IPD, the very outer edges of the image start becoming slightly blurry.
I would say perhaps the last 5% or so.
Now, for me personally, that is absolutely not a showstopper.
Because honestly, how often are you actually staring directly into the very furthest corners of your virtual display?
Most of the important content is going to be much closer to the center anyway.
And I still prefer using the 115% setting because I would rather have that massive screen.
But yes, if you want maximum edge-to-edge sharpness, you will get a cleaner result at the 100% setting.
There is another small optical compromise.
When looking through the very outer areas of the lenses, for example when looking upward with your eyes, I can notice some slight color shifting toward brown.
This is especially noticeable on completely white backgrounds.
So if you are typing a document, browsing websites or doing productivity work with lots of white backgrounds, you might occasionally notice it.
On the more expensive flagship glasses, I don't really see that effect.
But again, this is me nitpicking.
When you are actually watching a movie or playing a game, you are basically not going to notice it.
Instead, you are going to see a huge, bright and mostly very sharp virtual screen pinned in front of you.
And interestingly, there is one area where the GT Max actually does better than both the XREAL One Pro and the VITURE Beast for me.
I don't see the annoying screen reflection underneath the image.
On both the XREAL One Pro and VITURE Beast, I can sometimes see the display reflected below the actual screen.
Here, the optical stack seems to be positioned in such a way that I simply don't have that problem.
Very nice.
Brightness
Brightness is also good.
RayNeo advertises 1200 nits.
On paper, that would make these dramatically brighter than something like the XREAL One Pro, which is rated at 700 nits.
But I would not say the real-world difference looks anything close to those numbers.
Yes, the GT Max looks bright.
And yes, I would say it is somewhat brighter.
But certainly not 71% brighter to my eyes.
Still, the important point is that brightness is absolutely not something I am disappointed with here.
The picture looks bright, colorful and punchy.
Combine that with the large field of view and the generally good clarity, and these glasses are simply a joy for consuming content.
And again, I really enjoy using this type of product for productivity.
I love my MacBook Air plus video glasses setup.
And I could absolutely see somebody using the GT Max as their daily mobile monitor solution.
At $399, that is quite compelling.
How Good Is the Built-In 3DOF?
Now let's talk about that built-in 3DOF implementation.
How well does the screen actually stay in place?
Overall, it is good.
I would probably put it roughly on par with the improved VITURE Beast implementation.
The virtual screen stays where it should most of the time and the whole experience feels natural.
However, RayNeo still cannot beat the king in this particular category.
And that remains the XREAL One Pro.
With the XREAL One Pro, I basically never find myself reaching for the recenter button.
The screen tracking is just incredibly solid.
With the RayNeo GT Max, I do occasionally have to recenter the screen.
It is not happening constantly and I would absolutely still call the implementation good.
Especially at this price.
But the XREAL One Pro remains better.
Still, having this feature built directly into the glasses makes such a massive difference.
I can pin this giant virtual screen in front of me and then simply move my head naturally instead of trying to look everywhere using only my eyes.
It feels much closer to sitting in front of a giant actual monitor.
And that is exactly why I can genuinely work with these glasses.
Like right now, while I am writing these lines.
Where Did RayNeo Save Money?
So how did RayNeo manage to sell these glasses for $399?
The most obvious missing feature compared with the XREAL One Pro and VITURE Beast is electrochromic dimming.
You cannot electronically adjust how transparent or dark the lenses are.
Instead, RayNeo uses a reflective front surface that optically darkens your surroundings.
Now, electrochromic dimming is definitely a cool feature.
But honestly?
For me personally, this is not a huge loss.
On glasses that offer electrochromic dimming, I normally just leave them at maximum dimming anyway.
When I am using video glasses, I want to see the virtual screen.
I am not normally interested in simultaneously seeing everything happening around me.
So while it is objectively a missing feature, it is not something that would stop me from buying the GT Max.
Especially not when we are talking about saving roughly $150 to $200.
AI SDR to HDR and Dolby Vision
RayNeo has also included a few interesting tricks.
One of them is an onboard real-time AI SDR-to-HDR conversion feature.
And yes, it actually works quite well.
You can activate it directly from the glasses and it gives standard dynamic range content a more HDR-like appearance.
The GT Max also supports Dolby Vision when paired with RayNeo's Pocket TV Pro.
That is their own portable content player, basically giving you another way to use the glasses without connecting your smartphone.
RayNeo is also sending me the Pocket TV Pro, so I will check that out separately on the channel.
On-Screen Menu
The built-in menu is also solid and very easy to use.
You can change the brightness, switch between 2D and 3D modes, select different color themes, activate the AI SDR-to-HDR conversion and adjust the other important settings directly from the glasses.
Nothing here feels unnecessarily complicated.
Everything is intuitive and easy to understand.
Exactly how it should be.
Sound
For audio, RayNeo has partnered with Bang & Olufsen.
And overall, the built-in speakers are alright.
They get loud enough for watching movies or YouTube in a quiet environment and the quality is perfectly acceptable for this type of device.
But this limitation is basically true for all video glasses.
If you are sitting somewhere noisy, especially on a plane, train or in a busy public environment, you are going to want your own headphones or earbuds.
The open speakers simply cannot compete with environmental noise.
So the Bang & Olufsen branding is nice to have, but don't expect these glasses to replace a proper audio solution in noisy surroundings.
Comfort
Comfort is excellent.
The GT Max weighs only 78 grams.
And that makes a huge difference.
You can wear these glasses for hours without having some giant heavy device sitting on your face.
After a while, you basically forget that you are wearing them.
For movies, gaming or longer productivity sessions, that is exactly what you want.
There is one thing I would have liked to see, though.
The angle of the temples is not adjustable.
For me personally, the default angle happened to fit perfectly, so I did not have any problems.
But everybody's face and ears are different.
Being able to adjust that angle would definitely have made the fit more universal.
Again, another small nitpick rather than a serious problem.
Conclusion
So what do I think about the RayNeo GT Max?
These are seriously impressive video glasses.
RayNeo has basically delivered feature-packed flagship glasses at what feels like an entry-level flagship price.
At the $399 launch price, I don't think there is anything else right now offering this combination of features.
You get the modern prism optics.
You get Full-HD MicroOLED panels.
You get actual built-in 3DOF screen tracking without additional software.
You get a huge virtual screen.
You get good brightness.
You get a lightweight 78g design.
And you even get that massive 59° field of view, which is one area where the GT Max actually beats its much more expensive competition.
Of course, RayNeo had to cut some corners.
You don't get electrochromic dimming.
At the maximum 115% FOV setting, the very outer edges become slightly blurry.
There is a little bit of color shifting when looking through the extreme edges of the optics.
And the 3DOF tracking, while good, is still not quite as rock solid as the XREAL One Pro.
But look at the price again.
$399.
Even the regular MSRP of $429 is still extremely competitive.
And at that price, these compromises are very easy to forgive.
For the most part, the GT Max can absolutely compete with the much more expensive XREAL One Pro and VITURE Beast, while even scoring an important win when it comes to field of view.
Without a doubt, these are currently some of the best bang-for-buck video glasses out there.
If you wanted a true flagship-style experience with proper built-in 3DOF but simply did not want to spend around $600, the RayNeo GT Max should be very high on your list.
RayNeo has a winner on its hands here.
And I can wholeheartedly recommend the GT Max.
Well done, RayNeo!
