If you were intrigued by ROG and Xreal’s gaming AR headset at CES, you’ll soon be able to get your hands on them for a hefty $849. ASUS’s gaming subsidiary announced today that the ROG Xreal R1 glasses are now available for pre-order at Best Buy, and they’ll also be sold from the company’s website on May 17. We expected them to come in a bit higher than Xreal”s excellent $649 One Pro glasses, as the ROG model is essentially a supercharged upgrade, with a smoother 240Hz refresh rate and a bundled dock that makes it easy to plug in multiple consoles, PCs and other hardware.
Otherwise, the Xreal R1 are pretty similar to Xreal’s previous flagship hardware. They still have a 57-degree field of view, which is enough to create a 171-inch virtual screen from four meters away, and they’re still running at 1080p. For the price, it would be nice to see Xreal move beyond basic HD, but I’d wager it’s also tough to find tiny micro-OLED panels in 1,440p or 4K these days. The improved refresh rate makes the Xreal R1 well-suited to fast-paced shooters and their ilk. But during your downtime, you can still use them to watch movies or do general PC work.
I haven’t tested the ROG Xreal R1 myself, but I was impressed enough by Xreal’s One Pro to keep a close eye on the company’s future hardware. I found those glasses to be invaluable while traveling — they were perfect for blowing up my laptop’s screen, watching movies and playing games on planes and in hotel rooms. They’re far lighter than bulky VR headsets, and even though I needed additional prescription lenses, everything still looked sharp.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
I’m particularly intrigued by ROG’s included dock, which allows for far more connectivity than Xreal’s earlier devices. You can also plug PCs and other hardware directly into the glasses over USB-C, but the dock allows for more finicky hardware, like the Switch 2, to work seamlessly. It looks like you’ll sacrifice a ton of portability to use the dock, though, as it seems pretty hefty.
