ASUS AirVision M1

The ASUS AirVision M1 is ASUS’s first attempt at tethered display glasses: a wearable USB-C monitor with dual 1920x1080 micro-OLED panels, built to pair with Windows PCs and the ROG Ally handheld, released in January 2025 at $699. The launch reviews were unusually harsh for a major-brand debut, and the product’s 2026 story is a price that has slid well below list. This review aggregates the hands-on record: Tom’s Hardware’s review, Windows Central’s review, tech360tv’s review, Gadgets Middle East’s scored review, and OVRDOZ’s retrospective. AR Compare has not performed hands-on testing of this device; every observation below is attributed to the cited sources, and the category scores are an editorial aggregate of cited reviewer sentiment. Product facts were cross-checked against AR Compare’s spec record for the AirVision M1 (a recorded 1,100 nits, a recorded 38-degree field of view, 72Hz, roughly 87 grams, a 100-inch virtual screen, $699).

How This Review Was Compiled

The record splits cleanly by geography and depth. Tom’s Hardware’s Brandon Hill ran the fullest test across Windows handhelds and Macs, and Windows Central’s Zachary Boddy wrote the most price-focused review; both are strongly negative. tech360tv’s Mikhail Ow and Gadgets Middle East’s Joshua James reviewed it more favorably, the latter scoring 8/10. OVRDOZ’s retrospective, updated into 2026, is used here for pricing direction only: several of its spec figures disagree with both the launch reviews and the vendor record, so its numbers are treated with caution. Where the sources disagree — and on this product they disagree more than usual — both readings are reported below.

Why Did Reviewers Pan the AirVision M1 at Launch?

The citable verdict spread is unusually wide. Tom’s Hardware’s headline judgment: an expensive and shaky first effort, hard to get excited about at this price with focus issues and subpar materials, concluding the glasses feel like they should cost hundreds less. Windows Central: fine at the fundamentals but utterly unfeasible at its price, with the blunt advice to buy XREAL instead unless the price falls 40 percent or more. The specific failures recur across reviews. Tom’s Hardware hit a center-of-frame blur no amount of IPD adjustment would fix, fatiguing eyes within minutes on text — a finding Gadgets Middle East independently corroborates on non-ASUS Windows machines — and the plastic struck that reviewer as thin, hollow, and easy to scratch, more in line with budget rivals than a premium device. The kinder pole is real but limited: tech360tv praises the cinematic picture in dark rooms, and Gadgets Middle East rates it a solid pick for portable productivity while still flagging the blur, the fit, and the trailing refresh rate.

Is the AirVision M1 Worth It Now?

The price-drop reframe is the honest 2026 question, and the record supports a conditional shift. OVRDOZ’s retrospective pegs European street pricing at roughly 299 to 349 euros — near half the launch figure — and argues the glasses become an excellent budget buy at the bottom of that range while pointing shoppers elsewhere above it. That tracks exactly with the launch consensus: Windows Central wrote that the M1 would make a compelling case for itself at half the price, and Tom’s Hardware’s complaint was always the gap between build and bill. So the aggregate answer: at list price, no reviewer says buy; at a deep street discount, the calculus flips for buyers who mainly want a clear-lensed portable monitor for Windows productivity and can tolerate the focus caveat. The catalog record still carries the $699 list price, and US street pricing moves sale to sale, so check the current figure before applying the cheaper-now logic.

The Specs: Good Panels Behind a Narrow Window

The display hardware reads better on paper than through the lenses. The recorded 1,100 nits of brightness and 95 percent DCI-P3 coverage earn consistent praise for color — Windows Central calls the panels colorful, accurate, and decently sharp — but the recorded 38-degree field of view is the narrowest among the glasses reviewers compared it to, and the 72Hz ceiling only engages with the AirVision app on Windows; Macs, phones, and app-less setups run at 60Hz, per Tom’s Hardware. The one spec reviewers genuinely celebrate is transparency: Windows Central could read small text through the lenses while wearing them like ordinary glasses, calling the roughly 60 percent optical clarity several times clearer than typical birdbath rivals, useful for staying present in a room. Comfort lands mid-pack at a recorded 87 grams — Windows Central found them comfortable and well-disguised, Gadgets Middle East warns the curved temples do not grip every head securely, and tech360tv expects an adjustment period. There is no battery: power comes over the USB-C tether, so the battery score of 5 follows this site’s category convention for tethered display glasses rather than any standalone runtime.

The Multi-Screen Software, and Its Windows Catch

The AirVision app is the closest thing the M1 has to a moat. It drives virtual multi-monitor setups — a three-screen working mode, ultrawide gaming ratios up to 48:9, an infinity canvas, and custom layouts — plus 3DoF head tracking, gesture controls, IPD adjustment, and picture modes. Windows Central rates the app lightweight, intuitive, and stable, better than XREAL’s software of the moment though behind VITURE’s ecosystem, and treats it as effectively mandatory since tracking and the on-screen display need it. The catches accumulate from there: the app is Windows-only, so every other platform loses those features; the tracking that does arrive is shaky and prone to drifting, per the same review; Tom’s Hardware saw performance warnings when running more than one virtual display; and the temple touchpad frequently misses or misreads inputs. Gadgets Middle East adds that infinity mode has limited practical use.

AirVision M1 vs XREAL One Pro

Reviewers’ alternative of choice was consistently XREAL. Windows Central prices the comparison bluntly — more capable XREAL glasses cost less while adding onboard 3DoF, electrochromic dimming, wider fields of view, and 120Hz — and Tom’s Hardware makes the same case on build quality and audio. Against the XREAL One Pro specifically, AR Compare’s record shows a recorded 57-degree field of view and self-contained tracking against the M1’s recorded 38 degrees and app-dependent tracking, with the M1’s counters being its multi-screen Windows software and clearer see-through lenses. The line-by-line breakdown sits on the AirVision M1 vs XREAL One Pro comparison.

Value

At $699 the aggregate is the most negative in this catalog: Tom’s Hardware finds it difficult to recommend at all, and Windows Central calls the pricing baffling when the category’s best falls between $300 and $500. Every kind word in the record is conditional on a discount — Windows Central names 40 percent off as the threshold where consideration begins, and the retrospective pricing suggests European retail has already crossed it. Buyers weighing the M1 are effectively buying a discount, not a product tier, and the sources agree the money at list belongs with XREAL or VITURE instead.

Who Should Buy the ASUS AirVision M1

Per the aggregated consensus: deal hunters who find it at a street price near half of list and mainly want Windows multi-monitor productivity, ROG Ally owners who value the first-party pairing, and buyers who prize unusually clear see-through lenses for staying aware of a room. Who should skip: anyone paying list price, per every major review; text-heavy workers, given the center-blur findings; Mac and phone users, who lose the app, the tracking, and the 72Hz mode; and competitive gamers, for whom reviewers say the refresh ceiling and flat speakers disqualify it.

Scores are aggregates of the cited reviews and hands-on reports, not AR Compare hands-on results.

Sources

• Tom’s Hardware — ASUS AirVision M1 AR glasses review: An expensive and shaky first effort
• Windows Central — ASUS AirVision M1 review: $700 just isn’t worth it
• tech360tv — ASUS AirVision M1 review
• Gadgets Middle East — ASUS AirVision M1 review (8/10)
• OVRDOZ — ASUS AirVision M1, one year later (retrospective)