Vuzix M300 — specification and verdict
The M300 is a whole Android device on the side of your head: a dual-core Intel Atom, two gigabytes of memory, 64 gigabytes of storage and Android 6, driving a single nHD colour display bright enough at over 2000 nits to read in daylight. It mounts on safety frames with or without lenses, takes voice commands in several languages, and hot-swaps an external battery so a shift does not end when the cell does. The one thing worth knowing before anything else is a negative: Vuzix states in its own manual that this device has no IP rating and must not be submerged, which matters because aggregators routinely assert IP67 for it.
Vuzix built this for fleets and the tooling shows: an Android device that takes ordinary APKs, voice control designed for gloved hands, and a battery system where an 860 mAh clip-on pack swaps without powering down, backed by a 160 mAh internal cell. It launched at 1,499 dollars, was cut to 999.99 when the M300XL arrived, and Vuzix now lists it under discontinued products on its own support page. What you will not find is an end-of-support date; the last thing Vuzix published for it was an operating-system release note in January 2020.
Not a training device in our sense - it has one small monocular display, so there is no scene to put a trainee in, and our courses are VR builds. What it is good at is the industrial job it was made for: a technician reads a work instruction or streams what they see to a remote expert, hands free, on a safety frame. For that job it is superseded by the M400 and M4000 in our catalogue, both of which Vuzix still supports. Buy the successor, not this.
How it compares within its class
The axis runs from the lowest to the highest published figure among the AR — industrial devices in this catalogue. The grey tick is the median of that class.
Median for this class: 2000 nits, from 10 models that publish the figure.
Median for this class: $1499, from 11 models that publish the figure.
Controllers and hand tracking
Operated by Voice · Touchpad on the temple.
Bare hands
No hand tracking.
Full specification
An em dash means the manufacturer does not publish that figure.
- ManufacturerWho makes it — and who you buy support from.
- Vuzix
- CategoryWhich kind of product this is. It decides which rows below make sense at all.
- AR — industrial
- Device typeWhere the computing happens, and therefore what you need to run it.
- Standalone AR
- AnnouncedThe day it was shown, which is not the day it shipped.
- 2016-01-12
- ReleasedYear the model went on sale. Older is not automatically worse in this category.
- 2017
- AvailabilityWhether you can still order it new today.
- Discontinued
- Support endsThe date the manufacturer stops supporting it. Decisive for a fleet you are about to buy.
- Support ends: not published by the manufacturer
- DisplayHow the image is produced. "No display" is a real answer in this category, not a gap.
- Waveguide
- Eyes coveredOne eye or both. Over a full shift this is a real difference in fatigue.
- One eye
- Resolution per eyePixels delivered to each eye. Higher means small text and labels stay readable.
- Resolution per eye: not published by the manufacturer
- Refresh rateImages per second. Higher feels smoother and helps people prone to motion discomfort.
- Refresh rate: not published by the manufacturer
- Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work.
- Field of view: not published by the manufacturer
- Pixel densityPixels per degree of view — the honest way to compare sharpness between a headset and a pair of glasses. Higher is sharper. Only shown where somebody published it; we never compute it ourselves.
- Pixel density: not published by the manufacturer
- BrightnessIn a plant or outdoors, brightness decides legibility more than resolution does.
- 2000 nits
- WeightThe device alone. Anything above roughly 150 g is felt within an hour.
- Weight: not published by the manufacturer
- Visible field of viewWhat the eye actually sees through the optics, by axis.
- Visible field of view: not published by the manufacturer
- Rendered field of viewWhat the device draws. Never smaller than what you see.
- Rendered field of view: not published by the manufacturer
- Binocular overlapWhere both eyes see the same thing — this is where depth happens.
- Binocular overlap: not published by the manufacturer
- Average pixel densityPixels per degree across the image. More is sharper.
- Average pixel density: not published by the manufacturer
- Peak pixel densityThe sharpest point, usually the centre of the lens.
- Peak pixel density: not published by the manufacturer
- Subpixel layoutHow the coloured dots sit in a pixel. A stripe looks cleaner on text than PenTile.
- Subpixel layout: not published by the manufacturer
- Foveated renderingWhether detail is dropped outside where you look, to save performance.
- Foveated rendering: not published by the manufacturer
- Vision correctionHow somebody who wears glasses uses it, and in what dioptre range.
- Fits over glasses
- DimensionsWidth, height and depth of the device itself.
- Dimensions: not published by the manufacturer
- Weight with strapWith the strap it ships with — the weight you actually wear.
- Weight with strap: not published by the manufacturer
- Head strapSoft band or a rigid one. Decides how the weight sits over an hour.
- Head strap: not published by the manufacturer
- MaterialsShell and facial interface, in the vendor’s words.
- Materials: not published by the manufacturer
- ColoursColours the manufacturer sells it in.
- Colours: not published by the manufacturer
- Haptics in the headsetVibration in the headset itself, not in the controllers.
- Haptics in the headset: not published by the manufacturer
- TrackingWhether content stays put in the room (6DoF), follows head rotation (3DoF) or is simply fixed.
- 3DoF (rotation only)
- Tracking camerasHow many cameras it uses to know where it is.
- Tracking cameras: not published by the manufacturer
- Tracking rateHow often position is recalculated. Higher is steadier.
- Tracking rate: not published by the manufacturer
- Depth sensorA dedicated sensor for distance, on top of the cameras.
- Depth sensor: not published by the manufacturer
- Hand trackingWhether bare hands can operate the interface, without a controller or the phone.
- No
- Face trackingTracks facial expression — for avatars, not for training scenarios.
- Face tracking: not published by the manufacturer
- Body trackingHow much of the body the device knows about. Estimated legs are not tracked legs.
- Body tracking: not published by the manufacturer
- Controllers includedWhether motion controllers come in the box, or are bought separately — or the device is hands-only.
- Controllers included: not published by the manufacturer
- Controller tracking6DoF controllers track position and rotation, so a hand reaches in space; 3DoF only point. “None” means hands only.
- Controller tracking: not published by the manufacturer
- Other input methodsWays in beyond controllers and bare hands.
- Voice · Touchpad on the temple
- Where it computesWhether the device computes on its own or depends on a phone, PC or belt-worn puck.
- Standalone (own computer)
- ProcessorThe processor and memory inside. This is what the performance grade above is derived from.
- Processor: not published by the manufacturer
- CPUCores and clocks, where the manufacturer publishes them.
- Dual-core Intel Atom
- GPUThe graphics part of the chip.
- GPU: not published by the manufacturer
- MemoryRAM on the device. Together with the chipset it sets how complex a scene can be.
- 2 GB
- PlatformThe platform an application is built against — and what an MDM has to speak.
- Android 6.0
- StorageOn-board space for downloaded courses. More matters for an offline library in several languages.
- 64 GB
- SD card slotWhether storage can be added with a card.
- SD card slot: not published by the manufacturer
- BatteryRuntime as the manufacturer states it. A hot-swappable pack matters more than the figure.
- Battery: not published by the manufacturer
- Battery capacity (Wh)Energy in the cell. Bigger is longer, given the same power draw.
- Battery capacity (Wh): not published by the manufacturer
- Battery capacity (mAh)The same fact in the other unit vendors use. We never convert between the two.
- 160 mAh
- Charge timeFrom empty to full. Rarely stated by the manufacturer, so it usually comes from whoever timed it.
- Charge time: not published by the manufacturer
- ChargerPower of the supplied charger — it decides the charge time above.
- Charger: not published by the manufacturer
- External batteryBattery on a cable or a puck instead of on the head.
- External battery: not published by the manufacturer
- Charging caseExtra runtime carried in the case the glasses ship with.
- Charging case: not published by the manufacturer
- Hot-swap batteryWhether a charged battery can replace the empty one without ending the session. This is what decides if a headset can hold an all-day training station.
- Hot-swap battery: not published by the manufacturer
- Third-party appsHow a third party's application reaches the device: an ordinary Android package, a vendor-only SDK, or not at all.
- Ordinary Android app (APK)
- Runs Skillsive appsOur own statement about whether Skillsive training applications run on it today.
- No
- Suitable for trainingOur judgement on whether it survives real deployment: comfort, hygiene, fleet management.
- No
- Kiosk mode / MDMVendor tooling to enrol devices, push an app and lock the headset to it. Practically required above ten devices.
- Yes
- Business tierAn official business tier, so devices belong to the company rather than to employees’ personal accounts.
- Yes
- CertificationsIndustrial certifications stated on the manufacturer's own page. Empty means unconfirmed, never "probably fine".
- CE · FCC Part 15 · EN 55032 · EN 55024 · EN 60950-1 · ETSI EN 300 328 · IEC 62209-1
- PortsPhysical sockets and charging contacts.
- Micro-USB 2.0
- Wi-FiThe Wi-Fi generation — it decides how well wireless streaming holds up.
- 5
- BluetoothFor controllers, headphones and accessories.
- 4.1
- Video from a computerWhether a computer can drive it, over a cable or wirelessly.
- Video from a computer: not published by the manufacturer
- AudioBuilt-in sound. Matters most where somebody has to hear a remote expert while working.
- Built-in speakers
- MicrophoneBuilt-in microphone — the other half of talking to a remote expert.
- Yes
- MicrophonesHow many. An array picks a voice out of a noisy hall; one does not.
- 2
- CameraA camera is what makes a remote expert call and photo documentation possible.
- Yes
- Price bandThe band it sits in, rather than a price that goes stale.
- Enterprise
- Launch priceThe manufacturer's launch price. Fixed history, so it never goes stale.
- $1499
- Price by configurationWhat each configuration cost at launch.
- Price by configuration: not published by the manufacturer
- Price todayApproximate current net price in USD — a general figure, since these barely differ between regions once tax is stripped out. A snapshot from the date shown, not an offer.
- Price today: not published by the manufacturer
Who this device is for
Field service, warehouse and maintenance teams in the 2017 to 2020 window, and today only organisations still running a fleet. Anyone specifying now should be looking at the M400 or M4000 instead - same job, supported hardware.
What is missing, and what the manufacturer does not publish
Vuzix never published a weight or dimensions for the M300 in any source we could reach - not the two product sheets, not the archived product pages, not the user manual - so treat any gram figure on an aggregator as unsourced. Two conflicts sit inside Vuzix's own documents and neither was withdrawn: the field of view is 16.7 degrees diagonal on the product page and 20 degrees on the product sheet, and the camera is 13 megapixels on the 2016 sheet and 10 on both the 2018 sheet and the product page. Neither field takes a value here. Battery life is published as a two-to-twelve-hour range depending on the external pack, which is not a number this field can hold, and there is no end-of-support date.
Vuzix M300 in independent reviews
Reviews we consider worth your time, each with a note on what the reviewer actually tested and why it matters for a training rollout. We do not own this hardware, so the tests are theirs — the reading of them is ours.
- PhoneArena2018
Covers the M300 alongside the Vuzix Blade, which is the useful pairing: one is a monocular work tool on a safety frame, the other consumer-shaped glasses, and seeing them together makes the industrial design choices legible.
Watch on YouTube - TechDifferent2016
A reseller walkthrough rather than a review, but it is the only extended English-language look at the hardware in use, and the mounting options and battery swap are shown rather than described.
Watch on YouTube - Vuzix Corporation2016vendor material
Vuzix's own launch video, marked as vendor material. It sits here because enterprise monoculars are almost never covered by independent channels, and the maker's demonstration is a useful record of what was claimed at launch.
Watch on YouTube
Nothing is sent to YouTube until you press play. Once you do, Google receives your IP address and device data and may process them outside the EEA — see our privacy policy for the details.
Vuzix M300 — frequently asked questions
- Is the Vuzix M300 waterproof or dust rated?
- No, and this is one of the rare cases where the manufacturer says so explicitly. Vuzix's own user manual states that the M300 is designed to be both water and dust resistant, but is not water or dust proof and does not have an IP rating, and that it must not be submerged. That is worth quoting in a procurement document, because several aggregator listings assert IP67 for this device and there is no Vuzix source behind that claim.
- Why does this page not state a field of view for the M300?
- Because Vuzix published two figures and never withdrew either. Its product page says the field of view is 16.7 degrees diagonal, equivalent to a five-inch phone screen at seventeen inches; its product sheet says 20 degrees diagonal, equivalent to the same screen at fourteen inches. Both are Vuzix documents. Rather than pick the flattering one we leave the cell empty and tell you both numbers exist - the later documents favour 16.7.
Compare this device
Consider these too
The nearest devices in the same class, ranked by availability and launch price — not by our opinion of them.
Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-08-17. Manufacturer's specification
Product and company names used here are the trademarks of their respective owners and appear only to identify the hardware being compared. We are not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by any of these manufacturers. Illustrations are our own.