Google offering try-before-you-buy kits to those interested in Glass

Google has begun contacting customers and offering them the chance to try out the company’s Glass wearable device before committing to pay $1,500 for the gadget.

The company is offering to send those users trial kits that come with Glass units in four different color options along with the device’s various frame styles.

“We’ve heard from potential Explorers that they’d love to be able to try Glass on at home before committing to purchase it,” a Google spokeswoman said in a statement. “As a result, we’re doing outreach to a small group to see how this approach works. We’ll let you know if this experiment continues.”

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Before sending out the kits, Google places a $50 hold on customers’ credit cards so that users will not be tempted to keep the gadgets.

The devices that Google sends out in the kits appear to be Glass units that have been returned by other customers. However, the kit’s Glass devices have had their USB ports “destroyed” so that their batteries cannot be recharged, rendering them inoperable, according to 9to5Google.

Recently, Google also held a one-day sale for Glass where any adult U.S. resident could purchase the $1,500 device without needing an invitation to do so.

Google has said that it will begin selling the device to the general public at some point in 2014, but right now, the company appears to be trying to get early editions of the gadget to as many users as possible.

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