Latest & Greatest Video Glasses

[edhall]

I have recieved my headplays, but I have to admit, I am very concerned over the connector to the visor.

I wonder how long it will last?

[regissk]

Mr Boombastic and halley many thanks for yours advices. Specially, because i didnt know that Video class are not adviced for more than 50 minutes, i was thinking to keep using this whole night.

Maybe i should forget my dream for reading and studying with a light eletronic, while on bed.

The main purpose for that was because im getting tired to sitting whole day in front of computer. With that video glasses i would be everywhere. But the advice of big LCD, is also good.

Thanks again, have great weekend friends.

[Mr Boombastic]

How about connecting a Big Screen Projector to your computer by S-video and point it at your ceiling?
Lay in bed and read away.

[KernelSanders]

I heard that the Wrap 920 glasses should be out by the end of this month.

http://www.vuzix.com/iwear/products_wrap920.html

I was thinking about giving these a try for FPV before going after the HeadPlay. I like the smaller fit and not having to use the liberator, but I'm not so sure about the resolution. Is anyone else planning on trying these? Does anyone have any glasses that do 640x480?

[halley]

So, who is going to pull the trigger and order some Vuzix Wrap 920? It appears to be available from the Vuzix site, may take some time to filter out to resellers.

Update: just to check, I added a set to the shopping cart. Got this message:

Thank you for ordering our new Wrap 920 video eyewear! Due to high demand we are experiencing temporary backorders that may result in delivery delays of up to 3 weeks. Orders will be shipped on a first in – first out basis. At this time, no next day shipments can be promised. Thank you for your patience.

[KernelSanders]

Originally Posted by halley

So, who is going to pull the trigger and order some Vuzix Wrap 920? It appears to be available from the Vuzix site, may take some time to filter out to resellers.

Update: just to check, I added a set to the shopping cart. Got this message:

Thank you for ordering our new Wrap 920 video eyewear! Due to high demand we are experiencing temporary backorders that may result in delivery delays of up to 3 weeks. Orders will be shipped on a first in – first out basis. At this time, no next day shipments can be promised. Thank you for your patience.

I have a pair. I'm proably not the best person to do an FPV reveiw since I haven't flown FPV yet. I just fly with a camera on board and record the flight. I have been waiting to get the Wrap 920s becasue I really liked the idea that they were like regular sunglasses.
So, here is my review of the glasses.

The video is as described, 640x480. I did some basic viewing of Youtube video on my iPhone and they worked pretty good. I think the video quality would be fine for FPV because that's probably good enough for most, if not all of the cameras used for FPV right now.

As far as them being like a pair of Oakleys with LCDs in them, well, they're not. They do sit out in front of your face a good amount, enough so that nobody is going to look at you and think you are wearing Oakelys on a plane.

As far as the fit is concerned, they would certainly take some getting used to. Most of the electronincs for the LCD screens sit in the area above the screens, right in front of your forehead. For some reason, the electronics are situated such that you have to tilt the glasses down in order to view the LCDs with no obstruction. So, for me, I had to slide the frames up off my ears about 2 or 3 inches. Think of dad or grandpa reading the paper with his glasses down on his nose, thats how they felt to me. I guess you could tuck them under a baseball cap to keep them in place, but, I haven't tried that yet. Otherwise, just sitting on your head like that is going to be problematic if you can't take your hands off the tx to adjust them. I won't take my hands off the tx if I have $1000 in the air waiting for control input.

The other thing that bothers me is that it seems that all the cost went into the LCDs and nowhere else. Now, I can understand that Vuzix wanted to keep the cost down to consumers, and there are probably price points and such to consider, but, if it cost them $150 to make these things, I would guess that $140 went into the LCDs and $10 into the rest. A wire comes off the glasses and goes to a small plastic box that contains the batteries and holds the connections for your video source. That little box felt like something that you would get with one of those $30 helicopters from Target. I understand the whole price point and manufacturing cost thing, but, for me, I would have rather spent another $50 or so to get something thats going to survive a few trips to the field. This may not be an issue to someone that stores everything in foam cases and takes the time to open things gingerly to change batteries and all, but me, I seem to always have a remote control around the house that has a broken battery door on it. Not a big deal for stuff you can run down to Radio Shack to fix, but I don't see a cheap replacement part from Vuzix. They should have made that thing plug into the glasses so that it could be replaced easily if it got cracked or bronken down the road.

I think for video quality, they are as promised.
For comfort, they are disappointing, but workable.
For looks, they aren't like a pair of regular sunglasses.

I'll give them another try in a day or so. I had some high expectations for them but I was disappointed when I first tried them. I want to wait a few days and try them again and see if I can make them work for me. If not, they may become a christmas present for my nephew or one of my friends that travels a lot.

[halley]

KernelSanders, thanks very much for the first-hand account of the build quality and functionality. I was close to going with the HeadPlay when I heard of the Wrap 920, but I wanted to give Vuzix the chance before pulling the trigger. When I worked in a VR lab, I was glad they paid for all of these head-mounted displays... I tried everything on the market as of four years ago. Now that I'm spending my own money, it's a bit different. Too bad these things aren't improving as fast as microprocessors or helicopters.

[KernelSanders]

Originally Posted by halley

KernelSanders, thanks very much for the first-hand account of the build quality and functionality. I was close to going with the HeadPlay when I heard of the Wrap 920, but I wanted to give Vuzix the chance before pulling the trigger. When I worked in a VR lab, I was glad they paid for all of these head-mounted displays... I tried everything on the market as of four years ago. Now that I'm spending my own money, it's a bit different. Too bad these things aren't improving as fast as microprocessors or helicopters.

No problem.
I was also going to get a Headplay, but I wanted to wait on the Wrap 920 and give that a try first. For me, I was willing to give up the video quality of a Headplay for the sleek, sunglass like fit of the 920. I want to use whatever I wind up with primarily for FPV, but also for travelling on planes. I'm sick of holding my laptop like a taco when sitting in those tight airline seats. The sleek, sunglass fit didn't wind up happening so I don't know if i'm going to go the 920 route.
I think if one can get over the confort and fit of the 920, it offers an excellent option of being able to tilt your head up or down to get a view of your heli, especially for landings and takeoffs. The 920 is also very light and doesn't have that large "liberator" thing hanging off of it, but, sitting in a plane or in a chair doing FPV, I don't really care.

[levelflight]

Kernel,

Thanks for the well-described review of the glasses. It absolutely reminds me of my new Blackberry which I have to carry for work but absolutely hate, what a hunk of junk to use. They're soooo overrated. For outright function I like my old peanut phone better.

I won't be going with Vuzix based on your 'real world' comments, I'm glad I held off buying a pair. It's the implicit withholding of information such as this that directly misleads consumers, and do you think I could get these same questions answered by Vuzix? Not a stinking chance!

SO what FPV eyepieces are there in the real world that can do the job for less than a grand?

[edhall]

My HeadPlays were only 350 with a web 50 off coupon and the $100 off offer from HeadPlay.

[KernelSanders]

Originally Posted by levelflight

Kernel,
SO what FPV eyepieces are there in the real world that can do the job for less than a grand?

Originally Posted by edhall

My HeadPlays were only 350 with a web 50 off coupon and the $100 off offer from HeadPlay.

I'm going to try the HeadPlay visor next. I sent an email to someone that was using a pair in a video that I saw and he said he was very happy with them. They are bigger than the Wrap 920s, but they also support a higher resolution, 800x600 native with support up to 1280x720. The other thing that looks interesting is the 120Hz refresh rate on them. I have a monitor that does 120Hz and I run the Nvidia 3D Vision through it and it is absolutely incredible. I wonder if the HeadPlays would support that.

• Field of View: 34 degrees diagonal
• Virtual Image Size: 52" diagonal at 6'
• Display Technology: LCoS
• LCoS Refresh Rate: Up to 120 Hz
• Color Depth: 18 bits
• Native Resolution: 800 x 600 pixels
• Supports Resolution up to: 1280 x 720 HD
• Video Output: 360 color fields per second
• Audio: Stereo Sound
• 3D video; built in

I don't think the larger size of the HeadPlay is going to be an issue for me and the visor looks like it will help keep it in place while flying. The LCoS displays should be nice compared to the LCDs.
What I liked about the Wrap 920 batteries was that they were standard AA batteries. It looks like the HeadPlay is a proprietary battery. That can be a pain if they go out of business or decide to start selling replacements for $500. But, who knows what the technology will be like in 5 more years.
So now, I just have to see if HeadPlay is going to do any Black Friday deals. I doubt it, but we'll have to see. edhall, how do you like yours? Can you give a quick review of what you like/don't like about them?

[PatrikR]

Originally Posted by halley

So, who is going to pull the trigger and order some Vuzix Wrap 920? It appears to be available from the Vuzix site, may take some time to filter out to resellers.

Update: just to check, I added a set to the shopping cart. Got this message:

Thank you for ordering our new Wrap 920 video eyewear! Due to high demand we are experiencing temporary backorders that may result in delivery delays of up to 3 weeks. Orders will be shipped on a first in – first out basis. At this time, no next day shipments can be promised. Thank you for your patience.

Hello all, try the apple store. I ordered one from there today and the status is already shipped.

Patrik