The Good Points of the Vuzix 310XL

The Vuzix 310XL eyewear solution is a great purchase for those on the road or wanting their technology either on the go or in the outdoors. The videos I displayed on the unit were enhanced by the 2 LCD’s and even the normal movies seem to gain a 3D like appearance, for instance Star Trek (2009) seemed to have layers between the characters, set objects and backgrounds, although nothing jumped out of the screen like in true 3D, there was definitely an appearance of depth in the video. This is something I’ve never before seen without the use of video conversion and 3D stereoscopic glasses, and was very excited to see replicated without the need for any such extra technology or time for said conversions.  Overall, the unit was fun and easy to use, and made me feel like a rock star wherever I went as, although barely noticeable from a regular pair of sunglasses it was obvious by body language and button pressing that I was being entertained by something far greater than an ordinary pair of sunglasses.  The batter life in the Vuzix does last up to the mentioned 10 hours of viewing, I only wished my Ipod and Iphone had that kind of lifespan on 1 AA battery, as more often than not the Vuzix Wraps were ready for another movie as my batteries on my ipod were dying from only watching one. It’s really hard to put into words the experience of being able to lay back fully in bed and look either up to the ceiling , towards the wall, or wherever was comfortable, and experience such a nice large viewing of my favorite movie, not to mention the 3D depth it seemed to add on the fly.  Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the Vuzix viewing experience and can see easily how this technology can gain ground as a new wave of the future in regards to portable viewing.

The Bad of the Vuzix 310XL

I’m not really used to wearing glasses and without the tether that was supposed to be included it was hard for these to be comfortable over a period of time, although only weighing 3 oz., the weight seemed to me to put all the pressure on the nose pieces, making it a but uncomfortable. However, I think this is easily solved with a small bit of memory foam on the nose piece and the tether probably would have removed this unwanted part of the experience entirely. The other part of unwanted experience was finding out which settings to convert my video to in order to gain viewing without loss of picture, although the specifications mention a 428 x240 viewing LCD, not very many viewing programs have that option for size conversion, especially on the Ipod or Ipod Nano video conversion formats, but once I found a correct settings that worked conversion was painless and fast.

The third and final part of the bad section has to do with resolution, 428 x240 is not a pretty size when it comes to text, whether it be in videos or while playing games on  your xbox 360.  I tried to watch a few Starcraft II training videos through YouTube on an iphone and the text was barely, if at all legible. While playing Halo Reach the menu items and subtitles were also barely legible, it’s a good thing I’ve played the game a bit, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to get in game at all if I were relying on the text from menu and settings with the Vuzix Wraps. Of course, that being said, gameplay was still as fun as ever and seemed clear despite a few, what looked to me like, scan lines, similar to viewing a non-progressive scan capable TV.

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed my time with using the Vuzix wraps 310 XL, for travelling and being on the go, they were an essential part of the trip.  At home the eyewear was more of a luxury, as I personally do a lot of my viewing on my computer and didn’t have to be tied to the monitor if I didn’t want to.  The video experience from the glasses was awesome to behold,  but a little lacking on the gaming side as a lot of text and or ammo count settings were very small resolution and didn’t seem to make the grade when it came to legibility.  I have no doubt In my mind, especially with how technology has been increasing in the last few years that they are indeed working on higher resolution and probably near HD quality. It’s very easy to envision this technology as a new wave of the future, making all portable phones and portable displaying devices second nature as netbooks and laptops are replaced by a handheld device and a pair of Vuzix glasses. Who wants to squint at a tiny screen anyway when 55” portable viewing is at your fingertips?
 

Pros

• Easy to use and even easier to connect to portable and home devices
• Enhanced viewing seemed to add 3D aspect even to non 3D movies
• Long Lasting battery life
• Techno Stylin’ made you feel like Neo from the Matrix
  

Cons

• Low resolutions made text viewing near impossible.
• Uncomfortable nosepiece when combined with weight of unit.
• Video conversion learning curve took a little time to get optimal viewing.