Drone glasses are neat, but don’t lose track of your drone
I love the idea of those drone glasses from Epson.
Connect the Moverio BT-200 ($699) Smart Glasses to your drone, ditch the regular viewfinder, and with the dorky shades over your eyes, look up and see what the drone sees.
As the quadcopter soars into the skies, you’re right up there with your device, with a more intense experience than looking down at your smartphone viewer. But there’s one little problem. As I’m peering through the glasses and enjoying the view — where’s that drone anyway? I’m supposed to have it in my line of sight, per the Federal Aviation Authority. If my drone is flying over the ocean and takes a turn, I could lose the unit, and that’s a rather scary feeling.
To be fair, the Moverio, from printer manufacturer Epson, doesn’t totally engulf your vision like virtual-reality headsets. The drone view fills about half the screen, and that view itself isn’t as bright and colorful as I would like.
But after spending the day with the Moverio recently on five different flights, my reaction was identical each time: “Where’d that drone go?”
There are some easy solutions. You could get your friend to fly for you while you sit back and watch the action through the glasses. Or be so comfortable with your flying skills that none of this matters to you.
The Moverio is described by Epson as smart glasses that set the “standard in augmented reality,” smart eyewear specs that for now work with several models of drones from manufacturer DJI. I tested it with the DJI Mavic Pro.
The glasses themselves connect to the controller of the drone, the videogame-like unit that lets you control lift off, landing, and whether to send the unit to the right or left. The operation shifts to a Moverio trackpad, thereby ditching the need for the smartphone, which had acted as your viewfinder. I found the trackpad itself to be clunky and hard to control. I preferred the smartphone operation.
For the Moverio, I’d save your money and wait for another edition that’s easier to operate. Oh, and spend the time becoming a better flier.