Camera glasses decent and not stylish
Pivothead’s Durango high-definition, hands-free glasses wouldn’t be out of place beside comic mail-order ads for exploding bubble gum or
kung fu sandals, nevertheless they’re actually a significant alternative to popular other point-of-view cameras.
There’s one hitch. They’re not stylish, no sir, unless odd,
bulky, Oakley knock-offs are look. Suave looks, it'd seem, were trumped by the should accommodate a lens, charging system along with assorted gadgetry necessary to complete a
wearable, (somewhat) inconspicuous, camera-cum-sunglasses system.
On the other hand, these glasses seem well made.
And all sorts of joking aside, it’s obvious the Durangos
along with other models — you will discover four altogether along with a variety of lenses — are designed more with the sportsman and fewer for the fashionista. Despite their
cumbersome appearance, they’re not heavy feeling or uncomfortable to wear.
All models retail for $350.
The frame is roofed in a matte-black, soft-touch, grippable, rubberized
material with impact-resistant lenses. It also flexes to some degree, that will assist in the event of your fall or mishap.
These glasses can probably require a knock or two,
but wouldn’t hold up to constant abuse or extended used in wet or moist environments.
The left arm houses a top-mounted rocker switch. Press forward for video, back for still
image capture.
Relatively straightforward, right?
Press forward around four seconds to switch video capture modes (1080p at 30 fps, 720p at 30 or 60 fps). Press a corner
toggle to cycle through focus modes (fixed, continuous and auto). The mode you’ve selected is indicated by three small LEDs upon the inside of the arm, but they’re hard to
decipher with not a crib sheet nearby.
An influence switch is situated on the bottom of the left arm, as is also a micro-USB port that functions to be a charger plus a computer
connection that can be used to offload files from Durango’s eight gigabytes of onboard storage, enough approximately an hour or so of 1080p video.
Relating to the lenses and
above the user’s nose may be the (ahem) focal point on the product, a rather recessed, four-element lens using a 75-degree field that work well with an eight-megapixel Sony
CMOS sensor.
Image quality is pretty decent with the size these devices, nearly on par with other wearable cameras like the the GoPro HD, but not quite as good, especially in
more adverse lighting conditions.
There’s an extremely noticeable lag inside the camera’s exposure adjustment when transitioning from light to dark and vice versa.
Audio
performance isn’t great, but no worse than expected for the camera inside a two of sunglasses.
Still images can be captured within a resolution of three, five, or eight
megapixels in bursts up to 16 consecutive frames. Like video mode, image quality is decent in good light conditions, just like a late-model smartphone.
So as to access and
control many of the Durango’s features such as a macro mode and various exposure settings, the glasses have to be associated with a computer, Mac or Windows, while using the
included Pivothead software.
Pick your settings judiciously though because when the glasses are disconnected, the settings will stick and soon you can reconnect to change them
again. This matter could be remedied by buying the $99 Air Pivothead Wi-Fi transmitter, which could charge the glasses on the run, offload files and enable the user to settings
employing an iOS or Android device.