'ULTRA-VISION' Brand 3.5 Inch Low Vision Magnifier For Macular Degeneration Aids

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Price: $99.00    

Product Feature

• 3.5Inch Colour TFT Screen Show
• Idea For l For Macular Degeneration Aids
• Up to 15 Times ZOOM:2x,4x,6x,8x,15x
• Pocket Portable Design

Product Description

*Pocket-Sized Novelty *Up to 15x Zoom:2x,4x,6x,8x,15x *Lightweight ,Portable *Freeze frame feature *Color and inverse viewing modes Enhanced Reading *Personal Vision Assistant *Instant Magnification * Long Working Time,Up to 3 hours battery life

'ULTRA-VISION' Brand 3.5 Inch Low Vision Magnifier For Macular Degeneration Aids Review

I have mixed feelings. First, it's difficult for anyone with reasonable or eyeglasses-correctable sight to understand the hardships and feelings of helplessness that a person with a history of good sight feels upon losing their sight.. I can only imagine how folk born with or becoming completely blind cope. The issue cannot be addressed with purely optical devices (magnifying glasses, etc)

For those folk, this little device answers a desperate need.. when you can't even read your bills or know what's in a can of food or can't read the prescription on a medicine bottle. Most can probably do those things with this.

It has thoughtful accessories.. It comes with a flip-out plastic "focus guide" that is really helpful for scanning printed pages as it keeps it in focus. This gadget clips conveniently onto the device and can be left on or off. The focus is not very forgiving as it only is in focus for less than 1mm depth. There is a wrist strap that is "quick-disconnect" with the unit. It has a charger with a blue power indicator LED (very bright!) and the device has a red "charging" LED that goes off when it is charged. It has a microfiber cloth to clean the screen and lens.

I like that it has multiple "contrast modes" that help if the print has low contrast or in colors that you have a hard time differentiating. I also like that it has the high-contrast bright orange trim features which make it easier to find when it's laying about.

It is far from perfect, however.
1. The depth of field is basically ZERO.. if what you're looking at is not flat and precisely in focus, it doesn't work.. it works ok generally on printed matter, but for example if you want to look at small 3D objects, it is completely useless.

2. The camera must have an extremely small aoerture as it requires a LOT of light to get a picture. The LED's built in basically fill that need, but cause MAJOR reflection problems if you're looking at a flat, shiny surface (glossy paper or metal or glass)

3. The screen is not wide enough to allow reading lines of text without constant adjustment. It is more of a "sequential inspection" of word bits and trying to reconstruct the text in your mind. I suppose this is inherent in its "pocket device" goal. You can see this in the product photos above if you look closely. If it were much larger it would be rather awkward to carry around.. it's a bit larger but thinner than a cigarette pack.

4. The only useful magnification (to me anyways) is the lowest since any larger and nothing fits on the screen, but I suppose you might have a case of really tiny print (as long as it's perfectly flat as I mentioned).

5. The battery will run down even if the device is turned off. I don't know if the device requires power (unlikely) or the battery is of poor quality (probable) Granted it is slow.. a week or so, but you must charge it even if you rarely use it. There is NO WAY this gets the 4 hour "in use" time they claim.. I have not timed it, but I'd be very surprised if it will even run 30 minutes on battery (even if you have it on the dimmest LED brightness). It can be operated directly off the power plug, but the cord is pretty short, is standard USB-male to micro-USB-male which can be purchased from several sources such as Mediabridge Hi-Speed USB 2.0 - (6 Feet) - A-Male to Micro-B Cable and you could get longer ones.

6. The battery is not replaceable (unless you send it back to China for service) Given my statement about battery quality, this worries me. It also is quite slow to charge, taking a FULL 4+ hours to charge fully

7. The included directions for operation are ludicrously in TINY PRINT and is a poor photocopy rather than a clean print copy. It is difficult to read even if you have good eyes. It should be quality aimed at the expected user.

8. There is no car adapter (12V) so you have to have 110V handy.

For what it is, this device is very expensive.. but I suppose if there is great profit in it, perhaps people will step in with improvement investment. I say this comparing to consumer items.. for "handicap devices" I suppose it is a great deal.. as I say.. mixed feelings.. at least it's here and usable.

It seems a tablet or cellphone device could easily incorporate this function and beyond (for example I can't read store signs across the street or street signs.. a phone camera could zoom in, take the picture and magnify it for me to read.. I'd rather pay $600 for ONE good, flexible device than carry around 5 or 6 specialized gadgets.

A GPS cell-phone could also handle the "where am I" and "how do I get there" as well (specialized devices that do this are available for about $200, but this means the handicapped person will be carrying around a backpack full of gadgets when it could be done other, more flexible ways..)

I didn't mean to turn this into an editorial... Forgive me.

This device fills a need that isn't generally available. For that reason I must say that until something better comes along, this device can fill an important need. For that reason I gave it 4 stars

edit 3/13: I will say it's pretty tough. I've knocked it off the table and dropped it a few times with no apparent damage.

EDIT Aug '13: Well this failed last month.. the charger circuit quit charging. The battery seems fine and the unit seems to work fine, but once the charge circuit failed of course the battery eventually ran down and now it is just a brick in terms of function. Very disappointing .. lasted less than 8 months. I am contacting the vendor to see what their warranty service is like. Supposedly it is warranted for one year. I will update. For now I'm lowering it to 2 star.. at this rate, I'm "renting" it for about 75 cents a day :(

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