Epson Moverio BT-200 Augmented Reality Glasses Review

The Competition And Technical Specifications

By way of background, I have tried the Oculus Rift DK2. And one Tom's Hardware editor owns a unit, so you'll start to read about our experiences with that shortly. It is vastly unfair to compare Epson's Moverio to those immersive VR headsets, since the experiences and purpose are quite different. I also have a very rudimentary prototype of a VR headset from vrAse (pictured below), which relies on a smartphone inserted into the headset (in this case, a Samsung Galaxy S5), and is, at least at this point, more appropriate for immersive and projected entertainment -- these are not commercially available.

And I have spent extensive time talking with Vuzix about its next developments, which will be displayed at CES in January. Vuzix stands out for a few reasons. First, it will use waveguide optics, which allows the company to use the lenses of the glasses as the display. Just like waveguides for, say, radio waves, Vuzix uses the scheme for guiding light, bouncing it along the nano-etched surface of the glass, where the light escapes in a controlled manner. No projections. The glass is the display. The lenses can be thin (1.4mm) and light, they can be darkened electronically so as to create a more immersive experience.

Recently, Lenovo announced a partnership whereby the company would co-brand Vuzix-powered glasses. It is an exclusive one-year agreement in China. Lenovo is developing applications for the glasses, and Vuzix will have access to them. Above and below are two concept photos, the first being a model for what the next version of the Vuzix glasses will look like, and the second is a hologram image as seen using waveguide optics.

Back to Epson and the Moverio. Below is a reminder about some of the specifications of the Moverio 200 AR glasses. On the following page, I'll provide a walk through of some of the applications, including a few video snippets that I hope will give you a small sense of what the actual applications look and feel like.