Unistellar, a French company known for its innovative smart telescopes, is now venturing into the world of binoculars with its latest product, the Envision. Unlike traditional binoculars, the Envision offers smart functionality similar to Swarovski’s Optik AX Visio binoculars. While Swarovski’s binoculars focus on recognizing birds and animals, the Envision takes a different approach by using augmented reality (AR) to identify and label over a million unique landmarks, including mountains, trails, and more than 200,000 objects in the night sky.
The Envision binoculars feature 50mm lenses from Nikon upgraded with an augmented reality projection system that overlays contextual information about the objects being viewed in real time. These binoculars connect to a smartphone via Bluetooth, utilizing the device’s GPS and other sensors to determine the user’s location. With the help of a dedicated app, users can access an online database containing millions of cartographic items, including mountains, landmarks, stars, galaxies, and other celestial objects. For offline use in remote locations, users can download maps and data in advance.
Aside from serving as a handheld tour guide, the Envision offers a unique feature where one person can lock onto an object and pass the binoculars to another person. The second user will see directional indicators guiding them to the same target, making it easier to share exciting discoveries and observations. The binoculars have a battery life of up to five hours or around 1,000 engagements per charge. In case the battery dies, the Envision can still be used as regular binoculars, ensuring continuous functionality.
Unistellar is currently running a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to bring the Envision binoculars to consumers. While the retail price is expected to be $1,199, early bird backers can pre-order a pair for $699, offering a significant discount. This pricing is notably lower than that of Swarovski’s smart binoculars, which cost $4,799. However, delivery for early backers is not expected until November 2025, raising some concerns about the timeline.
Final Thoughts and Considerations
While Unistellar has a solid track record of delivering successful devices, there are inherent risks associated with backing a crowdfunded product. Despite the company’s ambitious plans, the first industrial prototypes of the Envision binoculars are not expected until January 2025. For consumers interested in this innovative technology, it may be wise to wait and monitor the progress of the project before committing to a pre-order. Only time will tell if the Envision binoculars live up to the hype and deliver on their promises of a truly smart and interactive viewing experience.
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