Unistellar’s new Envision binoculars have smart features similar to Swarovski’s Optik AX Visio binoculars released earlier this year. But instead of identifying birds and animals, Envision will use AR to identify and label more than 1 million unique landmarks, including mountains and trails, and more than 200,000 objects in the night sky.
The French company launched a smart telescope a decade ago that automates the process of finding and photographing objects like stars and planets. Now, the company is incorporating the technology into a pair of binoculars equipped with Nikon 50mm lenses, as well as an upgraded augmented reality projection system that can overlay contextual information about what is being viewed in real time.
It’s innovative, but Unistellar will rely on a crowdfunding campaign to help create the first prototype next year, with delivery to backers not expected until late 2025.
Envision binoculars connect to a smartphone via Bluetooth and use the device’s GPS and other sensors to determine the user’s location. With the help of the app, the smartphone can also feed the binoculars information from an online database that contains “millions of features, including mountains, hills, trails, landmarks, water sources, stars, Galaxies and other celestial bodies”. For people traveling to remote areas with limited internet connections, they need to download offline maps and information in advance.
Battery life is rated at 5 hours of use or “1,000 binocular observations per charge.” But when the battery dies, the Envision will continue to function like a regular binocular.
In addition to acting as a handheld tour guide, Unistellar promises another handy feature: One person can lock onto what they’re looking at and then pass the binoculars to someone else, who will see a direction indicator guiding them to the same target .
Unistellar is launching its Envision binoculars to consumers through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, which is more than $1 million short of its funding goal. Early bird backers can pre-order a pair for $699, which is a significant discount from the expected $1,199 retail price (and significantly cheaper than the $4,799 Swarovski Smart Binoculars ), but early bird backers expect It won’t ship until November 2025.
There’s always a risk in backing a crowdfunded product, even one from a company like Unistellar that has launched several successful devices. But the company doesn’t expect to have the first industrial prototypes of its Envision binoculars until January 2025.
