emPower Smartglasses: The Glasses That Change Prescription

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, a lot of boomers are going to see the latest product from PixelOptics as a pretty beautiful innovation. The Roanoke, Va.-based company is bringing smartphone technology to eyeglasses, allowing users to change prescriptions with a quick swipe or touch to the temple. The emPower glasses even plug in so the internal battery can charge overnight.

As opposed to old-school bifocals or semi-new-school progressive lenses, emPower glasses let wearers switch focus according to distances, and can even toggle automatically for varied-distance activities such as playing golf or climbing stairs.

With a reading zone constructed of LCD materials and smartphone-like interfaces, the wearer activates the visual zone by tapping the temple of the frame and or can swipe the frame to activate the mini accelerometer that senses the zone when the wearer tilts his or her head.

The company expects the product to hit a sweet spot with consumers over 40, the age at which presbyopia, the inability to focus on near objects, usually sets in. According to Richard Clompus, PixelOptic's vice president of global professional affairs, more than 50 million pairs of progressive lenses are sold every year to this demographic.

Initial feedback has been positive. "Consumers have told us that emPower produces the best vision they have ever had," Clompus said.

While Clompus said private eye-care practitioners will determine the price for consumers, the glasses will reportedly go for around $1,300 and are expected to be available later this year.

Comments

[Jim8]

11:50 PM on 12/22/2012

I was told I need glasses as a child but couldn't afford them. As a young adult an optometrist owed me some money, so I told him to give me a pair of glasses. After examining me he told me any optometrist would sell me a pair of glasses and feel good about it. His advise was to not buy any because my eyes would get better as I aged.

My right eye is good for close, my left, distance. He was right, I can still see very well in my 60's. Not buying the glasses everyone said I needed was the best advise I ever got.

[Ben Totanes]

02:07 PM on 11/16/2012

What for the Chinese to come up with something cheaper ;)

[maonh]

08:40 AM on 05/25/2012

My questions:
1) What is the planned obsolescence for this product?
2) Do they adjust over time for changes in eyesight?
3) Do they help night blindness?

1300.00 is a hefty price for glasses that may need to be changed/replaced in 1-2 years as many current prescriptions do now. i won't be buying them if that is the case.

[tmusicprod]

12:57 PM on 04/15/2012

I have been wearing Bi-Focal contacts for 15 years. They just keep geting better and better. Now I wear conical bi-focal contacts. These do this all the time. They are not weighted. The reading correction is in the center in a very small area. Distance is on the outer part. Works great and for $1300 I can get enough for about 3 years.

[rkeeeballs]

10:27 AM on 04/15/2012

So if you are driving a car...don't look down or the lens will change ! They look ugly.

[WSAY]

04:07 PM on 04/15/2012

Complain, complain, complain. What it must be like to be around you.

[rkeeeballs]

09:29 AM on 04/16/2012

Creative thinking isn't for you....stick to your comic books...duh

[rkeeeballs]

10:25 AM on 04/15/2012

Private eye care practitioners will determine the price for consumers ? About $1300 ? How about consumers buy them direct and cut out the thieves, I mean the middle man . Can't stand paying $350 for a $50 pair of glass's. Eye exams by a Dr. is good. The rest seems like a rip-off !..$

[WSAY]

04:07 PM on 04/15/2012

More complaining? What a life you must have.

[rkeeeballs]

09:30 AM on 04/16/2012

You took your hands out of your pockets to post that ? go back to play !

[beth24]

02:01 AM on 04/15/2012

oh really? these are just for the rich then? how nasty is that? also they are ugly. dont wish them any success because you dont design something so needed just for the affluent how selfish is that

[nightfly4257]

09:39 PM on 04/14/2012

My only problem with these glasses is will the frame last as long as the lenses. If your prescription does not change often good quality high index lenses last a long time. For $1300 if I can ten years out of these glasses they are really not that expensive.

[licrohare]

09:01 PM on 04/14/2012

Incredible!! It will change the Optic world!!

[CaptSpaulding1930]

08:40 PM on 04/14/2012

OMG I can't see! My batteries are dead!

[WhirledTraveler]

07:18 PM on 04/14/2012

I need, I want!

[debraoftu]

05:35 PM on 04/14/2012

No vision in one eye. Lost the ability to focus in the good eye. I'd find the money to buy these if they really work.

[dwill123]

01:38 PM on 04/14/2012

The price for these and SuperFocus glasses is a little silly.

[jeffgschultz]

04:59 PM on 04/14/2012

not if you can afford them.

[dwill123]

05:36 PM on 04/14/2012

Sorry Mitt, I forgot about the 1%ers.

[beth24]

02:02 AM on 04/15/2012

most people cannot so the company proves to be greedy and selfish minded

[quicksilver55]

11:35 PM on 04/14/2012

Just wait a couple of years. The price will surely drop to a more affordable amount.

[Superstar77777777]

11:45 AM on 04/14/2012

1. If you have any astigmatism, your distance vision will be very blurry.
2. If both your eyes do not have the same prescription needs, these will generate headaches.
3. Electromagnetic radiation radiating less than an inch from your brain!
4. Step on, break, stolen/lost: Another $1000.00 plus.
5. Davis Vision Insurance, Humana, Medicaid, Medicare, Anthem, VSP pays nothing.
6. Given a chance, especially with off the shelf reading glasses, people seek stronger Rx's than necessary. This affects the Retina, causing need for stronger glasses sooner in life, deactivating the Retina causing degenerating that cannot be repaired.

[derekfatura]

04:13 PM on 04/14/2012

Wow, I'm an optometrist and you have no idea what you are talking about.

[shempbat]

12:29 AM on 04/15/2012

So, you don't think that dialing in to a stronger script than what the wearer is used to won't cause the need for a progressively stronger script? I'm no Dr., but I am not sure that I would believe that.

[beth24]

02:03 AM on 04/15/2012

really? I thought superstar made great sense..this is not in your interest to agree

[elcisitiak]

04:04 AM on 04/15/2012

What makes you think that these won't be able to fix astigmatism? Why wouldn't they be able to have different strengths in each eye? There's electromagnetic radiation all around you! They'll probably be warrantied against breakage and you can get insurance on them like a cell phone for loss or theft. And who steps on their glasses anyway? And why would using a stronger prescription damage the retina? You sound like you have no idea how the eye works.

[deborah kitzul]

11:29 AM on 04/14/2012

sounds like a great idea but the price is somewhat high.