Young people tend to be on the cutting edge of change and most new tech
products are marketed to them. But to really understand Empower glasses,
you need to be at least middle-aged. That's because these digital
lenses solve a real problem for people with bifocals or progressive
lenses.
The way progressive lenses work, for those of you whippersnappers who
don't need to use them, is that the lens is divided into three
sections. The top is focused for long distance vision, helpful for
driving or seeing a landscape. The middle is for middle distance work,
like on a computer screen. And the bottom is for looking at close up
objects like books.
That arrangement is great in that it keeps people with old eyes from
having to continually switch from one set of glasses to another. But it
also poses a problem -- when you look down at the ground, it may look
fuzzy or distorted because you're using the bottom portion of the
glasses designed for close vision to view something 5 or 6 feet away.
With Empower glasses,
you can toggle the reading focus on and off. Touch the temple and the
whole middle and bottom of the lens is focused on middle distance
viewing, making hiking along uneven ground much easier. Touch the temple
again and the bottom portion of the lens toggles back to reading focus.
Even better: When you turn on the reading focus, that section of the
lens is larger than it normally is with traditional progressive lenses.
That makes reading easier because you don't have to hold the book and
your head in just one way to get optimal vision.
How does it work: The lenses include a layer of liquid crystals that you
can turn on and off with an electric charge. One charge of the glasses
lasts 2-3 days. You can either trigger the change manually each time or
turn on an automatic mode that changes the focus based on movements of
your head.
The glasses are available at about 1500 optometrists around the country.
They cost about $1200, including frames and protective coatings. That's
obscenely expensive, but not much more than the obscenely expensive
prices for traditional progressive lenses.
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