Zoomies (Hands-Free Binoculars) – A Marketing Review

We’ve all been in situations where sometimes our own eyes need a little bit of extra help.

Whether you’re out bird watching, in the cheap seats at a sporting event or concert, or just spying on your neighbors and seeing who exactly is dumping their trash inside of your trash cans, it helps to really see what’s happening.  That’s where optics such as binoculars or telescopes come into play.  Using a set of lenses and prisms, devices like binoculars can help you magnify distant items so you can see it better with your own eyes.

But what if you don’t want to hold a set of binoculars against your eyes?  That can be a lot of work, especially if you’re using them at a ball game.

Isn’t there a cheaper or perhaps even a half-assed way of trying to improving your vision without using a pair of binoculars?

Zoomies website — www.BuyZoomies.com

Believe it or not, but a product called Zoomies (yes, it’s really called Zoomies) tries to solve that exact problem.  This is an optical product designed to look and be worn like a pair of glasses, but it functions similar to a set of low-magnification binoculars.

Zoomies TV commercial

Let’s take a closer look at the advertisement for Zoomies and see just how it’s being sold to us, the general public.

Zoomies TV commercial – See that kid waaaaay out there?  I think he’s picking his nose!

A day at the park turns to frustration when you spot something in the distance, but it’s just too far away for you to see clearly.  That could have been Bigfoot walking past some big rocks, but since you didn’t see jack squat because of your lack of binoculars, you’ll forever wonder just what it was that you saw while out in the forest.  Great.

Zoomies TV commercial – I don’t need no d eyeglasses!  I need binoculars!

How about trying to read the newspaper but the font is just a little bit too small?

Sure, many stores do sell reading glasses that help magnify your vision.  You could also go to the optometrist and finally get your eyes checked.  Or you could try to use a set of binoculars to read the paper.  Yeah, I’m sure that’ll work.  /s

Zoomies TV commercial – Why are these binoculars so d effective at seeing distant objects?  WHY?!?

Maybe you’re an outdoor person who has tried to use binoculars, but you’re tired of lugging around something heavier than a cell phone or more effective than just your naked eyes.  Perhaps there’s another product on the market, something besides a smaller and lighter pair of binoculars.

Zoomies TV commercial – Don’t I look so hip and cool?

It’s the Zoomies, one way to help you see distant objects without holding a pair of binoculars!  And to think, some people might believe that you look like a jackass when wearing something resembling really bulky sunglasses, but you’ll be the one laughing when your eyesight increases by THREE HUNDRED PERCENT!  OMG!  THAT’S TOTALLY AWESOME!

Zoomies TV commercial – It’s like your vision got, like, a huge boost or something.

According to the advertisement, the Zoomies’ 300% magnification “. . . brings everything up close.”  When you take a look at how optics and magnification really works, you’ll wonder just how “up close” the commercial is referring to.

When discussing magnification and the power of optics and lenses such as those in binoculars or digital cameras, you normally don’t talk in terms of percentage.  It’s more like 2x, 3x, 4x, 10x, etc. with the optical zoom, or you talk about the actual size of the lens in millimeters.  In this case, 300% magnification equals an optical zoom of 3x.  That’s NOTHING compared to what real optics can do.

Zoomies TV commercial – The mystical power of binoculars in your eyeglasses.

Here we learn that the Zoomies glasses “. . . use the same vision magnification technology of expensive, high power binoculars.”  That means that using Zoomies is basically the same experience as expensive, high power binoculars, right?

If that’s true, then can we have some detailed information about the lenses in the Zoomies?  Something more than the 300% magnification we were told about earlier, a weak magnification that is easily beaten by some of the cheapest binoculars at Walmart.

How large is the objective lens in the Zoomies?  How about the coating on the lens and the image sharpness?  What about the field of view at 1000 yards?  How about the light transmission, the efficiency of the lens to deliver the maximum amount of light to the eye?  Can we have any details about the prism glass and type of prism system?

So yeah, the Zoomies may have the same basic concept of an expensive set of binoculars, but when talking about the lens, prism and image quality, it’s going to be a world of difference between something like the Zoomies and a quality set of binoculars.

Zoomies TV commercial – It’s nothing but smiles as our young couple looks at the world with a new perspective.

Here we have our young couple enjoying the outdoors with a slightly different perspective.  Now they can view the ducks at the pond from a little further away.  I wonder how they enjoy having their peripheral vision reduced from those “blinders” on the sides of the Zoomies?  It looks similar to those sunglasses that old people tend to wear.

I also wonder how painfully annoying it must be to turn your head and constantly be looking at the world with a narrow field of view.  There’s a reason why you don’t see people constantly looking through binoculars, especially when turning their head.

Zoomies TV commercial – Now you can sit in the cheap seats and laugh as everybody around you squints their eyes or needs to use binoculars.  Suckers!

Here the Zoomies advertisement is trying to convince us that the glasses are powerful enough to enhance our cheap ass seats at the ball game.  Well, with only a 3x zoom, that’s going to take a lot of convincing for most people.  This exact scene in the commercial looks like it’s borderline false advertising as it appears the zoomed image in the center is much more than 3x when comparing it to the players in the background.

For this scene the commercial is actually missing a good sales point.  When you’re at the ball game and using binoculars, you only have two hands.  That means that when using the optics your other hand has to juggle a variety of tasks from holding and using your phone to also holding your food and drink.  Since the Zoomies is hands-free, this frees a hand and allows you to better enjoy the ball game.

Zoomies TV commercial – The deer thinks I’m wearing sunglasses.  LOL.

Here we have a mighty hunter walking around and searching for his prey while wearing his set of Zoomies.  Hopefully the wildlife isn’t laughing too hard at this joke of a hunter.

Why in the world would a hunter of all people want to use eyeglasses with low magnification?  Wouldn’t he want something a little bit stronger so that he can actually see the deer and other wildlife out in the distance, before they see him?  Why would a hunter also want to cut off his peripheral vision, something extremely valuable when you’re trying to find your prey out in the woods?

It’s clear that the Zoomies advertisement is really stretching for reasons to use their product.  This scene with the hunter fails miserably when it comes to a reality check.

Zoomies TV commercial – Can you tell that I’m a blonde?

Again we’re shown people wearing the Zoomies while moving their head.  Have you ever tried to do that with a pair of binoculars?  It’s tough to move more than a few inches at a time without needing to pull away from the optics and reacquire the target again with your own eyes.

Speaking of wearing the Zoomies while doing other tasks (remember that it’s proudly being advertised as hands-free), I dare anybody to safely walk while wearing the Zoomies and using its full, 3x magnification.  Good luck everybody!

Zoomies TV commercial – It even converts to sunglasses!

Just when you thought that the Zoomies couldn’t be worn on a bright day, the optics has a built-in sunshade!  That’s right, folks!  Just slide over the darkened lenses and continue to enjoy your Zoomies on the brightest of days.  Be prepared to tell everybody you meet where you purchased your Zoomies.  Remember that their smiling, pointing and laughing is just them showing their JEALOUSY and the fact that they don’t have a pair of Zoomies for themselves.  I wonder if the sunglasses industry is worried about the Zoomies taking away their business.

Zoomies TV commercial – Back row?  More like a few rows forward thanks to the Zoomies!

Again we see an example of the Zoomies showing us how the optics can transform really crappy seats at a concert into a better view, and once again it looks a bit like false advertising.

Plus, are you really going to wear a set of optics through an entire concert?  Talk about some serious eye strain by the end of that show!  The same would be true for wearing special optics throughout ball games, car races or airshows.  That is, those airshow performances that have not been sequestered by Congress.

Zoomies TV commercial – They function like a magnifying glass!

Here the Zoomies advertisement flirts with reality while showing a model builder wearing the optics while doing detailed-oriented work on his model airplane.  Yes, magnifying glasses exist for this very reason, and many magnifying glasses have a nice and large lens so you can clearly see a lot of details for whatever project you’re doing.

But you normally have to hold a magnifying glass with your hand, limiting how much work you can really do at a time.  My mother used a special magnifying glass that hung around her neck and let her see her needlepoint work more clearly.  My friend’s father has a special visor with lenses that fold down when he’s working on detailed-oriented models in his dental lab.  So yes, other options do exist when it comes to working with your hands and needing some extra magnification.

The question here is how wide is the field of view?  Are you going to constantly be in something like “tunnel vision” while working on a detailed-oriented project such as a model airplane?  Remember that just because something can perform a task does not mean that it’s the best option for completing that task.

Zoomies TV commercial – Man, the resolution on this TV looks REALLY bad when I see it up close!

What happens when you look closely at a low-resolution, CRT television set?  The image sharpness plummets, the colors look worse, and you see just how crappy of a television set you really have.

But when your recliner is about ten feet away from what looks like a twelve or thirteen inch screen, will the 3x magnification of the Zoomies make enough of a difference in the size of the screen without you seeing the faults of increasing the size of a low-resolution image?

I don’t know.  It may actually work in this particular example.  Just remember that you’ll be wearing special glasses during your television viewing time, and we’re not talking about special 3D glasses, either.

Zoomies TV commercial – It folds just like your sunglasses.

Here we see that just like any other pair of glasses, the Zoomies can be folded and stored in most common places.  Yes, this bleeding obvious part was really included as a “feature” of the advertisement.  Perhaps next time the advertisers will show us how to unfold and place the Zoomies on our head.

Zoomies TV commercial – Believe it or not, but some people actually spend good money on quality optics.

As usual with these as-seen-on-TV commercials, the advertisers try to convince us that this product is the same as a really expensive one.  But you’re being SMART by purchasing the MUCH CHEAPER one and saving a bunch of money, right?  Zoomies is just as good as an expensive set of binoculars, right?  Right?!?

Well, if you know absolutely nothing about optics and think that every example in the advertisement is 100% true and accurate, then yes, you may believe that the product may function just as well as a really expensive one.  But when you put away your coloring book and realize that maybe, just maybe, some of the examples may have been exaggerated in favor of the product, then you know that perhaps this “comparison” between the $10 Zoomies and the $200 binoculars is full of crap.

Zoomies TV commercial – It’s time for the BIG promotion!

The end of the Zoomies advertisement has the big promotion.  The product only costs $10, but if we act through the TV promotion or the company’s website, then we can take advantage of a special buy-one-get-one-free promotion.  We just need to pay for the extra shipping & handling charges for the “free” set of Zoomies.

The GRAND TOTAL of the Zoomies promotion costs $25.90 ($10 + $7.95 S&H + $7.95 S&H for the “free” set of Zoomies).  All of a sudden that doesn’t sound as nice as only paying $10 for the Zoomies.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Binoculars and similar optics that improve viewing distant objects have been around for centuries.

For the most part, binoculars are just for brief moments at a time, usually no more than a minute or two.  At that point your eyes begin getting tired and your target usually moves to a new location, making you track it with your optics.  This is usually a hard task, and most people need to use their real eyes to find a reference point before attempting to locate something again with the optics.

So why would a person need to wear binoculars like eyeglasses, especially when the magnification of said binoculars are at the bottom end of the scale?

The selling points in this advertisement are few and far between, and most of the examples are clearly exaggerations of real situations.  Yes, optics can help greatly when sitting in the back of sporting or concert venues, and I’m sure hunters, bird watchers, and people who love the outdoors would love to improve their long-range vision.  But remember that we’re only talking about a 3x level of zoom, or as they claim in the advertisement and website, 300%.

The high price of the Zoomies promotion is a negative aspect of the product.  I can get a cheap pair of 8x zoom compact, folding, lightweight binoculars at Walmart for about $13.  Two of those are almost the same cost as the buy-one-get-one Zoomies promotion.  You have to pay the sales tax, but you can walk out of the store and use the binoculars that very day versus waiting a few weeks for them to arrive in the mail.

So why again should I purchase the Zoomies?  Because they’re hands-free?  Is there anything else?  Anything at all?

————————————

All of the Zoomies TV commercial images were screenshots of a TV commercial currently available on YouTube and the product’s website.  For more product information, please visit the company’s website at www.BuyZoomies.com.

Zoomies is a registered trademark.

RellimZone.com is not affiliated with Zoomies.