Review of the OrCam MyEye 2, Pricing and Features

The introduction of wearable assistive technology has vastly improved everyday living for users with disabilities for decades. Whether it’s aural aids for the hard of hearing, glucose monitors for diabetic individuals, or mobility bands for indoor navigation, assistive tech has made the world more accessible to all.

Occasionally, the assistive tech space introduces an innovation that goes beyond enabling users to function competently and independently — making life manageable, smarter, and easier overall. The OrCam MyEye 2 price is not for the faint of heart, but it’s worth it when you’re looking for the best of the best.

What is the OrCam MyEye 2, and how does it work?

The OrCam MyEye 2 is a small, wearable smart camera for visually impaired individuals that attaches magnetically to the frame on any pair of spectacles or sunglasses. Using artificial intelligence (AI), it relays visual information via audio to the user in real-time. This includes everything from the simple reading of text or identification of colors to more complex functions like product and facial recognition.

In this post, we take a deep dive into the OrCam price point for its MyEye 2 wearable assistive tech device, whether it’s worth it and how its price compares to other products with a similar function.

The Price History of Wearable Tech: Is The OrCam Glasses’ Price Worth It?

If one thing has slowed wearable tech’s rollout into the mainstream over the last decade, it’s consumers taking issue with price tags. Even established, non-accessibility-focused companies like Google and Fitbit have grappled with whether to impress consumers with functionality and features or appeal to their practical sensibilities with a low price point.

In the case of the OrCam MyEye 2, there are certainly enough features and functionality to go around. It’s worth noting that the MyEye does a lot more than reading text aloud; it can instantly and accurately identify products, money notes, digital text, and even recognize faces — all in real-time and with no internet connection required.

The MyEye 2 can be triggered via various command gestures, tapping the device, or using one of over 20 intuitive voice commands. Both the command and audio relay engines are localized to more than 40 countries in just under two dozen languages, making it ideal for a very wide range of users around the world.

OrCam’s MyEye devices have been featured on Dr. Phil and Steve Harvey television shows and named one of Time Magazine’s top 100 innovations of 2019. They also draw overwhelmingly positive user reviews on sites like Amazon and YouTube, with many waving off the $4,500 price tag as “worth every penny.”

Comparing The OrCam My Eye Cost with Similar Products

So how does the OrCam cost stack up versus products that claim to accomplish the same purpose? Let’s take a look at the MyEye’s top three competitors below.

The IrisVision by IrisVision is a wearable sight aid in the general form factor of a large pair of goggles. It’s offered at half the price of the MyEye 2, and with good reason. The IrisVision is designed only to assist visually impaired people in reading short text using its Bubble View, Zoom, and Expanded Field of View (FOV) modes for enlargement.

The IrisVision device works by projecting an enlarged image onto the wearer’s field of vision, providing magnification of up to 12 times. The device has a user-friendly interface and is operated through a handheld controller or a mobile app. The video streaming feature allows the wearer to watch live streams or recorded videos, while the photo gallery mode lets the wearer view images in high resolution.

Although the IrisVision may not have the same level of advanced technology as the MyEye 2, it is still a useful and affordable option for individuals with visual impairments. The device can greatly assist with reading and other activities that require close-up vision, and the bonus features provide additional functionality.

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Microsoft’s Seeing AI app for iOS is a considerably more robust competitor to the MyEye 2, given it’s a free app that performs many of the same functions in reading short text and documents and identifying colors, products, and faces, or even barcodes. However, it requires users always to have their smartphone handy and relies on internet connectivity for most of its functions. It only offers its service in eight languages, despite being in development since 2017.

Be My Eyes’ Be My Eyes app for Android is another quality app, albeit plagued with much of the same issues as its iOS counterpart: internet reliance, no gestures or voice commands, and limited language options.

It’s also worth noting that quickly launching a smartphone’s camera app to point and read can be difficult for non-sighted individuals, particularly when compared to the effortless and well-integrated experience of having the OrCam MyEye 2 discreetly mounted on your eyeglass frame.

Is The OrCam Pricing Philosophy On Point?

According to its company website, OrCam is committed to creating the most advanced AI-powered wearable assistive tech devices to change the lives of people with special needs. Such an expensive pursuit can justify a matching price point, provided the products meet consumers’ expectations.

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The good news is that if user reviews on retail sites, product reviews on streaming platforms, and even the interactions on OrCam’s social media accounts are any indication, the company’s prices are precisely where they should be. OrCam’s frequent reception of press accolades and awards within the tech space certainly doesn’t hurt the argument either.

[easyazon_link identifier= “B07H31SBMW” locale= “US” nw=” y” nf=” y” tag=” descofthein0a-20″]OrCam MyEye Pro – The Most Advanced Wearable Assistive Device for The Blind and Visually Impaired. Featuring Smart Reading, Face Recognition, Color & Product Identification, Orientation (beta) & More[/easyazon_link]