Vision is one of the most important aspects of safety to be mindful of when riding a two-wheeler; and it is something that riders can sometimes struggle with. Many relevant situations arise, but one of the most common issues is entering a tunnel with a tinted visor, or exiting one with a clear visor. This can often cause a rider to lose vision for a few crucial seconds as the eyes recalibrate to the sudden and stark change in ambient light.
French company Shetters appears to have come up with a solution to this problem with its new adaptive LCD visors. These visors are compatible with certain Arai and Shoei models (for now), and react almost instantly to sudden changes in ambient lighting while riding.
The visors feature a small light sensor at the bottom edge of the visor, and an LCD matrix on the rest of the surface. When the sensor detects a change in lighting, it takes only 0.04sec to activate or deactivate the visor's LCD matrix to increase or decrease the level of tint.
The only currently comparable product to the Shetters visor is AGV’s LCD visor (cleverly called the AGVisor). However, while the AGV unit requires you to routinely charge its battery via a microUSB port, the Shetters visors run on solar power. A small solar panel is located adjacent to the light sensor, so the visors do not need or use any sort of battery. The AGVisor weighs 198g – just 20g more than the Race 2 visor that it is based on. Weight specifics for the Shetters visors have not been declared yet.
Moreover, the level of tint on AGV’s visor needs to be manually toggled via a button, whereas the Shetters visors do this for you automatically. Like the AGVisor, the Shetters visors can switch between two levels of tint – an almost clear shade, and a full tint. The French manufacturer says that its visors are PinLock compatible and offer 100 percent UV protection, as well (they are UV 400 certified).
For those interested, these visors are compatible with Arai’s RX-7V, RX-7 QV Pro, Renegade V and Chaser-X models; and Shoei’s CWR-1, NXR X-Spirit III and RYD models. For those of you intrigued by this technology but don’t ride motorcycles, Shetters also produces a range of sunglasses that work in the same manner.
Shetters is selling their visors on Kickstarter for an introductory price of €198 (approximately Rs 15,800), which will then increase to €239 (approximately Rs 19,000). This technology is in its infancy and being produced in small numbers, so the prices are understandable. The AGVisor is priced at $279 (approximately Rs 19,000) while not offering as much convenience as the Shetters visors, so the French company’s pricing doesn’t seem to be all that unreasonable.
Shetters is the brainchild of founder and CEO Jean-Paul Borreau, who created the first prototypes for the visor in late 2014. The company was then incorporated in 2016, the same year that the pre-production versions were manufactured. Their Kickstarter campaign has kicked-off just this month, and has amassed 61 backers, so far. Deliveries begin in September, this year.
from Autocar India https://ift.tt/2Mr9xNo
No comments:
Post a Comment