Gadget: Vuzix Wrap 280 Widescreen Video Eyewear

Carrying around a 51in TV is both painful and impractical. Even if you've got enough room on your living room wall to mount one of these monsters, chances are that it'll cast a shadow so large it'll scare the cat.

The Vuzix Wrap 280 Widescreen Video Eyewear is billed as the ideal solution. The glasses have two mini 384x240 pixel displays in the rear. Vuzix have definitely improved the styling.

While I felt like some kind of cyborg flasher sitting on a park bench wearing them in public, in more private surroundings they were perfectly bearable.

Compared to the glasses I reviewed last year, the 280s have several advantages. You can now change the focus of each screen individually or wear spectacles at the same time. They're also a lot more comfortable, with adjustable left and right nose pieces.

The big question – do they simulate a 51in screen? Yes, but with a couple of caveats. The boost in resolution, brightness and general quality of the mini-LCD screens means a more immersive experience. Watching Up felt a bit like staring at a cinema screen through binoculars until I shut the curtains.

With no light creeping in around the sides of the frame, the visual illusion was complete – and hey presto, what looked like a 51in screen viewed from about 10 feet came into view.

In the box you get an iPod AV connector cable and composite AV cable for hooking up to TVs, DVDs or game consoles. Vuzix claims the glasses are also 3D ready.

The Vuzix Wrap 280 will divide opinion; fiddly and uncomfortable for some; ground-breaking for others. I'd highly recommend that you try before you buy.

Vuzix Wrap 280 Widescreen Video Eyewear

(179.99, www.firebox.com and www.amp3.co.uk; for more information, www.vuzix.co.uk)

• This article was first published in The Scotsman on Saturday, May 1, 2010