In the box of goodies sent to me from Verizon, I was surprised to find something I never thought I would get to try out. Here’s my review of the Looxcie 2 wearable video cam.

The easiest way to describe this device is to have you picture Google Glass, but without a screen and featuring only a camera. That’s what this little thing is; a pocket camera meant for your head. It’s thin and light, but its lack of mind-blowing specifications keeps the Looxcie in my “why does this exist?” bin.

This $150 camera just doesn’t justify its price when looking at the specs. The camera can only record up to 480p, which isn’t even HD at that point. Looxcie does offer a full-HD cam, but that model is $50 more.

Even though the quality is sub-par, the headset can only hold an hour of 480p video, and the battery will die at the end of that hour as well. For someone who wants to use this on a full day of vacationing, that’s quite a problem. Even sports enthusiasts who want to share their adventures will find that 1 hour isn’t nearly enough.

Thankfully, the storage issue can be solved easily. If you don’t want to fill up the non-expandable internal storage, the device has built-in Bluetooth that puts the content on your phone instead. Looxcie also has an app that lets you livestream whatever you see to your friends. Alas, all of this needs to be taken in with the recognition that you will still only get an hour of battery life. Most likely less, when Bluetooth is involved.

The device can also answer calls. When testing out the quality of the camera and mic, I found that the on-board sensors do a pretty great job of picking up sound. This may seem strange, but the sound quality blew the video quality out of the water. It’s a shame the thing looks and feels like it would break the first time a biker took a fall.

The camera can be clipped to a baseball cap, a helmet, or worn on the ear. With so many accessories, it’s safe to say that no matter the task you want to share (other than scuba diving), the Looxcie could probably find a way to attach to your head.

Transferring files is easy. Either use the Bluetooth functionality or plug in the micro-USB cord, and you’re good to go. The cord also charges the device (mine did not come with a wall adapter, so a computer seems the only way to go, at least right out of the box).

This is an obvious competitor to GoPro, a huge name in personal video. This product tries to pass itself off as a fancy, business-like version of GoPro’s more rugged image, and I understand the reasoning for that.

What I don’t understand is why someone would get this model when the full-HD version is only $50 more and has way more features.

Paying $150 for something that maxes out at 480p in this day and age might well be taboo. It’s obviously an aging product, and so if portable/wearable cameras are in your sights, skip this and go for one that’s worth it.

The Looxcie 2 wearable video cam gets a 2/5