Jefferson Graham

USA TODAY

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — I love the idea of those drone glasses from Epson.

Connect the Moverio BT-200 ($699) Smart Glasses to your drone, ditch the regular viewfinder, and with the dorky shades over your eyes, look up and see what the drone sees.

As the quadcopter soars into the skies, you’re right up there with your device, with a more intense experience than looking down at your smartphone viewer.

But there’s one little problem.

As I’m peering through the glasses and enjoying the view — where’s that drone anyway? I’m supposed to have it in my line of sight, per the Federal Aviation Authority. If my drone is flying over the ocean and takes a turn, I could lose the unit, and that’s a rather scary feeling.

To be fair, the Moverio, from printer manufacturer Epson, doesn’t totally engulf your vision like virtual reality headsets. The drone view fills about half the screen, and that view itself isn’t as bright and colorful as I would like. And they are designed to offer a transparent view of the world, so you can keep track of the drone while you're enjoying your flight.

But after spending the day with the Moverio recently on five different flights, my reaction was identical each time: "where’d that drone go?” As it went higher and higher, I just wasn't seeing it anymore.

There are some easy solutions. You could get your friend to fly for you while you sit back and watch the action through the glasses. Or be so comfortable with your flying skills that none of this matters to you.

The Moverio is described by Epson as smart glasses that set the “standard in Augmented Reality,” smart eyewear specs that for now work with several models of drones from manufacturer DJI. I tested it with the DJI Mavic Pro.

The glasses themselves connect to the controller of the drone, the videogame-like unit that lets you control lift off, landing, and whether to send the unit to the right or left. The operation shifts to a Moverio trackpad, thereby ditching the need for the smartphone, which had acted as your viewfinder. I found the trackpad itself to be clunky, and hard to control. I preferred the smartphone operation.

But I give Epson props for trying.

On its website, it showcases different uses it envisions for the Moverio, like bringing the AR in glasswear to museums, education, sports and entertainment. And why not? Unlike VR goggles, these glasses are nice and light. It's not hard to imagine watching a movie or game and wearing these all the way through. You wouldn't do that with VR headsets.

This is Epson's Google Glass moment, with a version 1.0 moment that’s well-intended, but just a little early. (Google Glass, which looked similar and offered the ability to shoot video and photos of the world around you, died a quick death in 2015.)

For the Moverio, I’d save your money and wait for another edition that’s easier to operate and has better optics. And spend the time becoming a better flyer, so you won’t have to worry about losing that pesky drone while digging the view.

Follow USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham on Twitter, @jeffersongraham, and subscribe to the daily #TalkingTech podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.