Strictly speaking this viewer should not appear on this web site because
it is too new, being manufactured in China in 2005, but there is so much
to say about it that it just had to appear!
This viewer probably qualifies for
the undisputed title of 'The World's Worst Ever Stereo Viewer'. Never
has any company managed to build so many faults and flaws into just one
product!
The most significant failure is
that you cannot see stereo with it...at all!
When you look through the lenses
the images appear as two separate pictures, no merging occurs
whatsoever. Even if it did, it wouldn't do the viewer any good,
because the lenses distort the image so badly that is is like looking
through two marbles.
The slide advance mechanism almost
works, but not if you want to rotate the reel around completely. The
best I have managed is two consecutive images before a jam occurs.
The quality of finish is equivalent to giving a pot of
paint to a six year old child and saying, "paint this". Paint drips,
runs and splashes are all over the viewer. The advance lever is so fragile
that any back to front movement is highly likely to snap the lever
straight off. The plastic is of such poor quality that it actually creaks
when you hold the viewer firmly.
Attempting to insert or retrieve a reel from the viewer
is likely to lead it being damaged, or even it's total destruction. The
reel slot is so tight that attempting to insert a reel causes it to bend
and the reel needs much careful persuasion to locate into the correct
position.
It is astonishing that the viewer is packaged such that
a potential buyer can actually try the viewer first. How have any of these
items ever been sold!
Looking at the finish on the edge of
the logo gives an impression of the overall very low standard of
workmanship that has gone in to producing this product.
At first glance it looks as if the
reels supplied may be this products saving grace, but no!
The reels are made from a heavy gauge
paper, the two halves of which were already becoming unglued as they
were removed from the packet. The images are actually very good (when
viewed in a View-Master viewer) were it not for the fact that on Disc 1
the Zebra images are mounted the wrong way around, one up and one down,
giving a weird kaleidoscope effect with the animal's stripes.
DISC2 appears to have the contents of a Chinese
restaurant menu on it, being, birds, rabbit, kitten, goldfish, guinea
pig, iguana and puppies.
It is hard to imagine what went through the
designers and manufacturer's heads when they conceived this product.
It is SO awful that it deserves a
place in any stereo viewer enthusiasts collection!
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