Don’t you hate it when you’re out birding in Tibet and you spot a Sillem’s Mountain Finch? The find itself is great of course, but immediately upon sighting it you want to light up a cuban cigar in order to celebrate, in accordance with birdwatching tradition. The problem, is you have to put down your binoculars to do so, thus potentially losing sight of the rare bird.

To address this problem that we all must deal with at one point in our lives, a Shanghai wholesaler is offering “Meganegata Sogankyo” or “Glasses-type Binoculars” which allow you to see long distances while retaining the use of both your hands, in the most steampunk way possible.

Glasses-type Binoculars are essentially a pair of binocular lenses attached to a glasses-like frame. I’m avoiding the actual term “glasses” because that might imply some sense of fashion. However, Glasses-type Binoculars eliminate all elements of style and pass the savings on to you!

For only 500 yen (US$5), you get to harness the power of 2.8x magnification which can be adjusted with a slider located on the inside of the frame. You can adjust the lenses for “distance vision,” “normal vision,” and “myopic,” the last of which I don’t need (thank you very much) because people call me that all the time.

You can focus the lenses by simply turning them as you would with regular binoculars. Glasses-type Binoculars also come with a string to prevent them from falling onto the ground when you bump into something, because you’re absolutely going to bump into something. Of course, if you think the string will make you look kind of lame, it’s okay. They’re removable.

So, if you want to spy on people from afar while keeping your hands free for whatever it is you do while spying on people or if you simply want to walk around making people think you’re an ex-member of Devo, you’d do well to order a pair of Glasses-type Binoculars.

Source: Shanghai Donya via Nari Nari (Japanese)