Zoom for Kinect - Xbox 360

After reading many of the negative reviews, I thought it's best to write my experience with the product.I had this pre-ordered for a while now, and since it was only $24, I was willing to give it a shot , just so I can stop moving furniture around every time I needed to use the KINECT.So far it worked out. It is true that it's probably not that accurate, but I use it with Fitness Evolved, and it tracks things really well, I am surprised how much more closer to the sensor I can stand now.Some people have mentioned that KINECT needs to see the floor or it re-calibrates, this is true, but there are instruction to fix that issue in the manual of the product. My KINECT is placed under the TV, so many that helped my situation.Overall, for $24 it was worth it, I take this over having to move my furniture around (ie. heavy couch) every time i felt like playing a game. Which caused me to not use the KINECT as much.It does create issues for gestures when watching HULU or Netflix because the "playing area" is now much closer to the TV, so the KINECT can't recognize you from your couch 8 feet away. But that's a given considering the wide-angle lens they use as a solution. For the money, the unit feels very solid and well made, I would have paid $75 for it, because for me the convenience this provides is just un-parralled. However, I always thought MS had a reason for not doing this, so I have feeling, the new and more advanced games that are coming out for the KINECT might not work so well with a wide-angle lens in front of it. But for $24 , who cares!

Despite many negative reviews, we bought the Zoom based on some of the positive reviews. Glad we did! I bought the Xbox 360 w/Kinect & the Zoom on the same day from different vendors and by chance, they were delivered on the same day, so we have never...not...used our Xbox w/o the Zoom. It was easy to set up/calibrate - very easy...Since we have a 72" TV in a smaller room, the Zoom made the difference between being able to use our new Kinect or not. We would never move couches and rearrange our room every day in order to do our daily workouts - ain't happen'in, crisis averted...Btw, our Kinect camera is about 26" off the ground. The Zoom will always be on the Kinect, although it only takes a split second to remove it, slightly longer to attach it - lining it up left to right - SIMPLE!!! Fyi, the Zoom is just a series of magnifying lens(one unit...) that snap on the Xbox Kinect camera. Not much too it, but it is a great idea and vital for situations like ours...I'm not sure why so many people are having problems with this. My guess is that some of these reviewers have problems with many of the things they buy...(draw your own conclusions...). My advice: if you think you need this, get it. The price is right.Btw, the aftermarket "privacy" covers for Kinect cameras will not fit if you have a Zoom on your camera - this should be obvious...A PHD isn't required to improvise. Maybe some genius will make one for Zoom owners, while others will just use a black sock or hankie...Whatever it is, we are feeling sort of creepy w/ this camera pointing at us while watch TV, Netflix, ect. so we are currently turning it to the side while not in use. If we can find a cover, we may just pony up another $20 for a piece of black plastic...What's another $20? (sarcasm)

BEFORE THE ZOOMI had the kinect mounted on top of a 60'' big screen TV. The room has 9' of space from the TV to the couch with nothing obstructing. It worked well for one player, hand-tracking games like Child of Eden or fruit ninja. It worked horribly for me when I played Dance Central. It always thought my knees were my feet. I think part of the reason it couldn't see me is that I am such a big guy (6'4", 350 lbs).For two player games it didn't work well because when we backed up our legs blended into the couch. I don't think it was seeing the floor clearly.WITH THE ZOOMDance central worked perfectly. My large frame no looked like a normal sized player.Single-player fruit ninja worked well, although the player was noticeably smaller on the screen so you had to move more. The bonus was it seemed more responsive and you could use your feet much better to kick the fruit (super fun). Fruit Ninja with two players was a disaster. Our player shadows kept popping in and out and it was incredibly annoying.I tried Kinect sports with the zoom, 2 player. I had never played it before without the zoom so have no comparison point. It seemed accurate enough, although in volleyball it would make my player jump whenever I took a step.I can confirm what has been said in other review that the Zoom makes hand tracking worse. I experienced this when navigating through menus and using the kinect hub on the dashboard. Also with the zoom I had to turn off one of the lamps in the room because of back lighting. This wasn't an issue without the kinectOVERALL: I'm happy I bought it, if for no other reason than to play dance central. I will be taking my zoom on and off depending on which game I play.