Logitech Reach Review: Super Camera Arm, Subpar Camera

In the event you went to highschool earlier than the 2010s, you would possibly’ve been taught with the assistance of an overhead projector. These gigantic mild cannons blasted photons upward by usually clear worksheets, by a lens and a mirror, projecting the picture onto a display screen so everybody may see. I can solely think about my academics again then wishing that they had one thing like Logitech’s Reach to make that course of a lot simpler. Properly, principally.

The Attain is a novel product in Logitech’s lineup. First introduced in September 2023 as an Indiegogo mission and efficiently funded inside 5 minutes, it’s delivery to backers in July for a retail value of $350. The Attain is an articulated digicam arm designed to make it simpler to get overhead views of objects sitting on a desk whereas maintaining your arms free. It’s helpful for exhibiting off books and worksheets in a classroom, demonstrating do crafts for a YouTube channel, or giving a chicken’s-eye view of a board recreation.

The arm itself is great. It’s simple to tilt the digicam arm up or down, prolong it farther from the bottom, and even slide it increased or decrease off the desk. It’s a perfect method to get overhead footage of just about something, apart from one fairly substantial drawback: It’s designed to work solely with Logitech’s Streamcam, a webcam that’s not great.

A Considerate Digital camera Arm

First issues first. The arm is the star of the Logitech Attain and it’s an absolute delight to make use of and lifeless easy to put in. There are two mounting choices: a sturdy clamp that attaches to the facet of a desk or a heavy base plate you may set on high of a desk.

And once I say heavy, I imply heavy, which is an efficient factor. The bottom plate is so hefty that it counterbalances the burden of the complete arm and digicam, even when totally prolonged. This retains it from falling over and even tilting. It’s so efficient that the one cause I can consider to make use of the clamp is in case you don’t have house in your desk for the bottom.

The arm slides into the bottom with a steel peg that rotates freely and may spin 360 levels. The USB-C cable that runs to the digicam matches right into a ridge alongside the size of the digicam arm so neatly that it’s virtually invisible. For the reason that digicam and its cable are already arrange, it takes solely a few seconds to put the bottom plate on a desk, slide the arm into the bottom, and plug the cable right into a laptop computer, and also you’re able to go.

The arm itself is so easy it virtually feels unreal. You possibly can rotate the highest part of the arm ahead to a 90-degree angle from the decrease part with out twiddling with any controls or locks. It simply strikes simply into place. Likewise, the highest part of the arm can slide ahead and again, extending as much as round 18 inches away from the bottom, and it stays in place. Once more, no further buttons, knobs, or clamps concerned.

{Photograph}: Eric Ravenscraft