At least you can't see all the people around you, pointing and laughing.

Price:

$20

Design

The As-Seen-on-TV Hat (I swear to God, that's the actual name of the product) comes in a variety of colors and patterns and in both baseball-cap-style and visor. I went for the camo visor, because I'm a pretty stylish guy. Along the sides of the bill, there's a nylon guard to block out ambient light, and for your viewing pleasure, there's a magnifying glass hanging down midway along the bill. You insert your iPhone (or whatever other video-playing device you want) into a flap, where it sits at the end of the bill.

Here's how bad this product is: Not only does it ask you to stuff your iPhone into a pocket at the end of a camouflage visor, iPhones don't even fit in the pocket. Neither did my Droid, although the iPod Touch fits okay.

Oh, and it comes with a weird semicircular flap of nylon with a velcro strip that I cannot for the life of me figure out how it attaches. It's really embarrassing; that flap makes me feel like I'm too dumb to use the dumbest product I've ever seen.

Performance

The plastic window fades and distorts your video, which severely impairs the cinematic experience the As-Seen-on-TV Hat tries so very hard to provide. The magnifying glass is adjustable (you can move it closer or farther from your scared, stressed little eyes) but not removable, so you're stuck with a distorted picture that was already blurry and faded from the plastic window covering your video-playing device.

Oh, and you'll definitely go both blind and celibate if you use this too long. It's kind of a twofer that way.

Verdict

I rate this a buy if only for the name you'll make for yourself on public transit if you wear it. If you don't want to be known for your ridiculous, half-nerd half-hick headwear, it's a pass.

It's the greatest iPhone/iPod accessory ever

It's the worst iPhone/iPod accessory ever