While Google Glass is a leader in its field, it lacks on one thing: attraction and applicability to that of sports and athletes.  While it is water resistant, it is not the toughest of products and probably wouldn’t hold up to someone dripping sweat for long periods of time.  Recon Instruments saw the obvious hole in the market and developed the Jet.  The Jet is a pair of sport sunglasses with an integrated Android powered display that has an endless amount of possibilities.

Recon, previously known for its MOD ski goggle inserts, takes the idea one step further and applies the same technology to a sporting pair of shades with a list of supped up features.  They also added a huge amount of connectivity options and sensors, it comes with WiFi, Bluetooth, an accelerometer, thermometer, GPS and most exciting, ANT+.  These features will allow the shades to gather data from different capturing sources such as heart rate monitors, cycling power and cadence.

Strava users will be chomping at the bit to get this technology with the ability to get real-time displays of everything they desire.  Engaget tried a pair of prototypes and described the glasses as a bit flimsy and stating they had a difficult time seeing the display.  But keep in mind this was a pre-production prototype and I’m sure they will work out some of the bugs and finalize a marketable product.  The removable battery is said to have a projected life of six hours, way more than I would need to get winded!

The Recon Instruments Jet is set to ship by the end of the year and we have no official release of expected price, though some speculation it will cost around $500 — give or take a hundred or so.  Seems a bit steep, but those that already spend thousands on their bikes and gear will have no problem dropping that much for the real-time applications and training possibilities.

[ source ]

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Don’t you hate it when you’re out snowboarding and it isn’t at all like playing a video game? All that hard work and none of the data like speed, altitude or temperature flashing in front of your face. Well, pick up your thermal socks because Recon Instruments has announced their next generation technology at CES 2011!

The follow-up to Recon’s launch last year – alpine goggles with GPS data viewable through the head mounted display – the next generation Recon Transcend is going to pack even more information into the LCD display. Get ready for data on speed, latitude/longitude, altitude, vertical distance travelled, total distance travelled, chrono/stopwatch mode, a run-counter, temperature and time.

While this may seem like overkill there are actually some really cool features to Transcend beyond the standard ‘meters’. First of all, we really like the Bluetooth capabilities that let you interface with your Android phone to display CallerID, text messages and music playlists right on the LCD display. There are also some really cool applications around integrated maps and buddy tracking allowing you to access direct-to-eye trail maps and even your friends and family on the hill as well as in backcountry.

Perhaps on the overkill side is the video integration that allows you to connect wireless video cameras to the micro LCD display within the goggles as the viewfinder for the camera. But when you see how many people have cameras strapped to their helmets and the sheer volume of badass ski and snowboard videos on YouTube even that’s a pretty sweet feature.

Last and certainly not least, is the news that Recon intededs to create an open SDK for the goggles; expect to see even more Android-powered apps catered to this hardware and market coming soon. Oh, and Recon have teamed with established goggle manufacturers like Uvex, Alpina and Briko who all have “Recon ready” apparel that you can just snap-fit the technology into.

The goggles are navigated using a wireless remote which can be fastened to your body in lots of places but we see this as their only technological shortcoming. Here’s hoping the next generation allows for optical controls.

Stay tuned for information on release date and pricing.

[Gizmodo via Recon]

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