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TECH NEWS
Solos smart eyewear.jpgSolos eyewear with head-up display hits funding target
Solos cycling eyewear with a head-up display and audio prompts has virtually achieved its funding target on Kickstarter with six weeks to spare.
The smart glasses can receive information from a mobile phone app (iOS and Android) via ANT+ or Bluetooth low energy, and show it on “the world’s smallest heads-up display” – measuring 16mm x 9mm – that sits in front of your right eye.
“You think it looks really small but it’s actually quite a large display, it’s the entire upper right quadrant, but if you look beyond it you don’t even notice it,” says Kelly Catlin of Team USA.
The team behind Solos claims that the positioning of the display so close to your eye means that its virtual size is four times greater than that of a fixed display on your bike. You can adjust the position of the display.
The Solos can give you vital riding data like speed, cadence, heart rate, power zones, calories, distance and elevation. It also offers maps and navigation and allows you to race against previous rides.
You can also take calls while riding using the dual microspeakers and dual microphones that are integrated in the Solos frame.
That frame is made from a thermoplastic-polyamide nylon blend while the interchangeable lenses are a safety-rated Trivex polymer.
The Recon Jet Black Heads Up Display Smart Eyewear is a similar concept. Check out our review here.
The Solos is powered by a high-density lithium cell that’s embedded in the frame, and it is designed to offer a six hour runtime. The claimed weight is 65g.
The Solos mobile phone app gives you a host of post-ride information including an activity monitor, graphs, charts, and maps of your routes.
To be in line to receive a pair of Solos glasses you need to pledge at least US$250 (£170) via the Kickstarter page.
However, that’s for the Early Bird Special and only a few of those are remaining at the time of writing. Once they’re gone you’ll need to pledge at least US $400 (£272).
Delivery is expected in October 2016.
For more info go to the Solos Kickstarter page or www.solos-wearables.com
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
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Since it's not on he pavement, it isn't blocking the pavement.
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I used to see him from time to time in my local Waitrose when he lived locally. He always found the time to chat to me and was always a really nice...
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15 comments
There are times I like to look at my stats. But I find that I do better when I do not look at them on my 510 Do really this is not good to me. Maybe for those power meter wenies but not me. I just ride comfortably
I was tempted by this Kickstarter for a few seconds as I've always wanted Google Glass to be developed and used for cycling stats etc. However, I've backed lots of Kickstarters (I'm a sucker for things like that) and the ones that have been the most problematic have been ones involving electronics.
I've just had a little look at the Kickstarter page and there is a red flag - it's registered as a company which means that if they don't deliver they can just cease trading/go bankrupt and you have no recourse. The project has been created by Robert Macauley and on googling him, it looks like he's the same person who created the LifePrint project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lifeprint/lifeprint-print-photos-that-come-to-life-in-your-h
Looking at his LinkedIn profile, he does have prior experience at Belkin, so maybe this project will succeed. Maybe.
Hi,
Sean from the Solos team!
The company behind the technology is a publicly-traded company called Kopin Corporation, with thirty years' experience in the micro-electronics industry. Hopefully we can tempt you again (we just added more early-bird pricing!)
Sean
Thanks for the info. I'll have another think about this. On the one hand, I love my gadgets (especially bike related ones), but on the other hand I've been bitten a few times by Kickstarter campaigns. Either way, I hope the project succeeds.
Any chance of pairing these glasses with a rear view camera in a future version?
What I'd like to see is this kind of display paired with a rear facing camera. Just glance up to your right to get a look at what/who is behind you. (I've got an Italian Road Bike Mirror http://www.avt.bike/WebStore/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=RBM_1001 that provides similar functionality when you get used to it, but you have to take your eyes off the road briefly to use it, so I reckon a HUD would be safer to use and provide a better image).
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Oh great. Tech geeks on your club run are about to get even more annoying. I hope they invent a heavier mini pump that I can use to beat them to death when they start quoting their eyeglass stats.
Great for a professional or serious athlete, a distraction for the rest of us. I just don't need this information -literarlly- in my face, and I don't always wear glasses.
Does it come in a left sided model? UK and AUS users will find it will hamper them out on the road
Nope - as the rider of a recumbent lowracer I have a glasses-mounted mirror on the rhs, and it's not a problem in the slightest.
Should we be supporting Team USA this side of the Olympics?
If it is only available with the HUD on the right it may once again be too restrictive to use in the UK, Recon Jet similar in terms of use of the road - can't see your right-hand side so cars sneak up on you.
I really can see these being a safety disaster.
Just another thing to cause a distraction on the road, in a long list of distractions.
And the ability to take a phone call? Hopefully there's a safety catch there that doesn't allow it whilst moving.
Safer than looking at a bike computer I'd imagine.
Love it but two things stop me from jumping on board.
My iPhone 6+ hasn't got ANT+ and there are no dongles on the market at the moment.
No Strava Live Segments on the Sonos. After trialing Live Segments on the Edge 1000 last week I'm totally hooked. I would never move to any device now that doesn't have Live Segments.
Can see myself getting a Solos v2 or v3 as it would save weight on the bike. It's tragic to be taking a bulky gadget like an Edge 1000 when you already have a more powerful unit like a phone in your jersey pocket. It's just not efficient use of technology.
Good on them just it isn't featured enough or compatible enough to get me to bite.
Hi,
Sean from the Solos team!
You won't need to worry about ANT+ on your iPhone, as we connect ANT+ devices via the glasses (and stream the data down to the phone). This solves the issue of iPhones not being ANT+ supported!
With regards to Live Segments, Strava are in the process of opening this up (there has been a very recent announcement), so it's something we will probably work on soon! Stay tuned!
Sean