If The Terminator ever got on a snowboard he’d likely have useful information, such as speed and temperature, right in the front of his eyes – or visual optical system or whatever it was supposed to be. The rest of us have traditionally had to look down at a device to get all that data. When roaring down a mountain looking down isn’t a good idea, so you either have to stop what you’re doing or hope for the best. But Zeal Optics will change everything beginning this Sunday, October 10, with the release of the world’s first GPS enable goggle, the Transcend GPS – which could truly transcend the way you track your activity.
The goggles feature full GPS technology from Recon Instruments with a head mounted display via an LCD screen inside the goggle. This screen, which appears visually to be about six feet in front of you, provides real time stats with speed and vertical odometer, as well as a stopwatch and chronos mode. A microcomputer processes the information collected by four different sensors: accelerometer, gyroscope, temperature and pressure sensors, which track the user’s position in the respective environment.
The goggles run on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery with seven hour run time. Users can also connect to a computer (PC or Mac) for analysis after a day on the slopes. The Transcend GPS will be available in two goggle options, the SPPX option with polarized and photochromic lens for $499, and with just the polarized lens for $399. All this is fantastic, just remember to take in the sights while you’re out in nature.