HUD's Coming into Cycling

Wearable technology has never really advanced when compared to other sports such as running or swimming. Many can argue what's the need when you have a bike to mount all your gadgets. That in itself can be a safety issue where from time time we'd take our eyes off the road to read our GPS losing focus on traffic, pedestrians and road furniture. I, myself am guilty of this and I'm sure yourself have done it whether you care to admit it or not. 

So from trolling through tech from this years Inter-Bike show I was pleasantly surprised to come across a new product to new brands Everysight and Kopin. Both companies had there own sunglasses with built in HUD's. Now bare in mind this concept isn't new, Recon released there own a couple years back but it never caught on. Mainly due to the weight and shear bulk and lack of peripheral vision it provided. 

The idea of both is to have less bulky far more streamlined design than that of the Recon Jet that would essentially replace your current GPS and possibly feature connectivity to your phone and sensors. No prices yet on either as they're still in pre-production phase but they wouldn't be cheap. 

It still remains to be seen whether HUD's will gain traction in the cycling world as GPS computers already offer so much data in a neat little package, however these companies feel there is potential for a growing market and I agree that there is. 

There will still be issues that will need to be addressed before such as battery life, as well as the option of interchangeable lenses. Assuming the lenses won't be interchangeable since the Recon Jet lenses are not. I feel the lens would at least need to be photocramic to be practical as an everyday item. Personally I've always used a dark lens for bright light whatever the weather apart from night time of course so a non interchangeable lens would not really bother me. At the moment I can really see HUD's gaining popularity for Time Trials, triathlons and track races where a TT helmet with a HUD integrated into the visor would allow the rider to constantly have access to their power output without having to adjust their head position. But in either case I would want this type of wearable technology on my Christmas wishlist in the future.