TomTom is giving Garmin and Nike a run for their money with its new Runner Cardio GPS Watch, which features a sensor that casts light through the skin to accurately measure blood flow without the need for a chest strap. The watch offers five intensity zones, and lets wearers track speed, endurance and even fat loss.
The TomTom Runner Cardio will be off and running later this month.
Wahoo Fitness is now offering its mobile fitness app for Android devices and it can be found in the Google Play Store. With it Android users can combine the app with Wahoo Fitness products and sensors to track heart rate and stride rate data, cycling speed, cadence, and power data for running and cycling activities. At launch, Wahoo products supported by the Android app include: TICKR, BlueHR, BlueSC, RPM and the KICKR trainer. Additional products will be supported in the coming months.
“Over 80 percent of the smartphones shipped around the world run on Android. That’s well over a billion athletes that can now leverage the full power of Wahoo products and sensors to enhance and inspire their workout,” said Chip Hawkins, Wahoo’s CEO. “The most powerful fitness device that most athletes have access to is the smartphone right in their pocket. True to our belief that athletes should have the right to choose, we’re clearly very happy to bring another OS platform to the Wahooligan community.”
There are plenty of fitness trackers on the market, but the Wello Health Tracker is much more. It is designed to provide reliable information about your body, and can provide instant feedback while watching your patterns that help users better manage their lives. It can monitor blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, temperature and even lung function and ECG without the need for special equipment or wires.
Garmin has athletes covered with numerous GPS sports watches and for 2014 the fēnix 2 will ensure that wearers find their way again. This new updated model has more focus on fitness and is designed to be paired with the HRM-Run monitor that tracks heart rate, cadence, vertical oscillation and ground contact time. This can be used to help trail runners and those looking to cross train.
The watch can also estimate a user’s maximum oxygen consumption to evaluate fitness level and even calculate the recovery time post workout.
New training modes for various sports are included and this includes those hitting the pool or the slopes. The ski-board mode can track speed, distance and vertical drop; while in the pool it can track stroke count, interval distance, pace and time. This durable watch is scratch and water-resistant, and can withstand pressure up to 50 meters.
Other features include an altimeter, barometer and compass.
Pyle Audio has introduced the Bluetooth Heart Rate Monitor and Watch (PSBTHR70), which measures heart rate, average speed, distance traveled, number of steps taken, lap speeds and calorie consumption. This data can be wirelessly transmitted – by Bluetooth of course – to various third party apps on compatible Android and iOS devices. Supported apps include RunKeeper, MapMyRun and WahooFitness among others.
This watch, which is available in black, green, blue or pink for around $70, can display time in a 12 or 24 hour format and features optional hourly chimes and daily alarms, as well as a built-in calendar system. Continue reading Pyle It On
What’s not to love about wearing a heart rate monitor strap across the chest? Or rather what’s to like about it? The MIO Alpha ditches the strap and instead can be worn like a watch, where it monitors blood perfusion in the wrist via an optic sensor and green LED light.
This technology was reportedly developed by the medical industry and now is offering a way to be a heart rate monitor that doesn’t require the annoying chest strap.
This very smart watch also features Bluetooth Smart 4.0 technology so it can sync with a smartphone. That’s some serious smarts, and it allows it to be used with MapMyRun, Strava and Wahoo.
MIO Official Website
[Via BikeRumor: MIO ALPHA DITCHES THE CHEST STRAP, BRINGS ADVANCEMENTS TO PERFORMANCE HEART RATE MONITORING]
Swimmers don’t get a lot of sensory data while in the pool. There have been efforts to provide ways to train with music and many heart rate monitors are now swimming compatible. But unlike with running and cycling, it isn’t so easy to see the watch while engaged even in long distance activities.
This is where the Instabeat could come in. The device is now being developed via an Indiegogo campaign.
The device provides a heart rate reading from the temporal artery so no heart rate strap is required across the chest, while a head strap to the goggles provides the read out via a colored LED that is projected directly to the eyes. This helps swimmers track their heart rate while actually swimming to determine if they are at their own specific fat burning, fitness or maximum performance heart rate. The device even tracks calories burned, while a motion sensor tracks laps, flip turns and breathing patterns for a post-workout analysis. Video after the jump
Smartwatch maker Suunto has introduced its new Ambt2 GPS watches. The Ambit2 S is designed for fitness buffs and offers functionality for cycling, running, swimming and training. The Ambit2 S can track pace, route navigation and track heart rate. The Ambit 2 is for those who take to wilds and it features fiberglass-reinforced case and offers info on altitude, vertical speed, barometric pressure and temperature – plus all the functions of the 2S.
Garmin might have to look over its shoulder as TomTom is set to introduce its own line of Multi-Sport GPS watches this year. Aimed at cyclists and triathletes, these entry level watches feature scratch and impact-resistant glass screens that offer three graphical race training functions. These allow for wearers to race against previous time in the Race mode, while Goal lets wears go for distance, time or calorie count, while Zone tracks a set heart rate. The watches are compatible with Bluetooth heart rate monitors and cadence sensors, and the step up model offers a built-in altimeter.
The Multi-Sport GPS watches reportedly lock onto the Russian GLONASS satellite array in case that means anything to you, Conrad!
Under Armour has taken fitness monitoring in a new direction with its newly announced Armour 39 system, the first-of-its kind performance monitoring. This reportedly tracks “willpower,” providing a score that tells users exactly how hard they’ve worked during a training session. This take the usual calorie counter to a new level.
The system, which will be available next month, utilizes an algorithm that can track activity duration, body position, heart rate, intensity, calories burned and then determines what level of willpower was reached. It could allow athletes to further arm up during training.
The Mio Alpha Heart Rate Monitor had gotten a jumpstart from Kickstarter and now this innovative heart rate monitor is just about ready for business. It reportedly senses the blood under the wearer’s skin to provide a digital readout of heart rate, and is EKG accurate even during high-intensity workouts. The benefit to this is that no chest band or strap is required, but this unit is also Bluetooth 4.0 compatible and can be used with a variety of smartphone apps, allowing it to track speed, distance, pace and even utilize GPS.
We first saw PEARSports when it came out with a device that worked with the iPod Shuffle. The small Apple music player plugged into a port that helped runners maintain a pace and get feedback during a workout. Now PEAR has introduced the PEAR Mobile Training Intelligence App, which pairs with the PEAR Mobile Training Intelligence Kit. Continue reading PEARSports Takes A Bite Out of Apple iPhone
There are plenty of heart rate monitors and apps that can help watch your heart rate, but the Cardiio takes health-monitoring in a new direction. It works by obtaining the BPM heart rate by simply pointing the iPhone’s front-facing camera at your face.
From here the app measures the light reflection of the skin, which apparently is affected by the blood that is flowing. This $5 app provides a BPM estimate without the need for a band or other monitor. While we question whether this is as good as a true heart rate, perhaps it is enough for you to use it to guilt your friends and love ones to hit the gym – especially as it offers a life expectancy estimator. Fear can be a powerful motivator!