Recon Pilot Edition augmented reality sunglasses available for pre-order

Shawn Knight

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Staff member

Google Glass may still be months away but in the meantime, you can get your name in the hat for another pair of high-tech spectacles from Recon Instruments. The company on Wednesday made their $499 Recon Jet sunglasses available for pre-order but you’ll need to act quick as this is a limited-time price.

recon jet google glass athletes pre-order

Recon’s Pilot Edition sunglasses are marketed for the active among us – specifically, runners, cyclists and triathletes. This early model is said to lack a few of the features that will ultimately ship with the final product but it’s the price Recon had to pay in order to get the units out the door as quickly as possible.

It’s not a deal breaker, however, as additional functionality can be added via a software update when they are ready.

The augmented reality visor – like Google Glass – runs Android but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. With the Jet, wearers will be able to monitor health and related statistical information like speed, distance traveled, pace, time, heart rate, vertical ascent and cadence, just to name a few metrics.

Recon Instruments CEO Dan Eisenhardt pointed out that the response to the product has exceeded their expectations. With the first edition and the soon-to-be-released SKD, they look forward to seeing what sort of apps that developers can create for Recon Jet.

The headset is expected to ship in the US, Europe, Australia and Japan between December 2014 and early 2014. It’s worth pointing out that once the Recon Jet hits retail, it will sell for $100 more at $599.

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Cool idea...I'll bet these could be really popular with the hardcore cycling/distance running crowd. They care about exact pace and times etc. (the story mentioned triathletes, but I'll bet they leave these on the beach during the swim.)

The big question though... how comfortable are they, cause no one is going to want to wear heavy pair of glasses while working out.
 
Yeah. My bank manager would find these glasses handy to monitor his blood pressure, heart rate and hide his contorted features if I asked him to loan me $599 to spend on a single pair of sunglasses.
 
Mmmm... no ... not sold on these yet. Everyone is trying to come up with the next killer platform... we have the watch and the glass like race now... all pretty cool in theory. More and more the products need to be demoed to show exactly what you get. The one thing this has going for it is that it has a place within a certain area and people can feel comfortable with that that glass everywhere.

We will see. If it were a kick starter I might of been tempted. Nevertheless, nah. Pass for now.
 
I'd just like to see something like Google Glass that can be attached to nearly any pair of glasses, prescription or not. I imagine it wouldn't be difficult to do for someone with a 3D printer and some CAD/CAM skills. In any case, I plan on getting Glass, or a similar platform if another exists at the time of Glass's launch, to use for geocaching and hiking.
 
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