3D printers, drones, wearables, self-driving cars, VR headsets, and even freaky, human-like androids were on display last week in Las Vegas, where the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) raged with 150,000 attendees. It’s among the world’s biggest product extravaganzas, and this includes gear for health, fitness, and the outdoors.
GearJunkie was on the show floor hunting for outdoors and active products coming in 2015 and beyond. Here’s a look at 10 items from CES that caught our attention.
Tracking, Filming Flyer — Drones have flooded the market. The AirDog is hoping to become your dedicated aerial robo-videographer with a function that tracks your movement via a wireless link (it communicates with the drone to follow you and film). The AirDog works with GoPro or Sony cameras. The company says internal sensors keep the drone balanced and focused filming on you while avoiding obstacles in the fly zone.
Bionic Ear — Dubbed the “first wireless smart in-ear headphones,” the Bragi Dash has 4GB of storage in the earbud where you can save hundreds of songs. But that is just the start: These tiny tech wonders include fitness tracker gauges and measure your biometrics to provide feedback on your performance with audio cues as you exercise.
‘Hidden Camera’ Bike Light — Attach this light with a tiny embedded camera to your bike’s handlebars and the Fly12 records all that happens as you ride. The unit has a 200-lumen light and a camera that captures 1080p video for up to five hours before the battery runs out. Use it to capture your ride action or as a safety backup in case of an incident on the road.
Robo Asana — “The next best thing to having your own personal yoga instructor.” That’s a tag line with the SmartMat, a sensor-equipped mat that syncs with a phone app. It can sense where your feet and hands are and provide tips with voice commands on how to pose, and what move to make next through a guided yoga session.
Paste-On Heart Rate Monitor — Fitlinxx Ampstrips are stick-on “wearable” tech that you put on your torso. It reads your beats and can sync with a phone or watch to give biometric read-outs as you bike, run, or workout. It tracks skin temperature and posture as well as heart rate. The adhesive monitor, a silicon-impregnated patch, is about the size of a business card, waterproof, and it can be worn for days.
Switchable Audio — CHIPS are universal Bluetooth wireless speakers that can be adapted to fit multiple “housings,” from ski helmets to sport headbands. Made by Outdoor Tech, the all-in-one removable $130 headphones can be switched from hat to hat (or helmet, or headband).
Universal Phone Case Mount — It works in your car, on a bike, or on an armband when you run. The Seidio Quest Mounting System lets you securely attach and quickly remove your cased phone as you drive, bike, run, and hike.
Charge And Be Charged — Pocket chargers are becoming ubiquitous. But this one, the Flip by Goal Zero, stands out because of its “pass-through charging.” This means on one side of the Flip is a USB port, allowing you to charge the internal battery (via a solar panel or at home plugged into a wall) while also charging another device (like a phone or a GoPro) at the same time.
Attach-Anywhere Speaker — It weighs a couple ounces and is 2.5 inches across. But this little Bluetooth speaker can pump out good sound. The kicker with this speaker, called the BOOM Swimmer from Polk Audio, is its “detachable tail,” which twists, loops over, and attaches to anything from bike handlebars to a climbing harness.
GoPro Backpack — It’s made by rack company Thule, but this unit “mounts” on your back not your car to offer GoPro-specific storage. The Thule Legend GoPro Backpack holds up to three of its namesake cameras plus accessories. Bonus: A mounting area on the back lets you film behind as you hike or ride.
—Yoon Kim, Thomas Hall, Mike Santi, and Steve Graepel contributed to this report.
