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Wahoo Fitness PROTKT: Bike mount and protective case in one
While I'm currently trying to do my best imitation of a slug, I used to be a very active bike rider. How active? Like 2,500 miles (4023 km) per year. This was back in the days before iPhones, and I used to mount a Garmin eTrex GPS on my handlebars as a bike computer and throw my cell phone into my bike bag. Wahoo Fitness has come up with a brilliant solution for mounting an iPhone 5 on your handlebars for fitness tracking, providing entertainment on the road, and protecting your device from falls and weather. The PROTKT mount for iPhone 5 (US$69.95) is a different solution than the previously-reviewed RFLKT ($129.99) that is a separate display unit that uses your iPhone to do all of the heavy computing. Let's take a look! Opening the PROTKT box, you're confronted with a bunch of components. The most obvious is the iPhone 5 case, which is built like a tank. If you're a professional bike racer, you're not going to like the PROTKT because it's not very aerodynamically designed. On the other hand, you probably shave your legs, arms and head, so maybe that lack of friction will make up for the boxiness of the PROTKT case. Like any good tank, the PROTKT case is sealed up tight and hard to get into. I actually had to check out the instructions online to figure out how to open the case, and even there it took a good tug to get the top to pop off (it's held down with some rubberized strips that run along the sides of the case for "grippiness"). Once that's done, the iPhone slide simply slides into the case, and the top is replaced. If you're used to a slim, unprotected, and lightweight iPhone 5, then you're not going to want to keep the PROTKT on your iPhone 5 when you're off of the bike. It's thick and heavy! With the PROTKT on it, the total weight of the iPhone 5 and case goes up to 7.6 ounces (215 grams) from the normal featherlight 3.95 ounces (112 grams). It also gains thickness by going from .30 inches (7.6 mm) to .787 inches (20 mm). But all that extra bulk is protection, and that's what you need if you're a dedicated cyclist who rides regardless of weather. Now how do you get the case onto your bike? That's where the other components come into play. There's an "x-mount" adapter that snaps into place on the back of the case that connects with a simple quarter-turn clockwise to the handlebar mount. If you need to remove the encased iPhone for any reason during your ride -- say, to take a picture of that bear that just wandered onto the road -- you just give it a quarter-turn counterclockwide to pop it off. The rest of the time, it's glued to your bike. The handlebar mount will also work as a stem mount if you want your handlebars free of clutter. It comes in two pieces -- a curved rubber piece to protect your bike from scratches and the hard polycarbonate mount -- and is held into place with wire ties. I personally like the idea of using regular wire ties to attach the mount, since they can be purchased in a lot of places in case you want to snip the existing ties and move the mount to another bike. So, now you have the PROTKT on your bike, you're in your shorts and jersey, your SPD-equipped bike shoes are on, and your water bottle is full. How do you track your cycling performance? With the free Wahoo Fitness app for cycling. The app also works when running or working out, and it can receive data from other Wahoo Fitness sensors. Want to track your heart rate during your ride? There's a Heart Rate Strap ($69.99) for that. Perhaps you want to track your speed and cadence? Use the Speed and Cadence Sensor ($59.99). Hell, the Apollo astronauts weren't this well instrumented! The app provides a way to share your collected data with a large number of other fitness apps and sites, including Runkeeper, MapMyFitness, Strava, Nike+, Training Peaks, 2Peak, Ride With GPS and others. For the serious -- or even occasional -- cyclist who wants to collect riding statistics and keep his or her iPhone 5 safe, there's really no other solution that comes close. Wahoo Fitness has created an amazing ecosystem of connected fitness products that work well with the iPhone, and PROTKT is another example of the company's commitment to its customers. Now we're going to make one cyclist very, very happy by giving away our review PROTKT. Here are the rules for the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before August 27, 2013 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected and will receive a Wahoo Fitness PROTKT bicycle mount and case valued at $69.99 Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
PaperDude VR resurrects Paperboy with Oculus Rift, Kinect, KickR and a bike
One sad aspect of modern tech is that it's all but ruined our dreams of slinging dead trees for comic book money after school. However, gizmos have enabled a killer sequel to the best paperboy simulation ever. Using a smattering of electronics -- and a real bike! -- PaperDude VR is the followup we never knew we wanted. Joining an Oculus Rift VR headset, Microsoft Kinect and Wahoo Fitness KickR into a sweat-drenched union, PaperDude VR creates an almost zen-like experience of tossing newspapers, knocking down road barriers and busting windows. Nostalgia's a powerful drug, and we'd love a ride to see if chasing the dragon of our youth is as good as we remember. Given developer Globacore's history though, the chances of seeing this outside a specialized kiosk are slim to none. Regardless, we have one niggling question: Do pixelated paperdudes dream of 8-bit dogs?
RFLKT and Runmeter: It's basically Pebble for your bike
People love the idea of the Pebble watch. It's an iOS-compatible display that sits on your wrist, so your iPhone can stay in your backpack, purse, or pocket. It's a great way to keep light track of your notifications, and what's going on in your life. It is, however, not a particularly good match to bike riding, where constantly checking your watch for fine detail might end up with a bad case of road rash, small screaming children who you just hit as you checked your inbox, or even the less dramatic wobblewobbleohdear. For years, bikers have used small handle-bar mounted computer systems to keep track of their speed, cadence, heart rates, and distance -- among other OCD-friendly metrics. In the more recent past, vendors have produced iPhone mounts, so you can watch all this data directly as you bike. This also has several negative side effects. First, keeping the screen on and well lit kills your battery quicker than Steve Sande goes through nachos at a Rockies game. Second, when your bike goes down, your iPhone goes crash, and there are few insurance policies generous enough to cover the case of "Oh, I stuck my multi-hundred-dollar-phone onto my bike handlebars" with good humor. Enter the Wahoo RFLKT. It's a Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) display that mounts to your bike and keeps your iPhone out of the way. It offers a way for your favorite apps to keep you supplied with data while you ride. Tuck your phone in your sleeve, your back pocket, or your pannier, and you're ready to go. I assumed the RFLKT would blow my cheap Avenir bike system out of the water. Turns out the reality is much more nuanced. Let me start with the hardware. The RFLKT is about a quarter of the size of an iPhone 5, so it's about double or more the size of most bike computers. It can be mounted to stem or handlebars. It has a low-energy screen, runs off a coin battery and in theory can be removed from that mount every six months or so to change that battery. (In practice, I completely stripped the pop-out section and could not, for the life of me, get that darned thing off my bike. I basically ended up destroying the back, using the manufacturer-supplied metal pry bar.) I first ran the RFLKT using the free Wahoo-supplied app. In my preliminary outing, I quickly realized how much I wanted to go back to my standard exercise app of choice, Runmeter. That's because of several things. First, none of the output selections really appealed to me. I like to see current speed, max speed, elapsed time, current time and I couldn't get that on one screen. Second, the app kept making rookie mistakes -- and I knew they were rookie mistakes because I've written GPS apps. These are things that Abvio's Runmeter has long long since figured out and fixed. By rookie mistake, let me give you an example: max speed. When working with GPS, you often lose sync. The quality of the data you receive can vary all over the place, from accuracy within miles to within tens of meters. You have to keep this in mind as you calculate the current speed. When you bike, you earn your max speed. You "walk" that bike up the big hill using your granny gear and you soar down like an eagle. (In my case, that eagle is fat, slow, and middle aged, but it's still an eagle, damnit.) Your max speed should reflect that. With the Wahoo software, I was doing 43 MPH while trudging along on the flat. I may be a persistent cyclist, but I am not a good one and there's no way I live in Lance Armstrong territory, even in my most addled cold medicine dreams. While Wahoo was delivering the right hardware, it wasn't giving me what I needed in terms of software. The second I returned from my initial test ride, I started googling to see if I could use Runmeter with the hardware. Fortunately, I was within days of Runmeter's releasing their new RFLKT support. I contacted Abvio and they set me up with their latest version, complete with RFLKT integration. This is just a $4.99 in-app purchase for Runmeter Pro (which is what I use), Cyclemeter, and Walkmeter owners. I should warn you that Runmeter is clearly an app written by engineers instead of artists, but it's one that has served me well for years and one I'm wildly enthusiastic about. It does everything I need in terms of tracking my exercise. With RFLKT, it let me select one of about a dozen pre-designed templates and customize it to show exactly the statistics I wanted to see. Sure, the menus to do this tweaking were a bit antidiluvian, but if you're a tech geek to start off with, you shouldn't have too much trouble picking and customizing one of the choices shown here. I had to reset the RFLKT (there are instructions right inside the settings of Runmeter on how to do this), enable Bluetooth Sensors, and upload my custom screens. It wasn't particularly painful, although it did take some time to figure my way through the menus. Using a RFLKT display isn't exactly like using a bike computer. You gain some things, you lose others. Take speed for example. Because of the GPS sync problem, your Runmeter speed will always lag unless you use an external sensor. That means you can be flying down that mountain and still register 7.7 MPH for a while. For speed and distance measures to be accurate, they need a wider range of sampling time. Side by side, my Avenir bike computer knew my speed changes as they happened. I found myself referring to that much more often for MPH versus the RFLKT monitor. You can, however, integrate other sensors into the Runmeter/RFLKT experience to fix that. If the Runmeter app can integrate with the sensor (they have posted a list here), you can add it to the RFLKT display -- this includes digital speed and cadence from Garmin and Bontrager, negating any issues of GPS sampling. You can also add heart monitors, giving you some extra performance feedback. Regardless of speed, the distance portion of the solution was wicked accurate. There's no need to measure your tire or estimate its pressure and multiply the circumference to calculate how far you've gone. Need to go 3.7 miles? The RFLKT/Runmeter combination gets exactly that. It's brilliant. Other measures like date and time and max speed are also super-precise. I have no intention of buying new sensors so I found that I liked having both displays -- traditional and RFLKT on my bike, even though I had to sacrifice one of my night-riding lights to fit it there. I have small girlygirl handlebars, which don't offer a lot of real estate. I also had to pad the RFLKT with not one but THREE layers to get it to fit the bar and stay firmly mounted. Speaking of displays, I really do wish the RFLKT offered a lip the way my Avenir does, giving a little shade and offering glare protection. The RFLKT is pretty obviously a 1st gen device, and I expect it to evolve to be a little cleaner, and less boxy over time, but even as is, I really fell in love with it. On Monday, I had a chance to sit down and talk with Steve Kusmer of Abvio, the man behind Runmeter to talk about RFLKT, its technology and how the app has integrated itself with display. The relationship is longstanding. "Wahoo has provided the technology we've used for over two years to access Bluetooth devices. With the RFLKT, Wahoo provided the hardware, a wonderful design point, and we built from there. We've been demoing the RFLKT since September and just now released support in our software." The RFLKT took a lot of its design influence from the Palm Pilot. "It had to run on a simple battery and last forever. The RFLKT works with a coin cell battery, can be alive for months if not a year, and powers down on idle, when nothing is being used. Plus, it uses BTLE with minimal bandwidth. It has buttons and it's programmable. It's very simple but effective." Kusmer talked about integrating the device into riding. "Once I put the RFLKT on my bike, it becomes a different experience. It's providing a lot of value that enhances my experience." Making Runmeter work with the device helped leverage the app's underlying features. "We've been spent more than four years deployed -- started back in 2008, and we have spent a lot of time on the underlying data architecture for storing and displaying application data. It's very hard to do this right. One spike of data and your Max Speed is toast. We went through a year or more of iterations on trying to figure out the heuristic so bad GPS data doesn't whack your data. "We love RFLKT because we could take our data architecture and match up with anything you want to do on RFLKT. We can display 148 different statistics -- from your current speed to your previous interval average heart rate --- all readily accessible during your rides on the RFLKT." What you get in the end is a terrific combination of software (from Abvio) and hardware (from Wahoo) and one that I was really happy using. You can pick up a RFLKT for $130 at Wahoo. Runmeter is free with a $4.99 in-app upgrade to Pro, and another $4.99 in-app upgrade for RFLKT support. Cyclemeter and Walkmeter are $4.99 each.
Wahoo Fitness' RFLKT iPhone bike computer now up for grabs at $130 (video)
Last September, Wahoo Fitness' RFLKT iPhone bike computer appeared on our radar poised for a December release, but it's only just gone up for sale. As of today, the iPhone 4S- and 5-compatible device is available for $130 from Wahoo's website and is shipping out to door steps. If you're in need of a refresher, the RFLKT (pronounced reflect, if you're curious) sits on a bicycle's handlebars and displays ride information slung to it over Bluetooth 4.0 from cycling apps running on a paired device. RFLKT is expected to support a number of apps in the future, but it currently plays nice with just two: its maker's own Cyclemeter application and the Wahoo Fitness App, which monitors everything from speed to heart rate, with the help of another peripheral, of course. Cyclists can also push buttons on the contraption's side to change tracks on their iDevice's playlist. Ready to infuse your ride with at-a-glance stats? Check out the source link and the video after the break.
Wahoo Balance Smartphone Scale: A first look and giveaway
From the brains at Wahoo Fitness, makers of a complete line of smartphone-enabled fitness devices, comes something new -- the Wahoo Balance Smartphone Scale (US$99.99). This scale was released today by Wahoo Fitness, and it's a new addition to the app-connected devices in the product lineup. We've looked at other Internet-connected scales before; for example, the Withings Wi-Fi Connected Scale ($159). Withings has also released the new Wireless Scale WS-30 ($99.95), which -- like the Wahoo Balance -- is designed to work over a Bluetooth connection and communicate with a smartphone/tablet app. Design The Wahoo Balance Scale is quite attractive. It's a slender slab of white glass marred by only a Wahoo logo and an LCD. The device is powered by a pair of AAA batteries; if history with some of the other scales is any indication, the batteries should last for quite some time. Compared to the Withings Wi-Fi Connected Scale, the Wahoo Balance is a snap to set up. The batteries are installed into easy-to-find location with an easily removable door, and there's no need to connect the scale to a computer through a USB cable to set up Wi-Fi connectivity. Here, you just open the box, and there's a piece of cardboard with a QR code printed on it. Scan that, and you get full details on how to set up the scale. Before you do anything with the Wahoo Balance, you'll need to download the free Wahoo Wellness app and also remove a tiny piece of plastic from the battery compartment that keeps the batteries from running down. Fire up the app, and it looks for the scale. Once it finds it, it establishes a link and you're ready to roll. The app then asks you to set up users for the scale by entering initials, a weight range, and a target range. The weight range lets the device "guess" who is standing on the scale on the assumption that if there are more users (i.e., spouse and kid), they will be in a different weight range. Wahoo Fitness notes that other apps will soon have the capability of pulling weight data from the Balance Scale. The company lists five other apps on its website that work with the Balance Scale. The scale works with iPhone 4S or newer and iPad third-generation and newer. Functionality As you can tell from the design section above, the Wahoo Balance is very easy to set up. As soon as you're set up, it's time to start tracking your weight. You'll want to put the Balance onto a flat, hard surface. My first weigh-in with the Balance was done on a flexible desk mat on top of a carpet, and showed my weight to be about twenty pounds less than it actually is. While that was a pleasant surprise, I knew it was off. Placing the Balance onto a tile floor brought my weight back to reality. The only sign you have that the Balance is connected to your phone is a tiny Bluetooth symbol. You don't need to have your iPhone or iPad near the scale when you weigh in -- it will remember your weight and transfer it when you launch the app. If the app isn't sure if one of the weights is yours, it will put it in a list that asks "Any of these yours?". Tap the weight (which is time and date stamped) to select it, and it will add the weight to your history. Note that the scale will also display your Body Mass Index, although I did not see where that information was stored in the app. Conclusion The new Wahoo Balance Smartphone Scale works flawlessly with the Wahoo Wellness iOS app, and it's an attractive addition to any workout room or bathroom. The easy setup means that you can open the box and be ready to go in a minute. Although it would make a perfect Christmas gift, you probably don't want to give this to a spouse or partner who is sensitive about his or her weight... Pros Low-profile, attractive design Runs off of two AAA batteries (included) Easy setup and pairing to newer iOS devices Can be synced to your iOS device at any time, and will hold up to 130 weight readings until synced Cons None to speak of Who is it for? Anyone who wants to start tracking their weight automatically with an app Giveaway TUAW and Wahoo Fitness want you to have one of the first Wahoo Balance Smartphone Scales! Here are the rules for the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before December 14, 2012 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected and will receive a Wahoo Balance Smartphone Scale valued at $99.99. Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
Wahoo's Balance Smartphone Scale ships today for $99
Remember that Bluetooth-enabled smart scale from Wahoo? The one with the companion iOS app to keep you motivated? It was meant to ship in the first week of December, but that timeframe turned out to be as accurate as weighing yourself while leaning against a wall. Nevertheless, the device isn't too far behind schedule: the company just let us know that it'll start shipping today and will definitely reach customers before the holidays. In the meantime, stay tuned for our hands-on with the rival WS-30 scale from Withings, which should go up on the site in a couple of eons around lunchtime. Correction: We initially reported they'd ship tomorrow, but we're told that devices are actually departing from warehouses on this very day.
Wahoo Fitness launches a Bluetooth smart scale for $99
With its new Balance Smartphone Scale, Wahoo Fitness clearly has designs on Withings' corner of the fitness gadget market. There's no phone dongles or shoe clips here -- simply step on the scale and your weight will be recorded and synced to the companion iOS app. The Balance can record up to 130 weigh-ins before needing to push the information to your iPhone or iPad via Bluetooth, which you can then share with the usual cloud services (should you need further reason to feel ashamed). The scale can manage the profiles of up to 16 different users and keep tabs on everyone's weight and BMI goals. Unlike its competition, there's no WiFi option, which means you can't sync your shame directly to the web. But, having to take the intermediary step of pulling out your phone presumably has helped the company shave the price down to $99. You can pre-order the Balance now for delivery the first week of December.
Wahoo Fitness introduces RFLKT: an iPhone-powered bike computer that lets handsets stay in pockets
Sure, you can turn your smartphone into a bike computer, but if you'd rather not put your pricey piece of tech anywhere near harm's way, Wahoo Fitness' RFLKT Bike Computer offers an alternative. Instead of packing all the brains, the device sits atop a bicycle's handlebar and displays data it's fed via Bluetooth 4.0 from cycling apps running on an iPhone 4S or 5. At launch, the hardware will support the firm's own Cyclemeter application and Wahoo Fitness App which can monitor ride information ranging from location to speed, in addition to heart rate with an additional accoutrement. Aspiring Alberto Contadors can page through data and even sift through tunes on their playlist with the help of buttons on the device's side. Gently tipping the scales at 2 ounces, the RFLKT measures up at 2.4- x 1.6 x 0.5-inches and boasts a one-year battery life on a single coin cell. Wahoo's gadget is slated for a December launch, but there's still no word on pricing. For more specifics, take a gander at the full press release below.
Engadget's back to school guide 2012: fun stuff!
Welcome to Engadget's back to school guide! The end of summer vacation isn't nearly as much fun as the weeks that come before, but a chance to update your tech tools likely helps to ease the pain. The good news? We're on to the fun stuff, the gear that isn't always practical but will definitely help you let off some steam after a tough mid-term. Be sure to keep checking back -- at the end of the month we'll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides -- and hit up the hub page right here! Laptops, phones and e-readers might be slick pieces of tech, but they'll all be used for business while you're buried in term papers during the semester. We're rounding up a set of gadgets meant purely to lift your spirits -- whether it's zapping fellow froshmates in a game of Lazer Tag or an electric motorbike to blast through the countryside on a long weekend. We've even got a few borderline sensible gadgets, such as a robot that will clean up after a wild party at the dorm. Jump past the break for our full collection of antidotes to the end-of-summer blues.
Wahoo KICKR Power Trainer lets iPhone cyclists feel the simulated burn (video)
Wahoo Fitness' BlueSC cycling sensor is well and good for iPhone owners that always have fair weather and friendly roads to ride. For everyone else, there's the company's just-unveiled KICKR Power Trainer, a bike training system that uses a Bluetooth 4.0 link with Apple's device (or an ANT+ bike computer) to come as close as possible to the real thing. The KICKR can change resistance as soon as third-party iOS apps like Kinomap Trainer and TrainerRoad give the word, either arbitrarily for a routine or to replicate that on-asphalt feel at up to a 15 percent hill grade. Wahoo claims the super flywheel and wheel-off design improve the sensation of the virtual road and keep the measurements for both power and speed accurate over the long haul. If there's anything holding back indoor athletes, it's the launch. The KICKR will only land in US basements and living rooms come November, and while we haven't been quoted a price, we'd wager that it's much more likely to fall in line with the cost of a regular bike trainer than a sensor like the BlueSC.
Wahoo Fitness BlueSC bike sensor ships for iPhone, fixie owners rejoice
Summer cycling is about to get a lot more... precise. The Wahoo Fitness BlueSC sensor we saw back in April is now shipping, giving iPhone 4S and new iPad owners a Bluetooth 4.0 tracker for a bike's pedal cadence, speed and long-term performance through a trio of sensors. As you take that victory ride down the Champs d'Élysées -- or more realistically, take that fixie bike down for a cappuccino -- data feeds either into Wahoo's own app or to alternatives from Cyclemeter and Strava Cycling. If Spandex is considered part of your daily routine, $60 is what it takes to get the BlueSC following your every pedal push.
Wahoo Fitness BlueSC cycling sensor preview
It wasn't all that long ago that Wahoo Fitness unveiled it's iPhone 4S friendly BlueHR heart monitor to let you track your workouts. Well, it turns out that Wahoo's been working on something new, and at a Bluetooth 4.0 event today in SF, we got a sneak peek at the company's next device, the BlueSC. It's a gadget aimed at would-be Alberto Contadors that wirelessly tracks the speed and pedaling cadence of cyclists via Wahoo's existing app. It's a three piece affair with a main hub that straps to your bike frame, one magnet that goes on your wheel, and a second that's placed on the pedal crank. The hub gets rotational info from each magnet as it swings past and then shoots your stats to your phone via Bluetooth, allowing you to track your performance as you chug up the Alpe d'Huez. (OK, maybe just around the neighborhood.) What you see above is a working prototype device, but Wahoo's being coy about further hardware details, pricing and availability -- though we can say that it's quite lightweight and can't weigh more than few grams. In the meantime, you can get a better look at your next training tool in the gallery below.
Wahoo Fitness' iPhone 4S-compatible Blue HR heart rate monitor ships in January for $80
Remember that Wahoo Fitness Bluetooth 4.0 heart rate monitor we showed you last month? Here she is again. The company's proper unveiling of the device will come at CES 2012, linking up exclusively (at first, anyway) with the iPhone 4S and other Bluetooth Smart Ready devices. By tapping into the Blue HR and harnessing your fitness app of choice (a nice touch, we must say), you'll have access to heart rate data, music playlists, phone, maps, etc., all in one place. It'll start shipping in January for $79.99, and we're told that the product will launch with "full support of several of Wahoo Fitness' app partners, who have been working with Wahoo's Open API to support the Blue HR." A few compatible apps have already filtered into the App Store, including MapMyFitness, RunKeeper, 321Run, Runmeter, and MotionX, and the company's expecting even more in 2012. Full PR is after the break, no galloping required.
Wahoo Fitness bringing $80 BlueHR heart-rate belt to iPhone 4S users
Remember that nondescript heart-rate monitoring belt we peeked back in June? Now you know the company that's tossing out purchase orders for 'em. Wahoo Fitness has just revealed that it'll soon be shipping its own branded version of the product -- dubbed BlueHR -- and at least for now, it'll work exclusively with the iPhone 4S. Why, you ask? The 4S just so happens to have Bluetooth 4.0, and this here belt happens to utilize that very protocol. In a brief demo vid (embedded after the break), the company demonstrates it beaming out vitals to a nearby iPhone, and we're told that it'll be "compatible with all the top running apps like Runkeeper [as well as with] Wahoo's own free app." We're guessing that the outfit will do everything it can to have this guy out by Christmastime, but for now, you can start pinching pennies in an effort to afford the looming $79.99 sticker.
