January 10, 2012, At the PEPCOM event that accompanied CES and also at the main show support for sports and activities with electronics was growing. While the medical pavilion housed most of the biometric measurement for these sports, under the basis of exercise management, these other areas focused on media capture and delivery.

For the media capture side, Liquid Image Company was showing their sports goggles for snow, diving and off-road activities. Unlike other camera systems that are mounted on helmets, their system is a midpoint between the two eye POV camera that shows what the use saw. The high def camera (up to 12MP and 1080p) eliminate the stabilization problem of the helmet based camera pointing to the side while the user is looking forward. The units are designed to fit in the same form factor as a traditional goggle, so they are helmet compatible.

Liquid Image High Res POV Camera Snow Goggles

The diving unit is supplemented by two optional side lights that can be attached to the goggles for lighting sea life and surroundings without requiring the diver to get involved with the lighting position. M&E Tech will be doing a detailed review of one of the units in the near future.

Liquid Image 1080p/12MP Dive Mask

 

On the audio side there were two unique products - YurBuds jogging headsets and Aftershokz bone conduction headsets. The YurBuds product is more of an extreme athletes product with a focus on staying in your ear with activity. The “twist lock” fit feature holds the earpiece fairly well for those that it fits. For most people the medium and large earcaps are OK, for some on the smaller size or younger athletes there may be some challenges getting a fit.

As the units are designed for activity, they do not block all the external noise, this way the wearer is aware of their environment. When used in phone mode, with the sealed mic and waterproof control switch, calls that have marginal call quality are very hard to hear with the ambient background noise. The microphone does a good job of blocking wire and movement noise, however it does pick up quite a bit a wind noise. For most applications, where the people will stop the activity to make a clear call, it is fine, for the calls that are concurrent with heavy movement the background noise should be a given. The unit tested was the Ironman series and it was tested on both iPad/iPhone products and Android phones/tablets.

 

Aftershockz Bone Conduction Headphones

The other headset technology we checked out was the bone conduction technology in the AfterShokz headsets. The units are available in three models - sports, mobile and gaming. The sports are audio playback only, and then the mobile and gaming include in-line microphones. The headphones address the need for athletes to hear the environment they are in, while also being immersed in their own routine and environment. The design of the product passes the audio content through known military and industrial technologies for bone conduction, however it is done in a very comfortable and functional design.

 

One of the major challenges for any athletic use product is keeping the product in place during activity. The surprisingly lightweight and sturdy device is very comfortable to use for extended periods, works well in providing the clear content while in areas where there is background noise. The audio fidelity surpasses most of the in-ear models that are designed with “ambient sound” access. The unit has a volume control of the powered unit can easily be connected into an arm band or clipped to the users clothing without interference to thier range of motion. To simplify the charging of the unit, the 3.5mm mini-plug connects to a USB converter unit for charging and use with a computer.

These units are all available in Q1 of 2012.