Recon-Zeal’s Transcend Shows Us The Future of Goggles

We’ve had our eye on Canadian-based Recon Instruments for a while now, especially when they announced that they would collaborate with Zeal Optics to enter the winter sports goggle market with a revolutionary product estimated for the end of this year. We are absolutely blown away by what they have come up with. Not only does the Recon-Zeal Transcend goggle completely transform the reason we cover our eyes while we ride, it ushers in a completely new era in snowboarding technology.

Let’s get down to the facts.

Features

• World’s only fully-capable GPS goggle.
• Real-time speed, latitude/longitude, altitude, vertical distance traveled, total distance traveled feedback.
• Chronograph/stopwatch mode for timing runs, clock, and run counter.
• Temperature sensor
• Accelerometer
• Gyroscope
• 3-Dimensional lens
• USB-capable
• $399 for SPX version, $499 for SPPX

How does the goggle display all this info?

This is the part we love. The lens has a built-in micro-LCD display that sits right below your right eye (yes, serious black ops stuff). When you put the goggle on all the information is displayed in a user-friendly dashboard that appears to hang six-feet in front of you. Glove-friendly buttons on the outside of the lens help you navigate the full-color display and user menus. One menu will show you stuff like your current speed and altitude, another one will show you your fastest run alongside a few other stats, and somewhere along the way you can punch a button to drop a location marker you can view later on a map.

Transcend's Built-In Micro-LCD Display

The Lens

There are currently two models for this line of goggles. The Transcend SPPX is fitted with a polarized photochromic lens. That’s right, this lens will get darker or brighter adaptively depending on sunlight conditions. The brighter it is, the higher the rate of activation of the photochromic pigment and the darker the lens will get. In low-light situations the lens becomes much clearer as the pigment remains deactivated. The Transcend SPX comes fitted with your standard high-end polarized lens without all the fancy photochromic features.

Software

Recon Instruments developed a special program for this product that you comes with the goggles. Using the Recon HQ application, you can plug the goggle into your system and upload all your data. The software will pull-up actual maps of the resort you just rode, layout all your tracks on it, and give you all your stats. You can connect to the Recon Instruments website and share your info with an online community that’s becoming increasingly popular. Recon has also talked about the possibility of a software development community for more apps that can potentially be accessed directly from the goggles.

Recon HQ Application

This is one product we definitely cannot wait to get our hands on for the 2010-2011 riding season. Products like these can definitely help a rider get the most out of the relatively short-lived action on the slopes. Besides, who doesn’t want to feel like a commando while shredding some pow?

Check out the official product page here.

Thank You Whistler!

Well I’ve spent the past week or so kicking off the season at Whistler Blackcomb and I just got back this morning. What an awesome start to the season this has been so far, so I really hope everyone else has had the chance to kick of theirs. I just wanted to post this to let you know (and serve as a self reminder) that I’ll be posting a few new posts this week including a full review on Lib Tech’s latest Travis Rice C2 Power Banana board (and I think many will be happy to hear the results).

In the meantime enjoy this video while I get some much needed rest in an actual bed (for a change).