For cyclists that ride on city streets, having constant environmental awareness while riding in traffic is essential for safety. Wearing earbuds to listen to music or take phone calls can be a safety hazard, due to the inability to potentially hear what is happening in the environment.
Coros, a company based in the Seattle area, has developed an innovative new helmet design that allows wearers to stream audio while also keeping earbuds out of the ears. The new LINX Smart Helmet utilizes bone conduction to keep the ears open when listening to music or any other audio.
Bone Conduction “Smart Helmet”
Within the LINX helmet are: bone conducting speakers, a microphone, and a battery and Bluetooth unit in the back of the unit.
The LINX system includes three components: the helmet, a remote that attaches to the bike’s handlebars, and a smartphone app.
The remote, which is attached to the handlebars, allows the user to change volume, skip songs, and accept or end calls. The companion app, available for Apple iOS or Android, connects your smartphone to your helmet and remote. With the app you can track your rides and ride history to include distance, time, average speed, max speed, calories burned, elevations, etc. You can set, save and share routes, set preferred waypoints, and share ride data to popular cycling apps in the future. The app also allows you to designate an emergency contact who’ll be notified in the event of a significant helmet impact, which would be triggered via the G-sensor built into the helmet.
Coros says the battery housed within the helmet will keep the Linx active for up to 12 hours.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUjmbQhlCBU
The company, which held a highly successful Kickstarter campaign in September of 2016, showed off the new LINX system at this year’s CES 2017 in Las Vegas.
The new helmets are now available on the company’s website for $199.
