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back to article Zeal Optics Transcend GPS goggles

Being more a mountaineer than a skier I tend to the view that snowboarders and their ilk are a pretty self-obsessed bunch. Winter-sports eyewear maker Zeal appears to take a similar view, given its new Transcend goggles have GPS built-in to let snowboarders and skiers show anyone who is interested where they have been and how …

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  1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    They could be useful for a paraglider pilot

    but I'd want to make sure they do everything I'd need before I shelled out half the cost of a new wing on them!

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  2. CraPo
    Thumb Up

    And wingsuiting skydivers also

    http://twitpic.com/3e06a2

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  3. SkippyBing

    Navigation

    Does it have any form of waypoint storage so you can use it to guide you around a large ski resort, or even point you to civilisation?

    Memories of a complete white out, followed by about three hours stumbling down the wrong bit of the hill to the bar are coming back to haunt me, if only because being the wrong bit of hill the bar wasn't there...

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  4. Graham Bartlett

    Not really for pilots

    Flyers will already have instruments, and they need to do a lot more than just ground speed. And £450 for this?! 'kin'ell! For that kind of price you're looking at a complete new cheapish of boots *and* board/skis, and I suspect that even boarders aren't *that* keen on splashing cash.

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    1. laird cummings
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      Ultralights

      Ultralight and parafoil aircraft don't have much at all in the way of avionics. Ditto for hang gliders. Balloonists probably would use much more capable hand-held units, but sky divers would like find a sue for them, and maybe mushers, too.

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  5. mamsey
    Unhappy

    I'd love a pair...

    but at that price and based on the number of pairs of goggle of lost over the years I think £45 quid is going to have to be the price point.

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    1. Robert Hill
      Reply Icon

      +1

      Nice idea, but as said above just WAY too expensive for the abuse and short lifespan of most ski goggles. And frankly, at THAT price I don't want "an anti-fog coating", I want dual-pane sealed lenses like Uvex and Oakley offer that are FOG-FREE (almost). I can put up with single-pane coated lenses in a set of Bolles at £55, but NOT at that price. (And at that price, I want my Vermillion lenses, not junky orange!)

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  6. Chris Hance
    Pint

    I'm shocked!

    I thought no El Reg staff objected to getting plastered, particularly when getting paid for it. I guess the beer might get too cold on the slopes, but I don't see what trees have to do with it.

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  7. Steve 13
    Thumb Down

    Indeed

    I consider myself to have fairly deep pockets, but I just laughed when I read about these.

    If I for some reason needed to log where I'd been I'm sure there are cheaper options available, albeit not integrated into goggles.

    I'm puzzled about the review saying "perfect tint" though, perfect for what, blue bird, hazy, flat, whiteout? It can't be perfect for all conditions, it's always a compromise.

    I bought some reactive goggles in the end, about 1/10th the price, and theoretically will be appropriately tinted in more conditions, although I've got 4 more weeks before I can try them out and confirm that.

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  8. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse
    Happy

    Off skiing in the New Year...

    Happy to mitigate the risks to your own personage and take these off your hands to give them a proper workout :-)

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  9. Ru
    WTF?

    £450?

    Its a nice bit of kit, but I fail to see what they're doing to justify the cost. Seems to be it would feel expensive at £250, given what's involved.

    I'd have been a lot more impressed if you could combine it with, say, openpistemap...

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    1. Tempest
      Reply Icon
      Unhappy

      The target market is ...

      for people who buy iThings - show more than substance.

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  10. speccy

    tester

    I'd quite happily test these in the Alps when I'm away in January!

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  11. JaitcH
    Pint

    Ideal for long distance cross-country skiers

    Cross country skiers will find these useful, particularly the hardy souls who don't follow the beaten trail,

    Might even prove useful for Canadians living in the north when they check their trap lines.

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  12. Sampler

    Cyclist model next please

    Having regularly used SportyPal on my winmo and now android handsets I'd love a pair of cycling glasses (with interchangeable frames for different light conditions) that replicated that tech and gave a heads up speed.

    HUD navigation would be handy too - always taking wrong turns on long trips, for the next release obviously ;)

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  13. Stephen 10

    I want a motorcycle helmet with this...

    Though a heads-up would be a definite necessity there. Can't be long until it's available hopefully.

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  14. Graham Bartlett

    @JaitcH

    Maybe not, bcos as I read the article they only record your position and don't actually tell you where you are.

    @Laird, ultralights don't have much instrumentation, but what they have is essential. Gliders need a vario to say whether you're going up or down, and GPS isn't sensitive enough to track up/down accurately. And all aircraft need an altimeter which *always* works off air pressure so using a GPS could result in you sharing airspace with a 747 on approach. Powered aircraft may want to know speed too, but that's *always* airspeed, so again a GPS ain't much use.

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