Over the years, I have been, first increasingly, then decreasingly, weighed down on my daily runs. A simple Ironman watch morphed into the first GPS watch, complete with a transmitter strapped to my arm, and then a chest strap for heart rate monitoring was added to the mix. Since then devices have become smaller and functionality has been rolled together. Now iriver announces ON, which takes that concept another step.
The ON is an exercise headset that does a bit more than just let you listen to your tunes to pass the miles away. "Powered by PerformTek sensor technology, the iriver ON accurately monitors more real-time fitness data from a single source than any other personal monitor, including heart rate, distance, speed, VO2 max (aerobic fitness level) and calories burned", the announcement explains.
The monitoring is handled through iriver's partnership with Valencell PerformTek. "Now instead of gearing up with a body full of inconvenient monitoring devices to get all this real time data, a sleek headset replaces them all, and incorporating Valencell’s PerformTek sensor technology, betters them all in accuracy and performance", states iriver CEO Henry Park.
The design is sleek, but still a bit cumbersome looking -- a three-quarters collar around your neck, with earbuds coming up from it. The whole thing links with your Android or iPhone via Bluetooth and stores data there, as well as using the device as its music source. The ON is on sale now with a MSRP of $199.99.
Image Credit: Warren Goldswain / Shutterstock