The working group will work to advance the use and abilities of Bluetooth in sports and fitness devices. In particular, the group will work with the new generation, Bluetooth v4.0, a low energy technology that gives devices connectivity without using too much battery life.

Mosoro, one of the working group’s first members, is working on a Bluetooth Smart sensor that connects to a golf club to record and send data on a player’s golf swing, which is sent to a smartphone for real-time feedback. Devices that serve as an example for the group are the Motorola MOTOACTV fitness watch and Nike+ FielBand, a wristband that uses Bluetooth to sync with a user’s smartphone to track and analyze physical activity.

Bluetooth SIG is accepting new members to the Sports and Fitness Working Group. Registration for the Sports and Fitness Working Group and Sports and Fitness Bluetooth Ecosystem Team (BET) is open to Bluetooth SIG Associate and Promoter members.

Bluetooth SIG Official Website

The Basis band is able to continuously track your heart rate from its wristwatch. In the past watch-only heart rate monitors required you to touch two buttons simultaneously to get a pulse. To get a continuous reading, other heart rate monitors require you wear a chest strap that sends data via a wireless signal to a wristwatch or receiver. An optical engine tracks heart rate by directing light into the skin to observe blood flow.

Day and night, sensors in the watch track activity beyond heart rate. Two heat sensors track skin and ambient temperature changes. A 3-axis accelerometer records movement and activity. Galvanic skin response sensors track the intensity of activity by measuring sweat levels.

In addition to tracking heart rate, the Basis B1 band measures activity such as walking and running. Basis uses sensors to monitor your heart rate, calculate calories burned, determine your physical activity and even gauge your sleep patterns. Though you have to wear the watch all night in order to track your sleep. All the data are compiled and uploaded to a website, where you can review your progress. The Basis awards points for activity, so you have a clear goal to reach each week.

The Basis B1 Band is almost ready for release. Basis will sell the device for $199 and is taking preorders on its website.

Basis Science Official Website

Pear Sports just launched Square One, a training device that includes a Square One device, headphones, heart rate sensor and foot pod. These pieces work together to keep you on track in training. The Square One device is the brains behind the system, and has a slot for an iPod Shuffle to plug in. While you can use the controls on the Shuffle, the Square One also has play, forward, backward and stop/pause controls that let you control the music and the workout program. The device has a clip on the back so you can secure it to clothing.

Headphones that come with the Pear device have an earlock system to stay in place. Buttons on the ear buds let you get on-demand workout stats including heart rate, time, pace, distance and calories. The earbuds come with three sizes of silicon ear pieces so you can get a good fit, and they are sweat and splash-proof.

The wireless heart rate monitor strap is a soft, washable strap. It’s ANT+ and is compatible with other ANT+ devices. A foot pod snaps into place on a shoelace. It is also ANT+ compatible and works with similar devices.

Pear Square One comes up with training programs for you with goals including getting started, lose weight, get fit, and “Ready, Set…Race!” You can upload your workouts to a website, which helps you view your progress.

The Pear Square One sells for $249.99. This kit includes the device, earbud headphones with extra silicon earpieces, a heart rate sensor strap, shoe pod, USB cable and nylon bag. It does not include an iPod Shuffle, which sells for around $50.

Pear Sports Official Website

For runners there is the Switch, which is packed with innovative features including nine customizable sport profiles, easy to read high-resolution display, eight hours of battery life, a high sensitivity GPS receiver, 50-meter water resistance, and compatibility with ANT+ sensors. The Switch Up offers the same features as the Switch plus additional features designed for true multisport athletes, including a barometric altimeter for precise elevation data, a thermometer to capture outside temperature, vibration alerts, and an innovative quick release mounting system to easily transition between sports. The Switch series will launch this spring.

Magellan Enters The Fitness Market For the First Time With Switch and Switch Up

LAS VEGAS ­ – ­ Magellan GPS announced to today the launch of its first two products in its new fitness line: Switch and Switch Up. Designed to meet the needs of runners, cyclists, and multisport athletes, the new Switch Series is a powerful, adaptable, and customizable family of crossover GPS watches that will integrate seamlessly with third party sites.

“We are very excited to launch our new fitness line,” said Clark Weber, senior director of fitness products at Magellan. “We have combined Magellan’s heritage in GPS technology, deep consumer insights, and the power of third party sites to offer a fresh perspective in the fitness category.”

The Switch is a powerful fitness training device packed with innovative features that include nine customizable sport profiles, easy to read high resolution display, eight hours of battery life, a high sensitivity GPS receiver, 50 meter water resistance, and compatibility with ANT+TM sensors. Designed primarily for runners, it is also a crossover watch that is convertible for multisport needs.

The Switch Up has the same powerful features as the Switch but also boasts a barometric altimeter for precise elevation data, a thermometer to monitor and capture outside temperature, vibration alerts for notifications in louder environments, and an innovative quick release mounting system to easily transition between sports. Designed for true multisport athletes, the Switch Up is the first of its kind in the fitness category.

“We are cyclists, runners, and multisport athletes. We are the end consumer,” said Mike Maxson, senior product and marketing manager at Magellan. “If you spend a lot of time training, your devices need to be both powerful and adaptable. Features like our quick release mounting system and customizable sport profiles were born from this insight.”

The Switch Series breaks away from the pack with innovative features, including Activity Pacer, which not only shows runners if they’re on target with their goal, but provides specific targets to attain the desired result. For endurance athletes, Magellan offers an optional Battery Pack Extender that provides 16 hours of additional battery life, for a total of 24 hours.

“The Switch series has been designed for easy use out of the box without making compromises for hardcore athletes,” adds Maxson. “Customers can create up to nine different activity profiles based on their preferences. With a few clicks, you can switch from road running to trail running mode with different screens, data fields and settings best suited for your activity.”

Magellan will make it easy for customers to upload, view and store activities at a new Magellan fitness website launching in Spring 2012. This fitness hub is also ideal for customers looking for an online source to store and automatically distribute activities to their favorite social networks and fitness websites. For those who prefer to upload directly to their favorite fitness site, Magellan Switch devices are compatible with MapMyFitness, TrainingPeaks, Strava, and more. In addition, Magellan will be releasing an API that allows any third party website or application to access activity data with customer permission.

The Magellan GPS Switch series will be available Spring 2012. The Switch has an MSRP of $249.99 or $299.99 with Heart Rate Monitor; the Switch Up with a Multisport Mounting Kit has an MSRP of $299.99 or $349.99 with a Multisport Mounting Kit and Heart Rate Monitor.

The Switch Series will be on display at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), South 2 ground floor – MP25539, as well as Outdoor Retailer Winter Market, January 19-22, 2012 in Salt Lake City, Utah. For more information go to www.magellangps.com/switch.

About MiTAC Digital Corporation
MiTAC Digital Corp. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MiTAC International Corporation and promotes and sells products and services under the Magellan brand name. Magellan assists people to travel, work and play with leading portable navigation and positioning solutions across multiple consumer markets. Recognized as an industry innovator, the company is the producer of the award-winning Magellan RoadMate series portable car navigation, Outdoor and Mobile navigation devices. MiTAC Digital Corp. is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXCtX07pn8w

MOTOACTV Official Website

Click image for a closer view

The fitness monitor market seems to be growing as Garmin announced the upcoming release of its FR70 fitness watch, which can tracks users’ time, heart rate, calories burned and when combined with one of Garmin’s accessories even track pace and speed. The FR70 is available in both a men’s and women’s version.

“A lightweight, comfortable and stylish watch that helps users accomplish their goals is what the FR70 is all about,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “Wear it as an every day time piece and keep it on during walks, runs or fitness routines to monitor these activities and progress.”

The device is meant for indoor and outdoor training, and at the heart of its success is FR70′s wireless ANT+ technology, which allows FR70 to connect to other ANT+ compatible devices, such as the included heart rate monitor, optional foot pod, speed and cadence sensor or even ANT+ compatible fitness equipment like treadmills, spin bikes, elliptical trainers and more.

Additionally, when the FR70 is paired with the optional wireless foot pod, it tracks users’ distance, speed and run cadence effortlessly, both indoors and out. Using advanced accelerometer technology, the foot pod collects and sends precise data about runners’ movements, gathering distance and speed data. Users who would prefer to trade their running shoes for a bicycle can pair the FR70 with an optional speed/cadence sensor. With this sensor the FR70 tracks the speed and distance of users’ cycling workouts. The wireless speed/cadence sensor attaches securely to cyclists’ bikes and measures pedaling cadence and wheel speed as they ride. It can even be used to train indoors on a cycling-trainer because the sensor attaches to the rear wheel.

The FR70 can be a health monitor as well, where users can pair it with the Tanita BC-1000 body-composition platform. Once paired, it can track weight, body fat, body water and six other measurements stored directly on the FR70, then can be automatically sent to Garmin Connect  when in range of a user’s computer. Here users can quickly and easily log their workouts, track their totals, set goals, share workouts with friends and family and participate in an online fitness community of more than 70 million activities around the world. Garmin Connect displays metrics such as time, distance, pace, and heart rate. This information is shown through charts, illustrations, and reports.

The new FR70 men’s and women’s devices are expected to be available in November 2011. The FR70 has a suggested retail price of $129.99. FR70 is the latest solution from Garmin’s expanding fitness segment, which focuses on developing technologies and innovations to enhance users’ lives and promotes healthy and active lifestyles.  Whether it’s running, cycling, or other athletic pursuits, Garmin fitness devices are becoming essential tools for athletes both amateur and elite.  This sounds like one to watch for.

Garmin Official Website
Garmin Connect

While Garmin already makes those devices, it would appear that Garmin could be looking to create a fully integrated system that somehow utilizes the iPhone. From the images this adapter could be compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and maybe even the iPhone 4S.

[Via Engadget: Garmin ANT+ adapter for iPhone hits the FCC]

Polar also recently announced that the Heart Rate Watch Company, a leading national online fitness electronics retailer, has crowned the Polar FT4 as its top heart rate monitor under $100 for 2011. Citing unique features and fit as the primary reasons for the award the company cited Polar’s four decade commitment to working with personal trainers, gyms and athletes as primary factors for the award.

(Video after the jump)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zryNaCmh2Y

Style and functionality are coming together, and this is notable with the new red RCX5, which makes a fashion-forward statement for swimming, cycling, or running. Unveiled earlier this year, the RCX5 is aimed at endurance athletes who want precise coaching to perfect their training. It was released earlier this year in black and is now available in red.

The new Fitness & Cross-training product colors are available through authorized Polar retailers and health club partners, and will be available online later this year. The FT1 is available for a suggested retail price of $69.95. The FT2 is available for a suggested retail price of $89.95. The FT4 is available for a suggested retail price of $99.95. The RCX5 will be available in the new red color design later this fall for a suggested retail price of $349.95 (with additional sport-specific bundlings).

“With Polar, people can get easy guidance while training based on personal heart rate data, pushing themselves effectively toward optimal fitness,” explained Tony Bass, Vice President of Sales, Polar USA. “Now, in addition to helping users train smarter and get fitter, faster, the new colors enable users to up their style quotient as well.”

In October Polar is bringing two exciting new colors into the FT4 family – purple and pink to the women and also black with orange for the guys. If all these brand-new styles are too racy for you then you can definitely return for the original silver and black for guys in addition to bronze for women.

“The foregoing was a relatively easy decision since there are actually no other fitness watches that supply this level of features for under $100,” said Rusty Squire , President of the Heart Rate Watch Company. Patented heart detecting fabric technology used in the strap significantly increases the comfort, heart touch technology permits end users to change display screens without the need of ever pushing buttons and absolutely no other company will be as effectively incorporated with the gym equipment producers.

Style and affordable, what’s not to like about the Polar FT4.

Polar Official Website

Want to monitor your pulse but want to ditch the bulky chest strap? Scosche Industries has released its myTREAK pulse monitor and app for for iPhone and iPod touch. The Scosche myTREK, an International CES Innovations 2011 Design and Engineering Awards Honoree, allows users track their pulse, calories burned, distance, speed, pace, store past workouts and much more.

“At 24 Hour Fitness, we know that fitness tools can be very useful in helping people achieve their goals; whether it’s to lose weight, run a faster marathon or to get healthier,” said Bill Quinn, senior vice president of merchandising, 24 Hour Fitness. “We are excited to be a Scosche launch partner for the new myTREK pulse monitor and offer our members another option to support them with their fitness journey.”

The Scosche myTREK, which utilizes an arm-strap design that fits over the muscular portion of the user’s forearm, can be paired with an iPhone or iPod touch, and after downloading the app, users are ready to go and users can begin tracking their pulse. The myTREK utilizes two LEDs combined with a photo sensor to detect minute changes in the user’s blood pressure to accurately measure pulse. A built-in accelerometer allows the myTREK to adjust for movement during exercise from the user’s heartbeat allowing for an extremely accurate measurement of pulse and calories burned.

Workouts can be personalized where users can target training zone and type of workout, while a male or female voice provides progress in real time letting users know how close they are to accomplishing their goals or if they have moved outside their desired target heart rate zone. The myTREK’s features a rechargable lithium ion battery that provides five hours of continuous workout time.

The myTREK is available now for $129.00 at select retailers, and it comes with small, medium and large sized armbands to ensure the perfect fit. Time to get TREKin’

Scosche myTREK Official Website
[Via Engadget: Scosche myTrek sends workout vitals to your iPhone, starts shipping now for $130]

But now French-based VEA is rolling out a fitness watch that could make you want to ditch the mobile phone when you workout. The VEA Sportive Mobile Watch actually features a built-in MP3 player, pulse rate monitor, camera and even basic phone functionality. It is Bluetooth compatible, offers 8GB of storage and has an SOS button should you need to call for help.

However, you’ll have to run to Europe to get one. It will be released later this month for €399, but that price will reportedly run up to €499 in September, so if you’re a gadget connoisseur you might want to act now.

VEA Digital Official Website
[Via Engadget: VEA's Sportive mobile watch is for those with money, calories to burn]

The GoTality app essentially works with an ear clip that can track the distance a user runs or steps taken, while also tracking biometric data including heart rate, basal metabolic rate and even Body Mass Index (BMI). Of course what’s a heart rate monitor that can’t keep track of calories burned? This one will do that can even calculate fitness zone and help users determine the ideal work out levels.

Users can set fitness goals, and exercise programs that are tailored to specific needs, and with an iPhone there is even GPS provided to complement the built-in pedometer so you can see where you went and track your progress on a map. Did we say it is time to get GoTality?

GoTality Official Website

The Polar WearLink+ will work with mobile training applications including RunKeeper, Sports Tracker and Endomond, and get precise data while working out. After each training session, users can share workout data and examine their heart rate and training intensity in greater detail through the web services of their application provider.

The WearLink+ transmitter with Bluetooth is exclusively for mobile smartphone use and cannot be used with Polar training computers. It is available online as an accessory set through shoppolar.com and through authorized application provider websites. Android and Symbian smartphone users may download compatible mobile training applications directly from their respective websites. For a list of compatible applications, please visit the Polar WearLink+ with Bluetooth website.

“Smartphone growth continues to skyrocket, with major research firms such as Gartner Group reporting over 100 million devices sold worldwide in the first quarter of this year alone,” said Jeff Padovan, President of Polar USA. “But what’s even more important is the parallel growth in application use and rising popularity of mobile training applications. With the new WearLink+ transmitter with Bluetooth, our widely-acclaimed monitoring technology brings highly accurate heart rate training information to those who are using mobile apps.”

The WearLink+ accessory is available now for $79.95 and it seems like the “missing link” in making a smartphone part of a smart workout.

Polar USA Official Website

But now The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has announced the finalization of two new developer specifications for connected vital sign monitoring devices that will make use of the short range wireless technology. The specs call first for a health thermometer profile, and more importantly for me, a heart rate profile

Both of these will be part of the upcoming Bluetooth 4.0 release, and will feature Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) as well as increased transfer speeds. SIG has also noted that Bluetooth could enable connectivity in medical device technology that provide vital sign monitoring and interaction with wireless devices, including Bluetooth 4.0-enabled smartphone.

Recently Dayton Industrial unveiled a heart-rate monitor that will leverage Bluetooth 4.0, and this low energy heart rate chest belt features energy efficiency technology that the company claims will enable it to run an average of 1.5 years on a single coin cell. That’s a real plus, because while I might not be so heartless I am pretty cheap!

Dayton Industrial Official Website
Bluetooth SIG