Ten awesome innovations from the Consumer Electronics Show that celebrate running, recovering, and fueling.
Amazfit, the brand behind smartwatches like the Amazfit GTR, announced a new product at CES 2020 this morning. The Amazfit HomeStudio, as it’s called, is a treadmill that comes with a smart mirror called the Smart Gym Hub.
The treadmill and the smart gym hub have been designed in partnership with fitness entertainment brand “STUDIO” and Amazfit says the product will bring comprehensive fitness experience right to consumers’ homes.
For a week in early January, Las Vegas becomes the hub for the latest and greatest technology at CES, the annual Consumer Electronics Show. The event showcases the coolest, most cutting-edge, and sometimes wackiest innovations in categories ranging from robotics and education to health, fitness, and wearable tech. Naturally, we’re drawn to those last three. The lineup for 2020 includes some gadgets and gear that have us hyped about what running could look like in the new decade. Check out ten of our favorite CES products for runners below.
Nurvv Smart Insoles
The hard reality for lifelong runners is that they’re bound to get injured at some point. But Nurvv has launched an insole that analyzes your gait through a sensitive network of 16 pressure points and beams that info to an app on your smartphone. The immersive live coaching feature then provides you with actionable changes to make while you’re running—like shortening your stride, increasing your cadence, or tweaking your footstrike—so you can prevent getting sidelined.
Soul Blade Earphones and the Beflex BioMech Engine
Like Nurvv, Beflex is looking to hack your biomechanics to reduce injuries—except it comes at it from the opposite end with a head-worn (rather than foot-based) tracking chip. Manufacturers can license the BioMech Engine to embed into any gear you wear on your noggin, like Soul’s Blade truly wireless earphones. Using A.I. from the integrated BioMech Engine, these buds keep tabs on over 20 metrics (like distance, step length, head angle, footstrike landing force, and even leg stiffness and symmetry) by detecting subtle nuances and changes in head motion. We haven’t sweated in a pair yet, but we like that they’re IPX7 waterproof (you should be able to run in the rain, just don’t take them for a swim) and come with a transparent audio mode to hear cars and fellow runners out on the road. Once connected to Soul’s smartphone app, you’ll get coaching cues on-the-run to tidy up your form and a comprehensive gait analysis at your fingertips. Soul hasn’t set a price or release date yet, but you can sign up on their priority list below for any updates.
MaxPro Portable Fitness Machine
If you ever sat down to dream up the “Gym of the Future,” you’d likely create something a lot like the MaxPro. What looks something like a hoverboard is actually a fully functional, all-in-one smart gym that can be packed up small enough to wear on your back. The machine is a single unit that unfolds to facilitate hundreds of exercises from a standard benchpress and pull ups to HIIT circuits and Tabata. For some exercises you’ll need to use the included door mount, but most movements can be performed by standing, kneeling, or leaning on the machine itself and turning the side dials to add up to 300 pounds of resistance. Plus, the Bluetooth-connected model will even track your workout, count your reps, and coach you through heavy sets like your own personal trainer.
SigmaFit Transforma X Bag
Here’s the bag a 2020 Mary Poppins would carry—only instead of unlimited capacity, it has seemingly unlimited features. Compact enough to bring as a carry-on, the Transforma X backpack uses an internal UV light that promises to disinfect stinky shoes and dirty laundry, a solar-powered charger for your phone, heated pockets for food and drinks, an integrated scale that displays the bag’s total weight when loaded up, and pockets specifically designed for virtually everything you might need for a weeks’ worth of traveling: anti-spill for toiletries, anti-scratch for your phone, anti-theft for valuables, padded for your laptop, and easy-access for cash and cards. If that sounds like a heavy load, SigmaFit claims that the bag disperses its weight across the hips and shoulders to feel lighter.
BodyEnergy Hand-Powered Treadmill
Every runner has heard “Use your arms!” in the late stages of a race. That’s because our legs aren’t doing all the work when we’re cranking—we get a lot more power from our arms than we realize. That’s the logic behind this hand-powered ’mill, which uses handles (like those found on an elliptical machine) to help move the belt along with your feet. Based on video demonstrations on BodyEnergy’s website, it looks like pumping the handles while moving might take some getting used to. However, the tradeoff is that the treadmill is safer, greener, and lower-maintenance than its motorized peers, and delivers a more demanding workout. And just because it’s motorless doesn’t mean you can’t hit high speeds; BodyEnergy’s research-backed belt can handle a five-minute mile pace. To add one of the hand-powered treadmills to your home gym, you’ll need to contact BE directly from the contact form on their website below.
Suunto 7 Smartwatch
It wouldn’t be CES (and hey, we wouldn’t be Runner’s World) if a super-techy GPS running smartwatch didn’t make it on this list. We like the 7 because it has nearly perfected all the standard functionality you’ll call on regularly—like quick-touch music controls and training insights—and adds the entire Google family of features including Assistant, Pay, Play, and Fit with its new Wear OS. While it won’t outlast the Suunto 9’s five-day battery life, you still get 12 hours in GPS mode and more than enough juice to scroll through vivid full-color maps, 70 activity functions, and all your smartphone notifications.
Withings ScanWatch
Withings’s ScanWatch is the closest we’ve gotten to putting a doc’s office on your wrist. Developed alongside sleep experts and cardiologists, the new hybrid watch is what Withings dubs the first of its kind to detect early signs of arrhythmia and sleep apnea with medical-grade tracking. In 30 seconds, users can take an electrocardiogram by holding three electrodes on the watch’s bezel and view their readings in real time. And while they sleep, a built-in optical sensor continuously monitors oxygen saturation within blood vessels to help flag when it dips, a potential sign of sleep apnea. The ScanWatch still has much of the activity tracking features you’ll need for workouts and beams all your data to the HealthMate app, where it’s easily sharable with your doctor at your next check-up. Currently, the watch is set to launch before June 2020 at $249 (38mm) and $299 (42mm), pending FDA-clearance.
JLab GO Air True Wireless Earbuds
Nope, JLab didn’t forget a zero on the price tag; these truly wireless buds really do cost $30. We’ve yet to test out a pair, so we can’t speak for performance or durability, but we love what the GO Air buds are promising. For less than your next 5K entry fee, you’ll get over 20 hours of playtime with the included charging case, sweat-resistant touch controls, a built-in microphone to take calls or chat with Siri, and three gel ear tips to dial in the fit.
1MORE True Wireless Headphones
This pair of flagship buds from 1MORE was named a CES 2020 Innovation Award honoree for their seriously robust sound. It’s the first truly wireless pair on the market to combine dual drivers and active noise-canceling tech that not only boosts the bass on your favorite running playlist but also claim to help block out a noisy treadmill motor. According to 1MORE, the buds get it done by using two microphones that neutralize sound over a broader range of frequencies. Right now, the buds are pending THX-certification; if approved, it means they’ll deliver the absolute highest-quality digital playback that conforms to professional industry standards.
SmartyPans Cookware
SmartyPans are exactly what they sound like: high-tech, non-stick cooking pans that could change the way you make a meal, whether you have the culinary skills to julienne and whip a meringue or barely pour a bowl of Cheerios. As you cook, the pan weighs your food, calculating its nutritional breakdown, even talking you through a recipe step-by-step with the connected smartphone app. And for those who’d rather experiment in the kitchen, the pans will record and format all the steps in your recipe as you go so you can recreate a successful dish later on.
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