We’ve seen touchscreen, and mapping computers have been around. Now we’ve seen the future.
Cerevellum, a South Carolina based company whose founder also helps design for Blue Competition Cycles has developed a cycling computer with an integrated video camera that displays the footage on the screen as you ride.
The Hindsight 60 is what’s shown here, and it also records footage from the rear facing camera, however it’s only recording eight :30 loops (4 minutes total) and starts rewriting the earliest segment once the memory is full. There’s an accelerometer in it that senses an impact and will stop recording just afterward, so you’ll have the video proof of what led up to any rearward accident.
The cycling computer has all the basic functions (speed, max/avg speed, ride time, distance, odometer, time) and uses GPS to determine speed, so there’s no separate speed sensor. You can, however add an ANT+ cadence sensor to show cadence, or it can pick up cadence from any power measuring cranks that also determine cadence.
If you have a power meter, it graphs power in real time, allowing you view your power output as a graph on the screen, giving you a better visual indication of how long you’re able to sustain a certain output and/or keep yourself at a certain threshold.
Check more photos and info, including other models in the works, after the break…
Company founder Evan Solida says “a split second glance is really all you need to know what’s coming up, you don’t find yourself staring at it.”
In our opinion, the other obvious use is in race situations where you need to keep tabs on your competition and prevent sneak attacks.
The unit will ship with the hardware to accept GPS mapping, and the navigation software will come about a year after the product launches. Evan says it’ll work just like the Garmin’s mapping system or MapMyRide allowing you to create and upload a route, then follow it along.
The Hindsight 60 will retail for $499 ($549 w/ HR strap) and hopefully start shipping in late spring 2011. The camera housing contains a blinky light and reflector, and the entire system weight is just 150g. Battery should last for 13 hours of continuous use on a single charge of it’s Li-ion battery, and the mounts will fit both handlebar sizes and aero and standard seatposts.
So what’s the hold up on bringing it to market? Funding. Evan started the company in 2009 and now has the design patent pending and ready to roll, he’s just looking for the money to go into production and bring it to market.
Once the 60’s in the wild, there will be a couple more models following close behind.
A Hindsight 30 would only have the rearview camera and screen without the cycling computer functions and retail for about half the price of the 60.
Hindsight 40 will have both a forward and rear facing camera, and it’ll display the rear camera on the handlebar screen and record the both camera’s footage for review later. Both cameras record in HD, and the final MSRP will be higher than the 60. It’ll come with a 4GB mini-SD card, but you can put a larger card in it. Evan said it won’t display the forward facing camera’s footage because it’s too likely that some time trialists or triathletes would try to use it to see where their going so they can stay in their aero tuck and the liability would just be too great. Of course, nothing’s stopping you from mounting the camera to your steerer tube except your own will to live.
Thanks to SpokeJunky for the tip!
