Hands-on with Everysight’s long-promised head-up-display sunglasses

BikeBiz first featured the Everysight head-up-display Raptor sunglasses in 2015. The Israeli company behind the glasses – a spin-off from a military HUD maker, natch – is now readying for a market launch and allowed journos to play with its tech last month at Bike PressCamp in Deer Valley, Utah. The embargo on the product has now lifted and it’s likely you’ll see a number of websites covering these sunglasses today.

Everysight was spun off from Israeli defence electronics company Elbit Systems, which makes head-up displays for fighter jets.

Raptor looks and feels like traditional cycling eyewear, but with hidden technology – riders can choose to view key metrics in their vision while they ride (one eye only); metrics such as speed, heart rate, and wattage. Perhaps the most impressive feature of the glasses is the in-vision turn by turn navigation with scrollable map.

Of note for urban warriors the glasses also feature a look-and-shoot camera that captures video or stills via voice commands. Get cut-up on a corner? Wake the on-board camera on your glasses with a shout and you’re shooting video of the perp.

All captured information will upload to Everysight’s yet-to-lanch smartphone app. Output what you saw on your ride to social media, or to a coach – and all overlaid with the key metrics of your choosing.

I took the glasses for a short ride in Deer Valley and can report that they work; in just a short time you start not to focus on the projected information, but know it’s there when you need it. As the projection – Everysight calls this "Beam technology – is ito one eye only it’s easy to focus away from it.

There’s an optional control unit for the handlebars, an HRM wrist strap, and the glasses pair to a smartphone for toggling through a ton of options.

Clarity of the display was bright and clear, even in direct sunlight. I’m not a huge user of power data or looking at onboard speed while riding but I can imagine those who fixate on such things (yes, Chris Froome, I’m thinking of you here) will love the chance to see the data upfront without having to look down at handlebars. 

I am, however, a mapping geek, and I was impressed by the Raptor’s turn by turn navigation. Toggle to the map feature and you work your way through even the toughest of mazes. The map images also adjusts position as you move your head. 

I’m a spectacle wearing and can confirm that the Raptors have plenty of space for prescription lenses (Everysight brought a bunch for us to try so no need to for me to switch to contact lenses).

FEATURES

• Grilamid TR-90 frames
• Interchangeable lenses
• 16 or 32GB internal storage
• ANT+, Bluetooth 2.0 and 4.0, Wifi, and micro-USB connectivity
• US GPS and Russian GLONASS navigation
• HD camera
• Rechargeable battery
• 95g / 3.35oz

Availability is "this year" said Everysight’s PR man, but none of the company folk at PressCamp would discuss the pricing. And they still won’t – not even ballpark figures – which is disappointing because it’s tough to give this a hit-or-miss ranking without knowing how much it’ll cost. It’s clever, it’s cute and it’s probably incredibly useful to some, but is it value-for-money? That’s still to be decided.