new Triathlon Watch - mioEXP - Exclusive Picture & Info

mioEXP Triathlon Watch - from MIO Labs MIO Labs are entering the triathlon watch market later in 2020 with the mioEXP, which is a Firstbeat-enabled, Valencell-enabled multisports watch for endurance athletes. Background I'll keep this short. MIO originally used the first Phillips optical heart rate sensor on their great MIO Link wristband. This delivered BLE/ANT+ heart rate for the wrist. They also produced some similar variants like the MIO Velo bridging HRM, the caching Mio Fuse. and the Mio Alpha watch. All of these were ground-breaking at the time (2015). Mio announced 15m significant funding in 2016 but things went quiet on the product front until the release of the mioPOD that I reviewed earlier this year, with the underlying tech of this heart rate strap being targetted at the bicep and using Valencell technology - as used by Scosche, Suunto and others. Anyway, they're back. And they are more than welcome back as they introduce some innovative additions to their coaching plans next month and a heart-rate monitor designed for the ear in 2021 (mioAIR). The ear is a surprisingly great place to measure heart rate and Valencell specifically have a sensor for that purpose. Hearables are one of the supposedly-high growth sectors within wearable tech but remember that this tech has been delivered before eg the Jabra Sport Pulse (2015). mioEXP Triathlon Watch But you came here to read about their new triathlon watch, planned for later in 2020 [gallery type="thumbnails" size="medium" link="file" columns="4" ids="51029,51017,50991,51016"] Target Market Mio are saying that they are specifically targetting triathletes/endurance athletes. Appearance This looks to be a quality-looking, 4-buttoned metal sports watch. Similar, perhaps, to many devices in this category. One of the product images shows a strap like the Garmin Forerunner 235/735XT, which is fine, but the screen resolution and overall looks seem to be of a much higher 24x7 type quality than the 735XT ever offered. Firstbeat Metrics In addition to SLEEP METRICS, Mio plan to incorporate Firstbeat's TRAINING LOAD, Recovery and Training Intensity metrics. They also mysteriously mentioned body imaging. No doubt the obligatory link to Training Peaks and STRAVA will also be included. Mio has stated that their new watch will have an onboard barometer, gyroscope/accelerometer, GPS and oHR (Valencell) and in more detail, they have listed this feature-set: Hi-Res AMOLED Screen, Corning Gorilla Glass, oHR, Haptic alerts (vibrations), glanceable intensity alerts (?), GPS (likely Sony), Barometer, VO2max (FB), Training Effect (FB), distance, speed, pace, calories (FB?), body readiness (FB?), 7-day battery, 24hour battery for GPS+HR, Waterproof to 50m (5ATM), ANT+, BT4.2, NFC. Source: ma@mio, via the5krunner Opinion Where do I start? The serious triathlon market is a quasi-monopoly, occupied firmly by Garmin (735XT/745/F5/5+/6/920XT/935/945). There is little point in a start-up-like company targetting this end of the market as they will fail to even get a product as good as Polar's triathlon offerings (Vantage V & M, which are good, IMHO). Anything above $300/GBP250ish will be fraught with difficulty. A look at how Coros's price points have crept up is a good way to see what some success at lower prices makes companies think their products are worth - and that's fine until they come up against the reality of superior-featured Garmins. However, there may well be some scope in the recreational triathlete/endurance athlete market for a more cost-focused product to press some profitable consumer buttons and perform reasonably well. Coros has the potential to do that, for example, 'all' they have to do is get the right price/feature balance. Mio Labs also has the potential to do well and its clever use of Firstbeat functionality inside a sweet-looking and well-performing triathlon watch could work, particularly one that has buttons rather than the 'crown' format offered by Coros. Let's hope that Mio has done their research to find out what most recreational athletes really want and need for their training and racing. Those 'wants' and 'needs' are, unfortunately, 'many' and 'varied'. I wish them luck and REALLY look forward to testing the mioEXP...I'm genuinely excited about this.

new Triathlon Watch – mioEXP – Exclusive Picture & Info

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