First teased at Vegas' Consumer Electronics Show last year, New Balance just unveiled its smartwatch, RunIQ, a collaboration with Intel, Google and Strava "designed for runners by runners," at the 2017 show.
The watch and its related products are the result of New Balance Digital Sport, a division formed in 2015 to bridge the gap between consumers and technologies designed to enhance their athletic performance.
“RunIQ represents our commitment to helping athletes achieve unparalleled fitness experiences,” said Rob DeMartini, president and CEO of New Balance. “RunIQ combines our expertise in running with the best engineering advances through breakthrough collaborations with some of the biggest players in the technological industry.”
The watch features built-in GPS for course tracking, pace and distance measurement and a heart rate feature that monitors your vitals in real time. Putting their money where their mouth is, the battery has some serious lasting power, too – up to 24 hours with standard use or about 5 hours of continuous juice with GPS and heart rate monitoring – ideal for those pounding the pavement at marathon distances.
Runners can also sync, store and bump tunes from Google Play Music from their Android devices, a nice feature considering the announcement of their wireless PaceIQ headphones, which are also new this year. Furthermore, Android users can stay abreast of smartphone notifications when connected to Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
RunIQ is supplemented by New Balance Global Run Club, a social network for athletes powered by Strava that allows runners to "connect with each other, track performance, share their favorite routes and celebrate accomplishments."
RunIQ is available for pre-order at newbalance.com now and will launch at retail for $299.99 beginning Feb 1. PaceIQ will retail at the same time for $109.99.
Check out some images, below:
Images provided.
