There’s no shortage of bike computers and mounts to have your smartphone take on a wide range of tasks while affixed to a bike’s handlebars. But both can be a bit overwhelming, or at least distracting, when trying to glean information at a glance.
Consisting of a ring of LEDs surrounding a central light, SmartHalo takes on a more symbol-driven approach to a range of bike-related tasks. By lighting up the different parts of its circular display’s edge, it can cue the rider to turn left, right or make a u-turn while a center dot turns on for a call notification. As soon as one starts pedaling, its companion app starts tracking a range of metrics, including time, distance, average speed and calories burned.
It also includes a headlight that comes on automatically when the rider starts pedaling at night and an alarm if someone tries messing with your ride (although not remotely since the SmartHalo has no cellular connectivity) and will let you know where you parked. CycleLabs claims three weeks of battery life with normal usage and includes tamper-proof screws to prevent the product from serving someone else’s unauthorized usage. The company seeks $50,649 by September 24th. Slated to arrive in May 2016, a SmartHalo can be had for $131, a discount off its expected $149 retail price.
CycleLabs has some similarity to TrekAce in that it provides navigation in an unobtrusive way, albeit one that makes more sense in a bicycle environment. There are a number of other nice features as well. And while the product’s interface is glanceable, its easy to see how the company could add more features via its app. SmartHalo is a useful bicycle add-on that helps keep its riders informed without overwhelming them.