Not content in being number one in satellite navigation for the automobile, Garmin has just announced the Edge 500 for the bicycle.

The Edge 500 is one of those bike consoles that can do quite a lot more than your average bike console. Not only can it track the user’s GPS position, but it also gives the user readouts for velocity, distance, time, elevation, as well as climb and descent. It can also detect temperature, and will even change time zones automatically. Yes, a bike with an Edge 500 on it will call all other bikes wimps.

When connected to the Garmin heart rate monitor, the Edge 500 can detect changes in the user’s heart rate. This information can be used to detect the calories burned on the ride. As for the battery life, it is good for about 18 hours worth of “play-time”.

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The Airpro Cordless Compressor is a must have for your car tool box.

Whether you’re lookin’ to fix a flat tire or pump up a flat football, the AirPro Cordless Air Compressor is ideal because it’s both battery operated and handheld. Great for bikers or brawlers, it provides up to 120 PSi of pumping strength and connects via a 15 inch air hose with locking Schraeder connector.

What’s really beneficial, is that the AirPro comes with two super bright LED work lights built into it so that if you’re stuck on the interstate at night you can not only see what you’re doing, but the lights will help you hunt down any foreign objects which may be sticking out of your tire. In the handle is an easy to read pressure dial and the top contains a hidden compartment for placing a variety of nozzle adapters including a ball needle.

The Air Pro is powered by a 12 volt DC power pack and includes a wall charger. Cost is about $70 from Brookstone. http://www-chi.brookstone.com/auto-and-car-gadgets2_airpro-cordless-air-compressor.html

One this is for certain, with a handheld capability, it sure beats pumping up and down on a plunger hoping to get your bike tire fixed.

Hat Tip – The Red Ferret

What you seeing here is not a training bike for the Lightcycles of Tron, but a possible design for bicycles of the future. Designed by Chris Boardman, who is an Olympic cyclist, he has added a lot of tech to what was once a human-powered endeavor.

In fact, it appears that this future bike (which does not have a fancy name as yet) has a solar powered motor, so that uphill climb isn’t as hard as it used to be. It can also “play music”, and one can only assume that it has some sort of MP3 Player built-in, or something.

Did I mention a calorie counter? The bike has it, as well as a fingerprint recognition so that only the real rider can ride it. I suppose the theory is that a crook won’t steal a bike that he or she cannot ride. By the way, the whole bike is made of carbon fiber, and the tires are puncture-proof.

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Don’t have enough space in your home? The Hideaway Elliptical Trainer ought to be a staple for you then, as it not only helps you keep fit right in the comfort of your living room without taking up a whole lot of space once you’re done.

This is the compact elliptical trainer that provides the same lower leg motion as full-sized elliptical trainers but is small enough to slip under a bed or stow in a closet. The non-slip footpads provide stable footing as you move your feet forward or backward, forcing you to engage your abdominal muscles to keep balance–typical elliptical machines do not engage your abdominal muscles because they have handholds to provide balance. Tension can be adjusted using the dial. The LCD shows you the number of strides per minute, total number of strides, exercise time, and calories burned, scrolling through each statistic one at a time.

The LCD display will run on a LR44 battery, while the steel frame is able to support up to 250 lbs., so make sure you weight yourself before you step on this $129.95 compact exercise machine.

This next device is one that I want to purchase on sheer impulse alone. I mean, look at the guy in the photo, he’s truly the poster child of “footloose and fancy free”.

And yes, it is all because of the Powerbocks, those odd contraptions that he wears about his feet. They each contain a foot-plate with snow-board like bindings, and they are fastened just below the knee. The three-foot long spring is the real source of the bouncing power, and allows the user to release stored potential energy like a walking trampoline.

Designer Alexander Boeck was apparently inspired by kangaroos for this invention, as the Powerbocks allows the user to extend their own Achilles tendon to accomplish super-human jumps.

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There are some concept gadgets that seem too dreamy to ever be real. This one concept bike, which is an idea for mass transit renovation in central London called London Garden, is probably one of them.

This bike is not like any bike that I have ever seen before, as it also doubles as a generator. See the solar panels on the wheels? Using the sun’s rays and the pedaling of the cyclist, energy is created and stored within the bike itself.

This energy can later be used to turn the bike into an electric scooter or charge another vehicle like a bus. That’s right, part of this design is so cyclists can board specially made buses with their “bike batteries” and plug them into the bus to provide power.

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It’s not often that I get to review binoculars, and I’ve heard that Bushnell makes some of the best. I was pleased to try out a pair of the Spectator Sport Series 8 x 25 (Magnification and Objective Lens).

Fortunately, I had a chance to compare it with a pair of binoculars that I own, and the Bushnell did a much better job. I looked across a lake with a pair of Tasco binoculars, and, with a little bit of focusing, I could see on the other side. With the Bushnell Spectator binoculars, I saw the other side without focusing, and it was much clearer.

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For those of you that are just dying to capture those ultimate moments when you’re out on your bike or any other situation where you’re doing stunts, there is this USB Action Camera.  It can be strapped inside a car, onto a bike or even to the top of your helmet (which hopefully you’re wearing).  Then you can show off both your awesome and not so awesome moves.  You could even use it to capture moments when your friends are doing something particularly stupid.

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