Keeping your eyes on the road is easy with the Engo 2 AR sunglasses - Ars Technica

These augmented reality sunglasses work with Apple, Android, and Garmin

When it comes to working out, I'm a data nerd. A Google spreadsheet contains every bike ride I've been on for the past four years, tracking data points ranging from average moving speed to normalized power output. Sometimes I ride just for fun—road cycling is one of my favorite activities, period—so I'm not always thinking about cadence and power curves when I'm on the bike. Fitness-focused rides, on the other hand, mean a lot of looking away from the road and down at my bike computer. That's comfortable for me most of the time, but sometimes the cars are flying by or frost heaves are coming fast and furious, so the smart move is keeping my eyes down the road. So I was intrigued when I had a chance to check out ActiveLook's Engo 2 augmented reality sunglasses with a built-in head-up display.

Priced at $299 (or $349 for photochromic lenses), the Engo 2 essentially takes data from your Garmin bike computer, watch, or fitness tracker; Apple Watch; Android Wear device, Suunto watch, or ActiveLook's homegrown app and projects it toward the top inside part of the right lens. (Garmin is the only bike computer supported by ActiveLook.)

From most angles, the Engo 2 looks like a normal pair of sports-oriented sunglasses, with wide, curved, and extensive lenses. The only oddity is a small metal plate in the middle of the glasses, right over the bridge of the nose, which is a sensor. Swipe from left to right, and the display will switch to another view or shut off—if your finger isn't too sweaty or your swipe is insufficiently forceful.

Beyond the head-up display, the two biggest differences between the Engo 2 and a pair of Oakleys are the heft and the mass stuff around the bridge of the Engo 2. At the top of the bridge are four gold squares, for connecting the charging cable. On the right is the projector, with a similarly weighted mass on the left side that serves the dual purpose of housing hardware and evenly distributing weight across the glasses. Instead of small pads, there's a rubbery, inverted V that rests against your schnoz. This nose rest is easily adjustable for sniffers of all shapes and sizes.

I usually ride with a pair of Rockbros photochromic cycling glasses that I picked up for $30. Minimalist and lightweight, they competently perform all of the usual functions of cycling sunglasses at just under 28 grams. In contrast, the Engo 2 weighs 36 g for the regular and 41 g for the large, which I've been wearing. The first few times I put the Engo 2 on, I noticed the extra heft. But the more I wore them, the less I noticed the weight difference.

The Engo 2 comes with a nice carrying case, an insubstantial magnetic charging cable, a storage pouch, a strap, and a cleaning cloth.

I began by downloading the ActiveLook app from the App Store so I could set up the glasses. Press the power button, which is above the charging connector, and a tiny light will turn green. Then pair the phone with the app, which is easy and painless. Once paired, the app walks the user through the initial setup, including positioning the head-up display.

Download the WatchOS app, and you can pair the Engo 2 to an Apple Watch and start a workout without touching your phone. For cyclists, the data options from an Apple Watch are limited to the likes of heart rate, speed, elapsed time, and distance traveled. For runners, ActiveLook says that its AR glasses can display ground contact time, stride length, and vertical oscillation, among other metrics. My seven knee surgeries prevented me from giving this a try.

And there's no need to marry the Engo 2 with other devices if you don't want to. The main screen of the app is a GPS-enabled workout tracker; simply start a workout by pressing the Play button, and you'll see your speed, elapsed workout time, and total distance covered. Those are the basics, and just seeing how fast you're going without looking down at a bike computer, phone, or watch is helpful by itself.

When I went to connect the Engo 2 with my Garmin cycling computer, I was somewhat daunted by the app's warning that I should "set aside some time" for setup. There's good reason for this warning, and it's mostly due to having to navigate the Garmin ecosystem.

To get the most out of the Engo 2 as a cyclist, that Garmin hookup is crucial (Wahoo and Hammerhead cycling computers are not supported). I started out with my flaky Garmin Edge 1030 Plus.

If you don't want to Google "edge 1030 sensor problems," there's a known issue with Garmin's x30 series of cycling computers where they will suddenly disconnect and reconnect to your bike's sensors. During a ride, my 1030 would periodically report that a sensor disconnected, only to reconnect in a few seconds. The more sensors attached to the 1030, the worse the problem is. On my gravel bike, which just has speed and cadence sensors along with a Garmin Varia radar and a heart-rate monitor connected, it's not bad. My road bike adds a power meter and an electronic groupset to the mix, making it beyond annoying when the Garmin starts chirping about a succession of lost and found sensors. Adding the Engo 2 to the mix just made it worse. On long rides with the Engo 2, my Garmin 1030 would eventually freak out after a couple of hours, cycling through all of the sensors a couple of time before spontaneously rebooting. After the reboot, the Engo 2 display would be stuck on searching, unable to reconnect to the Garmin 1030.

The above issues are limited solely to the 1030; the user experience with a Garmin 1050 has been flawless.

But there are some irritations that come with using the Engo 2 within the Garmin ecosystem, and those are mostly on Garmin's part. Configuring the Engo 2 to work with a Garmin cycling computer starts with downloading Garmin ConnectIQ, which is basically Garmin's app storefront. Open ConnectIQ, search for ActiveLook to find the appropriate app (ActiveLook - Data Field for sport eyewear), and install it.

Once you have the Engo 2 data field installed on your Garmin cycling computer, you can configure the data screens. I'm unsure if the configuration process is a deliberate choice by ActiveLook or a limitation of ConnectIQ, but setting up the data screens is clunky. Navigate to My Device, go to My Data Fields, and select ActiveLook. You'll then go to the ConnectIQ landing page for the app. From there, select settings, and you're finally at the point where you can configure the screens.

You'll want to have a laptop, desktop, or tablet handy so you can refer to the list of Garmin Data Fields, and don't expect UI niceties such as pull-down menus and radio buttons. Instead, you're typing in a list of comma-separated numeric values inside parenthesis.

I typed in 12, 18, and 10 (speed, cadence, and three-second power average) for the first screen and left the others at their defaults. I was finally ready for a ride.

I tested the Engo 2 on solo rides, group rides, a tour, and a race, finding it useful every time I rode. The display appears on the left half of the right lens, slightly above the middle. The crystal-clear display is best viewed by looking slightly up and slightly to the left. The first two or three times I wore them, I had a hard time ignoring the omnipresent display, but it soon proved easy to shift my focus away from the display, to the point that it became an easily ignored glowing smudge in my peripheral vision.

The top of the display shows the battery percentage and a clock. There are three rows below that are user-configurable. The Engo 2 also adjusts brightness automatically based on lighting conditions. The numbers are easy to see no matter how dark or bright the conditions are. If the battery dies, you're left with a very good but heavy set of sunglasses.

On solo rides I found the Engo 2 particularly useful for interval training. I would ride at 200 percent of my functional threshold power (FTP) for 20 seconds, followed by four minutes of active recovery at 65 percent. Instead of constantly glancing down at my bike computer to make sure I was in the target power zone, the Engo 2 let me keep my eyes constantly on the road. On group rides, the Engo 2 was helpful for maintaining a steady pace when pulling a paceline. Throughout the 88-mile (141 km) road race I wore the glasses in—and especially during climbs—I appreciated having my power output literally right before my eyes to help me moderate my effort. I was also glad not to have to glance down at my Garmin while riding in the tightly bunched peloton.

While the Engo 2 supports six data screens, I really only used the first one. It's easier to glance down at the bike computer than to swipe across the sensor on the front of the glasses. It also took a while to get the hang of the swipe movement, which works best with dry fingers and a short, firm gesture.

Since the glasses are relatively heavy, they tend to slide down my nose during rides; once I started using the included adjustable strap, that problem disappeared. When I slid them upside down into the front of my helmet, I caught them slipping out—a problem I've never had with regular sunglasses. The extra weight of the Engo 2 is noticeable at first, but the more I wore them, the less I cared.

There is typically a short lag between data appearing on the bike computer and Engo 2, with the latter essentially telling me how fast I was going two to four seconds ago. That's close enough for me.

I had a couple of problems charging the Engo 2 while riding RAGBRAI in July. The charging cable feels flimsy, and it connects to the sunglasses via a small magnetic connector that is reminiscent of Apple's MagSafe tech. There were two nights when I hooked the Engo 2 up to a battery in the corner of my tent, but they failed to charge because the connector detached from the glasses. Battery life is rated at 12 hours, which jibed with what I've seen. I also found moving from screen to screen via the aforementioned swiping motion to be buggy sometimes. Especially after starting a workout, the Engo 2 would often ignore my swipes until it would quickly cycle through a few of the screens one after the other. A long swipe with a fair amount of pressure usually did the trick.

After a few weeks with the Engo 2, I’ve found the occasional annoyance to be more than worth it. They’re comfortable enough, and I feel safer riding with the Engo 2, especially during workout-focused rides. Support for cycling computers other than Garmin's would make these sunglasses more compelling—Engo 2 is literally 10 times more expensive than my Rockbros photochromic sunglasses. Indeed, $299 is a steep price for a pair of sports sunglasses, but for athletes who want their stats literally right before their eyes, the Engo 2 AR sunglasses are an invaluable tool.

Listing image: BradleyWarren Photography