Turn skiing into a video game: Oakley partners with Garmin for next-gen HUD goggles

By Drew Prindle October 28, 2014

oakley partners garmin next gen hud goggles screen shot 2014 10 28 at 23 am — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Just in time for winter, Oakley has unveiled a new and improved version of its popular Airwave ski goggles. This time around, the company teamed up with Garmin to bring additional functionality to the goggs — namely, compatibility with the Garmin VIRB Elite action camera.

As far as we can tell from the company’s press release, the goggles themselves aren’t much different than they were in previous generations. They still contain the same heads-up display technology from Recon Insturments, and aside from the new action cam compatibility and slightly improved graphics, the specs and features are the same.

oakley garmin — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Don’t let that fool you, though; the Airwave 1.5 goggles are still pretty stacked, even without a major hardware update. If you’re unfamiliar, these goggs can track your speed and location via GPS, measure your elevation with barometric pressure data, provide jump/airtime analytics with the help of accelerometers, track your friends on the slopes, control music playback, and even display incoming calls and text messages — all right in front of your eyes.

Related: Recon announces new and improved Snow2 HUD goggles

But just when we thought Oakley couldn’t pack Airwave 1.5 with any more tech, the company went ahead and did it anyway. With this new Garmin integration, users will be able to connect the goggles wirelessly to the VIRB Elite action camera (sold separately) and sync video recordings with data and analytics recorded by the Airwave’s onboard sensors. This way, the epic footage of you hucking yourself off that last kicker will be supplemented with data like speed, distance, and airtime stats.

Oakley Airwave 1.5 goggles and the Garmin VIRB Elite action camera are available at Oakley.com, Oakley Stores and select retail destinations.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Drew Prindle is an award-winning writer, editor, and storyteller who currently serves as Senior Features Editor for Digital…

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