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

Enlarge / The Engo 2 smartglasses with heads-up display look slightly bulky. (credit: BradleyWarren Photography)

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.)

The Engo 2 AR sunglasses. You can see the HUD projector just to the right of the bridge. (credit: BradleyWarren Photography)

The inside of the glasses. The charger connects to the four gold dots above the bridge. The "V" at the bottom adjusts to the width of your nose. The projector is on the right. (credit: BradleyWarren Photography)

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.