Recon Instruments

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Recon Instruments was a Canadian tech company based in Vancouver that built smartglasses for sports. Its devices were marketed as heads-up displays, but they used a small, non-transparent screen placed to the side of the eye, so users read data by glancing at it rather than through a true see-through display. The glasses showed live activity metrics, GPS maps, and smartphone notifications.

Founded on January 17, 2008 by Dan Eisenhardt, Hamid Abdollahi, Fraser Hall, and Darcy Hughes, Recon Instruments grew from an MBA project at the University of British Columbia. The team originally explored a HUD for swimmers, but patent and form-factor challenges led them to focus on winter sports. The company moved into its Vancouver headquarters in 2010 and began shipping its first product, the Transcend, in October 2010.

Recon’s products evolved to fit different use cases:
- Transcend (2010): A HUD-like display embedded in a snow goggle frame, delivering GPS maps, temperature, speed, altitude, and the ability to share data.
- MOD and MOD Live (2011): Standalone devices or ones that fitted into compatible goggles; later versions connected to smartphones, showing caller ID and SMS alerts.
- Snow2 (2013): A faster standalone display with better brightness and battery life, plus Wi‑Fi and Made for iPhone (MFi) certification; could show notifications and map friends’ locations.
- Jet (2015): A more advanced, self-contained unit in a Recon-designed sunglass frame with polarized lenses, aimed at cycling and running. It included GPS, sensors, Bluetooth, ANT+ support, a swappable battery, and a built-in display on the right side of the frame. Jet also targeted industrial use with partnerships for enterprise apps.

Recon operated its devices with ReconOS, an Android-based operating system with a custom interface designed for small displays. The software could display live metrics, GPS maps, and social sharing, and it ran third-party apps via the Recon SDK. The Engage and Uplink desktop tools let users manage devices, update software, and sync data; the Engage mobile app supported iOS and Android and enabled friend tracking and notifications. Developers could create apps for Jet and Snow2, and apps like Refuel and MyGoproRemote2 extended functionality.

Investments and partnerships helped fund and expand Recon’s reach. In 2012, Vanedge Capital and Kopin Corporation provided Series A funding. Intel Capital invested in 2013, signaling Intel’s interest in wearables. Motorola Solutions invested in 2014 and even demoed Recon technology for law enforcement. The Jet product also forged industrial partnerships with SAP and APX Labs for manufacturing and other sectors.

On June 17, 2015, Recon Instruments was acquired by Intel and began operating as an Intel company. In June 2017, Intel announced it would discontinue all remaining Recon products, and by mid-2017 the company had largely halted activity. Bloomberg later reported that Intel had fully closed the Recon Instruments division in early summer 2017.

Recon’s products were among the earliest wearable displays for sports, combining GPS, sensors, and social features in a head-worn device. While praised for introducing fitness-oriented wearable displays to the market, they also faced criticisms over price, battery life, display brightness and field of view, GPS accuracy, and software reliability.