Some people just have to be connected. Whether they’re chatting on Bluetooth headsets at the grocery store, talking into Bluetooth speakerphones in the car, or even carrying on conversations with Bluetooth-equipped motorcycle helmets while out cruising. Wireless technology has been good to these folks, and it continues to open new doors to multitasking all the time. Of course, some doors are more extreme than others.
Voz Sports, a Californian company that specializes in protective gear, recently announced the new Multy Lynk, a Bluetooth-enabled helmet designed for pretty much any non-motorized sport that threatens your precious skull, from skiing and snowboarding to skating, bicycling and kayaking. While the basic helmet design has been derived from Voz’s regular Multy model, a host of electronics hidden inside upgrades the helmet from a simple shell for your head to a portable communications center with Bluetooth connectivity, a two-way FRS radio, and a NOAA weather receiver.
Image Courtesy of Voz Sports
To the basic Multy design, the Lynk adds a directional microphone on a short boom to pick up voice, plus two internal speakers providing audio output. With Bluetooth 1.2 capability, the helmet can serve either as a headset for use with a cell phone, or as stereo headphones for an MP3 player, using separate Bluetooth profiles.
For those adventures that carry the helmet outside the range of cell phone towers, it will also work as a two-way radio, just like the handheld Family Radio Service (FRS) walkie talkies that became popular with outdoor enthusiasts in the late 1990’s. Using FRS frequencies that the FCC has designated for consumer use without a license, the helmet offers 14 different channels and up to 38 privacy codes, which allow multiple users to share the same channel without interference. Voz has also implemented its own internal antenna design, which it claims enhances range, although no estimate of just how far is actually given.
Unlike motorcycle and bicycle helmets that use expanded polystyrene (EPS) liners and have to be tossed after just one impact, the Multy Lynk uses a more resilient expanded polypropylene (EPP) liner, which can withstand multiple impacts and still provide protection. Surprisingly, even with all the added gizmos on board, the Multy Lynk is also completely waterproof, which should come in handy for kayakers, windsurfers, and skateboarders with really bad luck
The Multy Lynk will debut in April with a price tag of $299.95 directly from Voz. While that’s quite a bit more than the $119.95 basic Multy helmet, it’s right about in line with single-sport Bluetooth helmets that don’t offer the same versatility, or extra features like the Multy Lynk’s FRS radio. More information on the helmet can be found at VozSports.com.
