O'Neill LED Jacket Points You In The Right Direction

Sometimes while hiking or skiing, on the days I don’t feel like breaking out my map, compass, GPS, and all the rest of it, I really wish my jacket would just tell me where to go. Luckily, O’Neill’s got me covered: With the NavJacket, all you have to do is load a hike into the jacket’s GPS interface, and a light-up LED display on the sleeve tells you where to go. Features include current speed and realtime weather data, Bluetooth functionality, and even an audio unit that gives voice directions inside your hood.

Check out a slow loading, sensory-overload promo for this Terminator/Jacket hybrid here.

In theory, it’s really cool to see gear manufacturers stepping up to the plate by integrating emergent technologies into a fashion-forward, one-jacket-to-rule-them-all concept. Maybe a jacket that tells you where to go will make your backcountry hikes and ski trips easier. But I can’t help but feel that this jacket brings out the premature codger in me, a gear geezer who values navigation skills with rock-solid maps and compasses over newfangled contraptions and cosmic thingamabobbers.

Of course, I could be overreacting because of personal experience. The last time I was in a car with GPS-enabled audio directions, the driver followed the soothing female voice dutifully — into oncoming traffic and practically over a cliff. — Ted Alvarez

O’Neill’s NavJacket

Via The Goat