CES: Magellan Enters Fitness Market with GPS Watches

Magellan, one of the GPS brands of Taiwaness Mitac has announced for CES the launch of its first fitness products, Switch and Switch Up, two GPS-enabled fitness training watches priced between $250 and $350.

The Switch includes nine customizable sport profiles, eight hours of battery life, a high sensitivity GPS receiver, 50 meter water resistance, and compatibility with ANT+ sensors. “Designed primarily for runners, it is also a crossover watch that is convertible for multisport needs,“ said Magellan.

The Switch Up has the same features as the Switch but also boasts a barometric altimeter for elevation data, a thermometer to monitor and capture outside temperature, vibration alerts for notifications in louder environments, and a quick release mounting system to easily transition between sports.

Magellan will launch a fitness website in Spring 2012 to upload training data. For those who prefer to upload directly to their favorite fitness site, Magellan Switch devices are compatible with MapMyFitness, TrainingPeaks, Strava, and more. In addition, Magellan will be releasing an API that allows any third party website or application to access activity data with customer permission.

The Magellan GPS Switch series will be available Spring 2012. The Switch has a price tag of $249.99 or $299.99 with Heart Rate Monitor; the Switch Up with a Multisport Mounting Kit costs $299.99 or $349.99 with a Multisport Mounting Kit and Heart Rate Monitor.