The author wears Engo smartglasses at the Dawn to Dusk to Dawn ultramarathon.

Cortney Harding

On Saturday, May 9th, I stood at the start line for the Dawn To Dusk to Dawn ultramarathon in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania. I had all my usual gear (watch, phone and headphones with some good playlists and audiobooks) and my snacks and electrolytes, but I also had something brand new – a pair of Engo smartglasses. Pitched as “connected glasses for serious athletes,” the French company is approaching the market with a slightly different audience in mind – lunatics like me, who find joy in running 31 miles on a random Saturday.

Post-race, my honest assessment is that while the glasses are pretty basic, they certainly offer some real benefits. It took a few minutes to get comfortable wearing them, but that’s par for the course for any new pair of glasses, and once I was used to them, they were great. I could easily glance up to see my pace and distance, while otherwise looking straight ahead at the course, and didn’t find them distracting at all. They definitely met the “glanceability” principle that is a cornerstone of good smartglasses design – easy to peek at the information to get what I need and then go back to my primary task.

I didn’t wear them for the entire race, largely because I was worried about the companion app draining my phone battery, so they might not be best for running very long distances (although the glasses themselves have a 20-hour battery life). I did test them again on a shorter recovery run and they worked well for the entire three mile jaunt around my neighborhood. They synced with my Apple Watch, and I found the data presented to be as accurate as any other tracking device I’ve used.

An obvious next step would be incorporating maps, either for training runs or trail races. Eventually, some sort of gamification or social features could be an interesting differentiator, and something some runners would find fun and useful. But even with limited functionality, Engo is worth watching, because they’re doing something many other smartglasses companies aren’t – focusing on a niche market.

Some smartglasses companies, like Viture, focus on gaming, while others, like Vuzix, focus on enterprise. But Engo’s bet is that distance runners and endurance athletes will be open to spending money on smartglasses because they comprise a population that is already primed to invest in wearables and other accessories for their sport.

It’s no secret that the running market is booming; the London Marathon reported a record 1.3 million people entered the lottery for the race next year, and gaining entry into New York Road Runners races often looks like scoring tickets to the Eras tour. Even hobbyist runners are investing in high-end watches and other tracking devices, alongside hydration packs, sunglasses, and other gear. Runners are market primed to invest, and the pitch that Engo is making is much clearer than some of the glasses that are shooting for a mass consumer audience.

That niche market of runners can help move the market forward for consumer adoption, as people start to get comfortable with wearing the glasses on their runs. Even if Meta doesn’t win the category in the long term, they have done a lot to get people comfortable with the idea of wearing smartglasses or at very least, seeing them on other people on the street and interacting with them. The more familiar people are with a technology and the more people sincerely act as evangelists for it, the more quickly the adoption curve will move. I had several people ask me about my Engo glasses when I was running, and even if none of them purchase a pair in the short term, they all seemed open to and curious about wearing smartglasses while running.

I can’t say that I’ll wear my glasses on every single run going forward, and I do want to stress test them in a few more conditions to see if they hold up in the rain or more extreme temperatures. But for training runs where I feel the need to monitor my pace and distance more closely, they definitely beat my watch or phone in terms of ease of use.

As the smartglasses market evolves and matures, we are likely to see even more niche players entering the space and targeting certain markets. The more options and pathways that consumers have, the better, as more people will wear the glasses and provide opportunities for smartglasses app creators to build new products and expand their offerings. A rising tide will surely lift all smartglasses companies and benefit wearers, even the crazy ones running in circles.