Spring Julbo EVAD-1 Update
I have a couple of other posts on the EVAD-1, tl;dr is that the software is incredible, but the early hardware I had was... challenged. Four years on, how's it going?
Problems
- Swipe sensor doesn't always want to swipe.
- No way to turn them off aside from auto-off.
Delights
The work ActiveLook has put into the software over the last four years has been incredible. When they first released, it was very much a tech demonstrator, with a very basic iOS app and Garmin app, where every activity was 'street run'.
In 2024, they have an excellent Apple Watch app (racing segments on Strava is great fun), have developed their Garmin CIQ field, and built a delightful Suunto integration with excellent turn-by-turn notifications.
Using the EVAD-1 to pace a 1h base run yesterday reminded me the value of even basic data, live: time, pace, and distance. Other pages had cadence and HR, but being able to quickly see how far into the effort I was, while avoiding mud and tree roots, was brilliant.
Future
Hardware-wise, I'm looking forward to a re-release of the photochromic model from earlier this year, and the colour screen demoed at CES (2023?).
Software-wise, being able to extract more data from Garmin devices (TBT directions, data from other CIQ fields, such as CORE body temp), and integrating with a Wahoo or Hammerhead bike computer would be great.
