H2O audio just announced The Outdoor Sport Integration System for their iPod nano case at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week. Apparently these guys make waterproof iPod cases (see photo) but the newest product (not yet released) is a mounting bracket for attaching your iPod to your mountain bike. It seems like the main advantage of this is you can see your iPod while you’re riding so you can easily select tracks, change the volume, etc. I wonder if a video iPod mount is next, wouldn’t it be trippy to watch a mountain biking video while you ride your mountain bike? The case appears to be waterproof like the other H2O Audio products so no worries about riding in the rain or mud.
My concern is that anything you mount to your bike is going to get rattled around worse than a paint can shaker at Home Depot. I’ve certainly had problems with my GPS handlebar mount (broken clips, broken GPS, etc.) and a GPS seems like a far more rugged device than a shiny iPod nano. From what I understand about the nano, it doesn’t have moving parts (i.e. a hard drive) like the video iPod units so maybe this isn’t an issue. Does bombing down a downhill run with an iPod attached to your bike void your iPod warranty? I’m interested to see how this thing works, the lack of photos leaves me skeptical.
