Epson has made a change of direction from printing to making moves into sports and health tracking. Today it has announced its Runsense GPS watches and Pulsense heart rate and activity monitors.

Epson Runsene

The Runsense range of watches come with built-in GPS for accurate tracking of runs while, Epson claims, offering extended battery life. There will be a selection of watches in the range including the SF-310, SF-510 and SF-710 all out today, the top end is the SF-810, out in November.

The Epson SF-810 features a built-in optical heart rate sensor to track pulse directly from the watch without the need for a chest strap. The GPS can track the run to deliver a map readout afterwards but, more importantly, to show speed, pace, distance, laps, calories burned, totaling 35 measures, while running, cycling or walking. The watch is also water resistant up to five atmospheres and features a vibration alert.

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The SF-810 can also measure stride allowing for an accurate distance measure as well as a helpful way of controlling pace. It also features an indoor mode for tracking while in the gym. Thanks to various training modes the watch can help the user achieve their specific goals more easily.

The free Run Connect app will allow users to see data on their phones as well as to control settings more easily.

The Epson Runsense SF-810 has a 2 hour GPS battery life and 20 hour non-GPS life. It will be available from November for £300. The SF-310 doesn't feature the stride sensor or indoor mode but will be just £150, while the SF-310 is the same as the 810 but doesn't have a vibration alert. Only the SF-810 features a heart rate monitor.

Epson Pulsense

Epson has two new pulse sensing wrist-worn bands that both detect heart rate using optical sensors. The PS-100 features an LED display while the PS-500 features a full LCD screen. Both also work via the free Pulsense View app.

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Both Pulsense wearables are able to monitor heart rate, step count and sleep track. Both last 36 hours on a charge, claims Epson, and feature vibrate for alerts and up to 480 hours of storage on the device.

Sleep tracking means the device can learn a user's patterns of sleep allowing them to set a smart alarm that vibrates to wake them when they at the peak in sleep, meaning waking feels natural and refreshing.

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Thanks to combined step and HR tracking users are able to set goals and the device can alert them via vibrations to keep them within their training zones. So if you want to lose weight you need to keep your heart at a certain level, meaning the Pulsense will vibrate when you're outside of that pulse range.

The Epson Pulsense PS-100 will be £130 in black or turquoise while the PS-500 will be £170 in black when they're released this month.

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