bluetooth headphones
2 watchers
Sep 2019
1:30pm, 2 Sep 2019
242 posts
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oprah
I previously used an iPod shuffle to run with the standard wired headphones, and this served me brilliantly for about 15 years. However, I've now switched to streaming with my phone since iTunes has been discontinued so am looking for wireless headphones I can use with my iPhone 7. I have tried about 6 different pairs that have all failed. Does anything actually work that's waterproof? Powerbeats 3 - pair 1 worked brilliantly for 7 months, and then stopped charging off and on and then suddenly just died. A replacement pair lasted 2 weeks and then died. Through this process I discovered these are only XP4 rated so hardly waterproof at all, as are the Powerbeats Pro which cost £220. How can Apple market a product for workouts that's not waterproof?! Jabra Elite Active 65t - sound quality brilliant but these wouldn't stay in my ears when I was sitting, let alone running. Sent them back. Anker Soundsport Spirit X - very similar to Powerbeats 3 at a fraction the cost and supposedly sweat proof. These lasted 1 week before they started skipping volume randomly (to full max), then skipping songs randomly and finally just shutting down. These got sent back. They actually made me feel nauseous when listening to some songs, which I thought was just in my head, but then I read some of the Amazon reviews and discovered this happened to other people, too. MPow D9 - from Amazon, also cheap and apparently XP7 rated. These have unacceptable signal loss. Every time my watch goes near my face or I pause/stop it I lose the signal. I know Aftershokz are great because they're bone conduction, but they are not waterproof with only XP5 rating. I'm currently using a very cheap pair my dad gave me that work but don't fit very well and sound quality poor. Does a bluetooth headphone yet exist that has functional electronics, decent sound and can withstand rain and speedwork? Or do I need to go back to wired until they do? I don't mind spending a fair amount of money for something that will last 2 years or longer. I see loads of people running with AirPods, but these aren't waterproof rated at all. I would not want to spend that kind of money and break them, although in my experience the wired version can withstand submersion with no problem, so maybe they are actually fine in the rain? Any recommendations greatly appreciated. |
Sep 2019
1:38pm, 2 Sep 2019
8,483 posts
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larkim
I use these without any problems - though I've not used them hugely in the rain, but they are IPX7 rated. I see you had disconnection issues with the D9 from Mpow - all I can say is I've had two pairs of these, my son has a pair and we've got another set of Mpow headphones in the household and they haven't had disconnection issues at all. Honestly, I doubt the electronics are any different between the D9 and theese ones, but they are cheap and work fine for me! amazon.co.uk |
Sep 2019
1:47pm, 2 Sep 2019
357 posts
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iRicey
amazon.co.uk I use these and sweat a lot so get them wet when its not even raining. The sound is ok for podcasts and run of the mill tunes. Decent battery and never connection issues. As larkim says I can't believe there's too much differeince in the internals between the MPOW models. |
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Sep 2019
2:37pm, 2 Sep 2019
243 posts
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oprah
Do you use a Garmin with those? Do they fall out? They look similar but with a slightly different earpiece.
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Sep 2019
5:24pm, 2 Sep 2019
5,082 posts
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jda
I use a cheap 25-30 quid pair of bone conduction headphones off eBay. Work fine though one set eventually failed, probably because they got wet. I prefer them to in-ear types I've tried and would splash the cash for aftershox if I really wanted top-notch audio and/or better durability.
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Sep 2019
5:30pm, 2 Sep 2019
47,127 posts
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The Mighty Fleecy
I won a pair of something like these in a Twitter competition a few years back and they are excellent, fit well, sound pretty good and have been for many wet and sweat-filled runs: amazon.co.uk |
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Sep 2019
5:34pm, 2 Sep 2019
47,128 posts
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The Mighty Fleecy
Think I’ve had them for about 3-4 years actually, and battery life is fine btw. They are probably my favourite bit of sports kit!
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Sep 2019
8:38pm, 3 Sep 2019
358 posts
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iRicey
I pair with my phone. I don't have a fancy enough watch unfortunately... They stay in ears fine though.
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Sep 2019
10:57pm, 3 Sep 2019
244 posts
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oprah
I don't have a music Garmin and pair with my phone for music, but I use a cheaper Garmin to run with, and every time I paused it the signal dropped. The plantronics ones aren't IPX7 rated so not waterproof? I ordered another pair from Amazon - Letscom, also £20. Not very promising that they are supposedly waterproof at IPX7 but came with a massive warning to not get them wet. |
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Sep 2019
9:50am, 4 Sep 2019
8,510 posts
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larkim
Your Garmin broadly shouldn't emit much (bar bluetooth if it is a moderately modern one) so there shouldn't be any reason for a Garmin to interfere with BT communications. They are certainly not high powered, and they are a receiver primarily (GPS traffic is one way, satellite to watch). THough clearly your experience has been different! I used to have a camcorder that did emit RF in a way that disrupted other devices (ironically, mainly GPS devices!), but that would have been relatively quite high power compared to the tiny power source in a GPS watch. |
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