Another product I want to give you a review on is a pair of Bluetooth Headphones I’ve been trying to kill. I got these sent to me in June by a company called Jaybird Wireless. They are the X3 – sweat proof, secure fit. I have not been able to kill them.
You see my super-power is sweat. Not just any sweat, toxic Chris sweat. You folks are privy to the kind of workouts I do in all kinds of weather. Most headphones I’ve used that claim to be sweat-proof are not Chris-Sweat-Proof. They last a couple weeks and I kill them. I have not been able to kill these. The closest I got was one long workout in July when I filled them with so much fluid that they sounded like they were underwater. I thought that was it, but they bounced back.
They survived the sweat filled days of July and august. They survived multiple of those as long runs. They survive the occasional rainy tempest – like the back half of the Wapack Trail race. At this point I’m willing to concede that these things are tough. The only thing I managed to kill was the little blue light that comes on when you put them in the charging cradle. That does not come on anymore. But they still charge.
They come in an overly complex iPhone type collectors box packaging. They have a tricky little USB charging cradle. They have a companion iPhone audio program that has dozens of audio profile adjustments and other tweaky Millennial thingies which I ignored. The default sound is fine.
They are on a flat wire that you can loop around the back of your neck. They have multiple secure-fit ear thingies. They work ok but I’ve been losing the little ear buds and I’ve found them hit or miss on the security side. I’ve had my best luck jamming the earbud deep into my ears and looping the wire over my right ear to support the mic.
The challenge with this deep-jamming methodology is that they become totally noise cancelling which isn’t always a good thing when you’re running in traffic. The plastic wing-thingies that are supposed to grip onto the inside curve of your ears work, but I find them a bit stiff so that they make my ears sore after a while.
They are supposed to work for making calls. When I’ve tried that the people on the other end can’t hear me. I’m probably doing something wrong. The Bluetooth set up and sync works great. Actually, too well. They will sync to my phone and my computer and my car and sometimes I have no idea what they are connecting to until I notice sound coming out.
I do love the hands-free, wire-free experience. You can put your iPhone in a plastic bag and stick it in your pocket or in your backpack. That’s very convenient and safer for the iPhone. They claim an 8 hour battery life. I haven’t taken them much beyond 4-5 hours but they made it that far.
The bottom line here is that I tried to kill these headphones and couldn’t. I’m going to keep trying. I do have some challenges keeping them in my ears but I do appreciate them and they have helped make some long runs much more enjoyable.
Again, I don’t make any money off it, but the links are _>