I love having music playing while I’m riding. In my experience it does not distract me or divert my attention. The music can set the groove for some killer carvings or calm my speed when I need to ride more conservative. Again, this is in my experience; yours may be different!
For the past year I’ve used a variety of body glove ear phones and ear plugs. One set that has a plastic, changeable (to change color) ear hook with the bud attached within on a wire. These work decently well and also act as ear plugs but it is excessively difficult to get them in “right” the first time; the helmet tends to move the ear buds around and after about an hour or so of riding one always seems to wiggle out from the vibration caused by the bike and wind.
Another set I tried for a day was the behind the head ear phones – these don’t move around and were pretty comfortable. However the eventual problem I had is the same problem that I have had with all wired headphones. Over time, the abuse from the wind, whipping the cord around causes one of the ear buds to short out, leaving the rider with music in only one ear. It sucks.
The problem with wired headphones:
They fail quickly due to the stresses placed on the cable cord as it flaps around in the wind. This has led to a failure of 5 sets I’ve owned in just the past year.
Wind and bike vibrations eventually cause one or both of the ear buds to become lose resulting in a normal volume in one ear but extremely quiet or non-existent in the other. The super suck!
The solution? Go wireless and go wireless for less than $100!
$49.99 for the headset.
5-6 hours of streaming music from your Bluetooth compatible MP3 player, cell phone or Bluetooth adapter.
Comfortable for the first 5 hours,
Rubberized ear buds – they stay put and do not move around at all.
Volume, skip, pause, phone answer/hang up controls right on the headset.
You can buy these headphones at Bestbuy for $129.99 or for $99.99 when they’re on Sale.
OR: You can buy them for $49.99 from TigerDirect – currently on sale (normally $75)
Here’s a link:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=M151-2310
These headphones are perfect for riding, working out, walking, jogging, whatever.
Very lite weight – rubberized ear buds with three sizes (small, med, and large). The receiver (which is also the battery and charge port) for the headset sits at the base of your skull which means it sits just under the bottom of your (full faced) helmet. The headphones never move around so the quality of music is consistent throughout the ride.
The rechargeable battery last 5-6 hours of streaming music (as advertised) and is replaceable. They’re very comfortable, I don’t even notice them until they’ve been in my ears (and I have a tight helmet) for about 5+ hours.
Beyond that, they’re intended to be used in conjunction with a MP3/Bluetooth compatible cell phone. The headset has volume controls, pause/play as well as skip track up or down. I use it with my Verizon Voyager phone but they will work with ANY Bluetooth compatible MP3 player or Bluetooth Adapter.
Using with the phone is handy since I have a 2GB card in my phone with over 300 tracks – just hit shuffle and go. It’s also useful for using the VZ navigator turn by turn directions since you hear that in your helmet.
The only problem I’ve run into with using my cell phone as my MP3 player is: I keep my cell phone under my seat or in the rear tank for reception reasons (If my phone is in my tank bag then the Bluetooth tends to skips; this seems to be because the transmitter (phone) is in front of me and the receiver is behind my head – I also suspect the phone being right over the bike’s ignition system and other electronics may cause interference. However when the phone is under my seat, no problems!
Anyhow, on my phone in particular, if I can get a call or a text message – the music stops until I pull out the phone and resume – For me this means pulling over, taking my seat off and reloading the music player - it may not be an issue for your phone. I wish I could turn off cell service without it also disabling my Bluetooth service. Another option that just dawned on me – I have two older phones that are 2 years old (My wife and I both had the V… we always get the same phones for some reason). That phone was my old MP3 player and also has Bluetooth but no cell service; I may just use that as my Bluetooth transmitter and use my cell as my cell =P No more interrupted music!
So, what if you don’t have a Bluetooth/mp3 compatible cell phone? Or you just don’t want to use it? There are other solutions.
First, if you have an iPod you can get an iPod (aka iPAYMORE) Bluetooth adapter for $40-$100 – I think they run around $60 at Best Buy.
Or, if you have a regular MP3 player with a standard 3.5MM jack (regular headphone jack) you can get a general blue tooth adapter such as the Jabra A120 – A week ago the cost was $30 – Now it appears to be sold out in a lot of online stores and the ones who still have it are charging closer to $65. I’ll update this part with a solid link to a lower price.
Link:
http://www.amazon.com/Jabra-A120s-10...1187553&sr=1-4
Another option of course is to bypass the whole adapter mess and just get a MP3 player with built in Bluetooth compatability..
So with Bluetooth and specifically the Motorokr S9 – gone are the problems of ear buds falling out, gone are the problems of snagging the audio cable when you move your clutch hand, gone is the failing of said cables due to wind damage.
“In” is a clean look with no wires and superior sound quality.
-Clovis
My parents always told me I would be great in sales, too bad I’m not selling this! Just giving advice to a question that is always asked!
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