One of the things that bugged me the most when I started running was the fact that my headphones were a big distraction during my runs. I wanted to listen to music while running, but instead of the music being relaxing or a motivational tool for my pace, it became very distracting because I was always fidgeting with the earplugs falling out, the wire getting caught somewhere or the sound just not being good enough. Even the earpieces that go around your ears would fall off while running and many times I would have to stop or slow down to fix my headphones or keep pushing earplugs into my ear to keep them from slipping out.
Until one fantastic day I walked into a store where they had a display where I could test the Aftershokz Titanium bone conduction headphones. A bit sceptical about what the salesperson told me about the headphone’s quality I put on the headphones as he turned up the volume of the horrible music they had playing on it. He asked me what I thought of the headphones and as surprised as I was about the quality of the sound I was also amazed by how well I could still hear the guy talking to me. He explained how well they fit around your ear and that they can’t go anywhere even when you move around a lot.
Of course I had to give this a little test, so in the full store with all the rest of the shopping public trying to get through the busy isles, I decided to give it a little jump test to see if the headphones would move around much. The headphones stayed right in place and even though I was bouncing around much more than I ever would on a run they were not going anywhere and didn’t move a bit.
I was sold on the Aftershokz right away, the two main things I was looking for were met beyond what I expected, the quality of the sound was great, the music choice could have been better, but that was not the fault of the Aftershokz. And they wouldn’t fall off while running, which was what I had been looking for and tested a lot of different headsets for all this time.
The fact that they were bone conducting and would let me run safer, that they were wireless and had great battery life were great extras to me, but the fact that I now could go on a run without constantly having to push back the earplugs in to my ear, distracting me from my running, was a game changer for me.
I’ve been running with Aftershokz for a few years now and I’m still very content with my purchase. The connection with my phone is easy and constant. I turn on the headphones and it connects to my phone flawlessly every time with a soft voice stating: “Connected”. They are a joy to wear and listen too and I can highly recommend them to any runner who is looking for a replacement for the earplugs that keep falling out.
Aftershokz has a line of different headphones now:
The Titanium is the version I was excited about in the shop and that continue to perform until today. At 41 grams they are very light, but are now the heaviest in their line up.
There is the Air, that is slightly thinner and lighter (30 grams), which is always a good thing for your running. It also features PremiumPitch+ sound quality for a larger and more dynamic audio range.
And there is the OpenMove which has 3 EQ modes (Human voice, Standard and Earplug mode) to help create a more customisable listening experience. It also boasts PremiumPitch 2.0 sound quality for louder volume and richer bass. Still very light at 29 grams
There is also the Aeroplex which has an 8 hour battery life opposed to the 6 hours of most other models. Even lighter than the air. (26 grams)
And last but not least the Xtrainerz which is the only set that you can take for a swim. At 30 grams still very light and also has an 8 hour battery life. The big difference with these is that they are not Bluetooth compatible and have internal storage only with a 4GB onboard memory to store your MP3s.
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