Help me find running headphones
December 8, 2022 7:02 AM   Subscribe

You all really came through with great answers to my last question about upgrading my running tech. I’m hoping you can help me again. I need headphones to listen to music via my Garmin 245 music while I run. The Shokz headphones have failed me and I have no idea where to start looking next. Please help!

So after your suggestions, I upgraded to a Garmin 245 music and shokz bone conduction headphones. Life was good. The watch is great. The headphones fit great and sounded great. But it turned out the headphones had a bad battery and only had 2 hours of battery life on them. I got in touch with shokz. They sent a new pair, but the replacement pair has the same problem. I’m hesitant to keep playing the return game with a product that has now failed twice. And it’s killing me that I only have music for 2 hours of a long run.

So please give me your suggestions for headphones that will work with my Garmin 245 music, that are comfortable to run in for extended periods of time, and that are not shokz.
posted by August Fury to Health & Fitness (10 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
I am surprised by the sorry battery life of your Shokz headphones. They have several models though. Have you tried one of their older models? In my experience, the lightest models have the worst battery life. Also, many of these headphones are designed for a run or exercise session (i.e. a couple hours), not full day's use.

I personally use a Mu 6 Ring. In fact, I'm listening to it now to a Youtube channel while typing this. I bought this a year ago, and it's still going strong. The front part of this tilts so you can fit it to your head. And it does last most of the day (certainly more than 2 hours, I think it lasts 8 hours for me, and it's a year old)
posted by kschang at 7:15 AM on December 8, 2022 [1 favorite]


Some wireless ear buds have hear through technology. Many if not all of Jabra's true wireless earbuds have that tech. Since you've got a Garmin watch, Jabra's Sport models might not offer anything that your watch offers. Although Apple Airpod Pros offer hear through tech (Adaptive Transparency), it might not function when connected to your watch.
posted by dlwr300 at 7:55 AM on December 8, 2022


I've been happy with Plantronics' BackBeat Fit headphones. Mine are a previous version of these, but they work easily with my Garmin Forerunner, sound fine but not isolating, and last for ~8 hours on a charge.
posted by jeffjon at 7:58 AM on December 8, 2022


Response by poster: I just got off the phone with shokz, they told me that leaving them on the charger for any time period over 2 hours essentially ruins them. Like, 2 hours and 15 minutes is enough to ruin them. I don’t trust myself with alarms and timers to make sure I’m not going over that mark. I would very much prefer headphones that I can charge overnight.
posted by August Fury at 8:47 AM on December 8, 2022


Best answer: Shokz are being weird. Firstly if that's true it's a product flaw - chargers for li-Ion batteries would be hard to screw up in that way given they're all integrated chips in this day and age that have overcharging prevention - and secondly I have a pair with 6+ hours in them that I've had for years (so they do have products that suit your needs). But I can see why you would never want to deal with them again if that's their idea of support.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 9:24 AM on December 8, 2022 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Wow. If I ever have to replace my Shox I'm going to have to think hard about it. I've had mine for several years, the batteries are still good for hours, and I've charged them for totally random lengths of time. If they've really made a product that can't be safely charged, that's ridiculous, and if not, their support is awful.
posted by LadyOscar at 1:06 PM on December 8, 2022 [2 favorites]


My Mu6 Ring had been left on charger for days, regular 1.5A charger vs fast charger and everything in between. Charges up in maybe 2 hours. I even have a magnetic tip on it so I don't have to ruin the port with repeated push and pull daily.
posted by kschang at 4:47 PM on December 8, 2022


I've gone through a bunch and settled on the Backbeat Fits that jeffjon linked. They're not quite as comfy as my old beloved Adidas/Sennheiser set but they're good enough and bluetooth is just too convenient to give up. No problems with battery life so far.
posted by davidest at 10:38 PM on December 8, 2022


Best answer: If you're willing to consider earbuds, I like the Jabra 85ts. They have the hear-through capability mentioned by dlwr300 for when I need awareness of what's around me but also pretty good active noise cancellation if I want to tune out traffic noise or whatever. They get ~5 hours with ANC on. And they have pretty good microphones (which is why I got them over other earbuds with slightly better sound) if you do web conferences etc.

And I agree with How much is that froggie in the window that what Shockz told you is bizarre. The idea that a non-fly by night company would put out a product that could be ruined by overcharging in 2022 is strange to the point of stretching credibility (of the rep, not you).
posted by Candleman at 2:10 AM on December 9, 2022


Response by poster: I have ordered some different bone conduction headphones as well as some open ear options. I am optimistic that I will find something that works in the bunch. I should be receiving my 3rd pair of shokz (2nd replacement) and hopefully if I have to keep playing the return game, I can do it with back-up headphones.

Thanks for also agreeing that this is ridiculous. The shokz customer service folks made it sound like it was totally reasonable to wake up 2 hours earlier to have your headphones charged for a morning run.

I used the terrible battery life on the pair I have as a pace motivator yesterday, I had to get the miles in before the music died. So I guess there’s that.
posted by August Fury at 3:32 PM on December 11, 2022


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