A fantastic piece of technology. Bone conduction technology had been around for a while but I daresay this is my first time experiencing it and it blew me away. The first time I put the headphones on and turned on the music, I was not expecting the music to come in that clear and crisp. It felt as if the music was playing in the room. Typical headphone or earbuds shuts out the noise around you, where at times can be a danger especially on the road. The openear concept gives you the best of both worlds: having the ability to hear what's going on around you while having music play.The quality of the headphones seems well made although I would have liked the waterproofing to be a bit more. Fortunately, with its rating, sweat and light rain should be ok. Pairing via ... MoreA fantastic piece of technology. Bone conduction technology had been around for a while but I daresay this is my first time experiencing it and it blew me away. The first time I put the headphones on and turned on the music, I was not expecting the music to come in that clear and crisp. It felt as if the music was playing in the room. Typical headphone or earbuds shuts out the noise around you, where at times can be a danger especially on the road. The openear concept gives you the best of both worlds: having the ability to hear what's going on around you while having music play.The quality of the headphones seems well made although I would have liked the waterproofing to be a bit more. Fortunately, with its rating, sweat and light rain should be ok. Pairing via bluetooth is incredibly easy, my phone was instantly able to find it and pair it right away. Only weird part is that the headphones don't power off by itself so definitely be mindful in turning it off or else the battery will drain!As for the sound itself, I wasn't expecting it to be on par with closed-ear systems. Its just simply not possible. However, for what it is, the quality of the sound is pretty amazing. I am able to hear everything the music has to offer as well as spoken speech in podcasts. What's even more amazing is that there is absolutely no sound spillage at all. I would absolutely recommend this product. It is a bit on the expensive side but the technology behind it is pretty spectacular.

I was excited to receive these for review as part of the REI product advisors' program. The headphones were very easy to pair with my phone and the headphones charged very quickly before their first use. It rained most of the first week after I received these, so I decided to try them while exercising inside. The headphones are lightweight and comfortable to wear. User controls are very small, but simple to remember and use. I never received a phone call while wearing these but found the quality and clarity of the music to be excellent. The headphones stayed in place well during activity and endured perspiration well. After using them on two occasions in the gym these are my thoughts. If you are looking for an immersive music experience while lifting weights or ... MoreI was excited to receive these for review as part of the REI product advisors' program. The headphones were very easy to pair with my phone and the headphones charged very quickly before their first use. It rained most of the first week after I received these, so I decided to try them while exercising inside. The headphones are lightweight and comfortable to wear. User controls are very small, but simple to remember and use. I never received a phone call while wearing these but found the quality and clarity of the music to be excellent. The headphones stayed in place well during activity and endured perspiration well. After using them on two occasions in the gym these are my thoughts. If you are looking for an immersive music experience while lifting weights or using cardio equipment, these are probably not for you. Because of the open ear design, I was able to hear what was going on around me. But it was not overly distractive from enjoying the music while exercising. Peripheral noise was less of a problem in the cardio area, which is generally much quieter than the weight room. The weather improved during week two and I was able to use the headphones outside and more as they were intended to be used. I love to walk several miles at a time around town or in my hilly neighborhood and it was nice to listen to music while exercising outside. I was afraid the headphones may interfere with the fit of my sunglasses, but found I was able to make these work just fine. The headphones remained in place well and were comfortable during movement. As you might imagine I encounter vehicles, animals and many other potential safety concerns while exercising in and around town. The open ear design of these headphones is great for listening to music but remaining aware of your surroundings and potential hazards while exercising. If you primarily exercise in urban environments and want to remain aware of your surroundings, these are perfect. So far, I've used the headphones for about 6 hours and they still have plenty of battery charge left. The carrying case for the headphones works well to store and protect them and there is room in the case for accompanying instructions, etc. All in all, these are great for exercising outdoors safely and the awareness capability while wearing these headphones more than outweighs a less dynamic music experience.

These headphones solve two problems, and do it very well. They allow you to wear headphones without closing off your ears (they sit on your jaw bone, directly in front of your ear canal) , and they are extremely secure, lightly pressing on your jaw and secured by a semi-rigid band around the back of your head. This latter was impressive - I did not once dislodge (or even move a little) the headphones while walking, bouncing around, or riding my bike. More comfortable to wear than any other headphones I have tried.Not blocking your ear means you can hear ambient sound as if you had an external speaker on, e.g. a radio somewhere in the room. This allows you to have a conversation and be aware of what is around you, unlike ear buds or ear covering headphones, which ... MoreThese headphones solve two problems, and do it very well. They allow you to wear headphones without closing off your ears (they sit on your jaw bone, directly in front of your ear canal) , and they are extremely secure, lightly pressing on your jaw and secured by a semi-rigid band around the back of your head. This latter was impressive - I did not once dislodge (or even move a little) the headphones while walking, bouncing around, or riding my bike. More comfortable to wear than any other headphones I have tried.Not blocking your ear means you can hear ambient sound as if you had an external speaker on, e.g. a radio somewhere in the room. This allows you to have a conversation and be aware of what is around you, unlike ear buds or ear covering headphones, which is great. I used to enjoy jogging with an old Walkman and its headphones but was not crazy about not being able to hear my surroundings - problem solved. Of course, you still have the fact that the ambient sound is largely covered by the music or podcast you have going, but it’s a huge improvement. I suspect it’s also better for your ears’ health as you’re not stuffing a dirty plastic object repeatedly into the narrow canal, nor are you sealing the entire ear in a damp trap as with an over-the-ear headphone.That said, there is a price to pay in terms of sound quality. Both Apple Air Pods and old corded earbuds have noticeably superior audio quality, as do Sony ear covering noise cancelling headphones. However, almost certainly that is an unavoidable tradeoff, and a worthwhile one if you want to be more a part of the rest of the audio world instead of your own private audio-space.The other issue I have with these is that the controls are 3 small physical buttons on the headset, which are both a little hard to find feeling around, and not entirely reliable. For example, the same button pressed once is “pause” or “restart”, pressed twice is “skip forward”, but on multiple attempts my “skip” just produced a “pause”. Maybe I didn’t fully engage the button, maybe my tempo was off slightly, I don’t know. But that is annoying. It’s also significantly less elegant than Apple’s or Sony’s interface which allows control by tapping on the earpiece (once, twice, and for Sony, a slide up or down for volume). That’s elegant, easy, and you never have to feel around to try to find the buttons. However, it’s not a catastrophe, and one will adapt to the peculiarities of this gadget like anything else new. If you really need the open-ear, secure for exercise headphone, these are worth dealing with those small imperfections.Battery life was not an issue in the several hours at a stretch I used them. They rely on an app to manage them, and that’s a little kludgy, sometimes not pairing as readily as one would hope, but just mildly annoying. The equalizer on the app lets you choose ‘regular’ (i.e. music) mode or ‘vocal’ for spoken word listening, which does make a difference.All in all, a very good product.