RunPhones are an interesting development in the listening/exercising world. The headphones in a sweatband have been developed by a doctor so that the runner can clearly hear their music device as well as external noise such as traffic, pedestrians, or charging dogs.
What’s a person who doesn’t listen to music while running doing testing the RunPhones? I am an addicted podcast listener! In addition to listening to Mark and Ray on The Running Show, I also listen to two other marathon shows as well as a dozen CBC podcasts. Lots of material for my marathon training (aiming for the Hamilton Road2Hope) and walking the dog!
The summer version of the RunPhone that I used during my marathon training was quite comfortable. There was absolutely no setup or technical stuff to do, simply plug the cord into your ipod or mp3 player and away you go. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the sound. They were much better than my headphones that I normally use. The attached cord is an excellent length, 120 cm (4 ft) long, which enables you to easily carry your mp3 player in your hand, tuck it in a belt, or in a pocket. The wicking material really helped keep the sweat out of my eyes as I ramped up my long runs to 32 km over the past few weeks.
I was concerned about the cleanliness of the band after a few speed sessions and tempo runs in the Muskoka heat which made the band quite wet, but the actual speakers can be easily removed and the band washed. It only took me a minute to take out the speakers. Putting the speakers back in after washing is a breeze as they are colour coded for the left and right sides.
I can attest to the fact that the RunPhones accomplish the original purpose; being able to listen to your music (or podcasts) and hearing external, surrounding sound. I have used both ear buds and the external headphones over many years and the RunPhones are superior to both. They allowed me to hear everything I wanted to, and everything I needed to.
By Tom Forbes
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