Sunday, February 19, 2012

TRANSITION AREA: My Two New Favorite Bluetooth Devices

For my 40th birthday I received two awesome bluetooth devices that I wanted to share to help with your hands-free life:

Plantronics Discovery 925


My mom sent me the Plantronics Discovery 925 bluetooth earpiece.  I'd done some research on the best bluetooth earpieces for the iPhone 3GS, and the Discovery 925 was one of the most recommended devices.  I have very funky ears and have a hard time finding headsets/earpieces that will stay in my ear. The 925 has soft gel adapters for the inside of your ear, so it's comfortable and stays in my ear.  The sound quality is amazing, with AudioIQ adaptive noise control.  Plus, it has 5 hours of talk time.  It comes with its own protective charging case to store and charge the bluetooth, which is awesome because you can take it with you to charge on-the-go.  There's also a USB cord that can be used with the earpiece and the charging case, so you can charge it in the car (if you have a USB plug) or with your computer.     

Charging case for Plantronics Discovery 925
For more specs, you can see Plantronics' website.  We found a good deal on Amazon for around $50.  Thanks Mom!

Jay Bird Wireless Bluetooth Buds

I never really run with headphones, primarily for safety reasons and the fact that I don't want to get used to running with music because very few races (and no triathlons) allow you to wear headphones.  But, for long runs and for gym workouts, I hate having to use my wired headphones, which just get tangled up.  I recently saw an ad in USA Triathlon magazine for the Jay Bird Freedom bluetooth ear buds, mentioned them to my boyfriend, and guess what he got me for my birthday?  


The Jay Bird Freedom has a variety of ear adapter pieces (including an over-the-ear hook) to fit my funky ear.  I took these out on a quick run the other nite and they sound awesome!  The ear piece has volume and forward/reverse control, and they come with an awesome storage case (the black case pictured above).   Music playtime is 6 hours and standby time is 250 hours.  In addition, they're sweatproof, which if you're a sweat hog like me is a MUST!  And the wireless bluetooth is awesome!  NO more wires to tangle up on my workout or run.  The connecting wire between the ear pieces goes behind your neck: 

Ad from Jay Bird website to show how they're worn...
If you're not using your smartphone for your workouts and, instead, are using an iPod shuffle or other device without bluetooth, you can buy a iSport bluetooth adapter that plugs into the charging port on your device.

As an added bonus, the Jay Bird also is a bluetooth headset for phonecalls.  I generally run/workout with my iPhone, so the Jay Bird Freedom is great for me because I can take/make phone calls on-the-run.  The Plantronics Discovery 925 and other solo earbud pieces wouldn't work well for a run because they'll eventually fall out from all the jarring.  But these Jay Bird earbuds are designed for workouts, they're sweatproof, and they stay put!  I wouldn't peronally wear these all the time for regular phone calls because they don't sound nearly as good as the Plantronics, plus I don't want to wear two ear buds when I'm driving.  But for a phone calls during a workout, the Jay Bird Freedom is perfect.  The Jay Bird Freedom is $99, which I think is very reasonable given all the features and durability.      

So if you're looking to go hands-free in the car or on-the-go with your phone, I recommend the Plantronics Discovery 925.  If you want to get untangled on your workouts and have the option to chit-chat, I recommend the Jay Bird Freedom...

Happy listening!  





1 comment:

Unknown said...

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