Sportsband Review from Running4themasses

by Jaybird, March 28th, 2012

The following is a review of the JayBird Sportsband Bluetooth Headphones by http://running4themasses.wordpress.com their blog contains “Information about running for and Ordinary Average Joe”

Product Review: Jaybird Sportsband

Recently, I reviewed the Plantronic 903+ BackBeat Bluetooth Headphones. They are one of the nicer Bluetooth headphones on the market.

However; there is one brand that I think stands head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to Bluetooth headphones and headphones designed for working out. The company is Jaybird.

I highly recommend you check out their website at the link about for their complete product rundown and description of all of their product lines.

For close to a year now, I’ve been using the Jaybird Sportsband 2 (pictured above) and per my previous review of the Plantronics headphones, have mixed the 903+ into the mix. I had a run last night, and decided I wanted to use the Jaybird headphones, and I am glad I did. I forgot how much I love these headphones.

I’ve always been one, until recently, that didn’t like earbud headphones. They always hurt my ears after a short period of time. I needed over the head and ear headphones, so when I was looking for new headphones at the time a year ago, I stumbled upon the Jaybird brand. I did a lot of research on the brand, read some reviews, did some comparisons, and my findings were that there was not a Bluetooth headphone on the market, especially designed for working out, that could compare. I made the jump and purchased the Sportsband 2.

Here is some details on the Jaybird Sportsband 2:

The Jaybird Sportsband 2 offer CD quality sound, resulting in deep bass, complete depth to your music, and make the music sound crystal clear.
The controls of the headphone are simple, right at your fingertips, and reliable:
Jaybird is the Official Training Headphone Partner for the USA Triathlon.
This is the biggest kicker and was a selling point for me. These headphones are backed by a LIFETIME warranty against sweat. As they say on their site: “JayBird is well established as the ultimate workout headphone with its Lifetime Warranty Against Sweat across its entire range. JayBird backs your commitment to fitness so use them as you like. Sweat it up, we have you covered.”

Here is my findings. Plain and simple, these headphones rock. I had originally ordered the Pearl White version of the headphone (color has been discontinued), and about 2 weeks into the use of the product, anytime I turned my head to the right, the headphones would cut out of all sound. Upon a live chat session with the Jaybird customer support team, it was determined that there was a loose wire in the headphone (later confirmed when they received the headphone), and they promptly replaced my headphones (I had my new pair 1 day later) with a brand new set of headphones in the color shown in the picture at the top of this review. I have not had one issue with these headphones ever since.

These headphones are extremely easy to use in every facet. You have no wasted movement when you want to change a track, change the volume, or make a call. The buttons (all housed on the side of the right headphone) are responsive, and take little effort when pressing them to get tracks to move forward/back, to change the volume up/down, or to pause the music, or start/answer a call. The headphones themselves paired almost instantly when recognized by all the devices I have used them with (Droid, Ipod, iPhone, Motoactv), and when you turn on the headphones, and the device is set to bluetooth mode, they connect automatically (sometimes you do need to do it manually).

The headphones themselves are great. The band that fits over your head is a rubberized material, and is very comfortable to wear. I wore these headphones last year during my 1st half marathon training and the race itself, and they were great. No soreness, they rarely moved out-of-place. The earbud sections are great as well. Nice padded earbuds, and with my headphones, they send extra few extra sets of replacement covers. I’m yet to replace my original ones that came on the headphones. They are still very comfortable. The only complaint I have about these headphones is that if you bend over to stretch or tie your shoes, the headphones will slip off of your head. But when in use, absolutely no issues.

The sound quality (to me) rivals corded headphones. It is clean, crisp, soulful, has great depth, and I could go on and on. There are some out there that are audiophiles, and they may not agree with me; however, I found that I ended up preferring sound quality of the Jaybird Sportsband 2 over my $150 Skullcandy corded headphones. As for taking and receiving phone calls on these, it is great. There is an audible tone in the earphones when a call is coming in, and you have the ability to take the phone call, or ignore it. I’ve taken several calls while wearing these headphones, and I’ve not had one complaint of the person on the other line not being able to hear me nor have I not been able to hear them. Also, the range of these headphones is outstanding. I’ve never had these headphones cut out on me. I’ve had the headphones on, my phone in the bedroom, and me in the basement of the house (2 levels down), and it never cut out on my. The only time I’ve had these cut out on me was when I went outside to the mailbox and the phone was in the house.

In all, these headphones (for a wireless/bluetooth) headphone are by far in my opinion, the best on the market. I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking to get into a bluetooth headphone.

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