The Shokz OpenRun are my favourite mountaineering headphones

Loads of earbuds are geared towards working, weightlifting, and even swimming. Regardless of mountaineering’s meteoric rise and celeb standing, few earbuds and headphones are appropriate for the game. I’ve reviewed lots of of audio merchandise, and the Shokz OpenRun are the most effective headphones for mountaineering for my part.

Anybody acquainted with mountaineering is aware of that you simply use a number of chalk. The chalk absorbs extra moisture out of your palms, making it simpler to grip holds. As you’ll be able to think about, chalk doesn’t simply keep in your palms. It will get all over the place.

The Shokz OpenRun are a rebranded model of the AfterShokz Aeropex ($99 at Amazon), and each headphones have a dust-tight development backed up by their IP67 ranking. This reassures me that I can reposition the headphones with out worrying about chalk damaging the internals. The identical applies to utilizing the onboard button controls. There aren’t any cracks or crevices for particles to slide between the buttons and into the headset. I can swap tracks till I exhaust a complete playlist, portray the buttons in chalk with out care.

The OpenRun are additionally water resistant. Admittedly, that is much less related to climbing, but it surely’s good to know they’re secure from my sweat. Plus, I may theoretically put the OpenRun underwater to wash the chalk off with out damaging them. I don’t advocate doing that, but it surely’s an choice in a pinch.

One other useful characteristic is the titanium headband that may flex in any path. This design makes it simple to contort the headphones into their pouch and toss them right into a health club bag. Plus, the sturdy construct means they need to be secure from minor falls and fumbles.

I additionally admire how bone conduction headphones at giant go away my ears open to the world. With the OpenRun, I can hear all the things round me on the health club. That is significantly essential when climbing as a result of I want to listen to if somebody is beneath me earlier than making a dangerous transfer that might lead to a fall. Likewise, I like with the ability to take heed to music and stay alert if somebody falls close by.

Stepping past climbing for a second, these open ear headphones are additionally the most secure choice for biking. I normally bike to my native health club, and full consciousness whereas biking is critical. Coincidentally, the match additionally makes these headphones suitable with sure listening to aids.

That stated, the design that permits me to stay situationally conscious can also be chargeable for sub-par audio high quality. Don’t get me fallacious, the OpenRun sound good for bone conduction headphones, however they don’t really sound that good. As a substitute of sitting in your ear canals, bone conduction headphones relaxation in your cheekbones. They bypass your center ear, sending vibrations by your cranium to your cochlea. Consequently, the sound high quality lacks bass and readability.

One other minor irritation is how the sound adjustments as I chew or drink. The jaw motion from these actions displaces the headphones. I’ve additionally nudged the scarf misplaced with my shoulder (think about twisting your neck 90 levels to the left and looking out up), dislodging the OpenRun mid-climb. As you’ll be able to think about, all of that is fairly distracting.

For individuals who like the concept of bone conduction headphones however are scared off by the sound high quality adjustments, get the OpenRun Professional ($179 at Amazon). These use newer know-how, so jaw motion doesn’t have an effect on their sound as intensely. Nonetheless, whereas the OpenRun Professional sound nice, the OpenRun are a significantly better worth for most individuals and, funnily sufficient, are extra sturdy than the pricier Professionals.

Any of Shokz’ headphones will likely be good for mountaineering as all of them resist mud and water to various levels. Nonetheless, in the event you particularly need climbing earbuds, two come to thoughts.

When reviewing the Jabra Elite 4 and OnePlus Buds Professional 2, these earbuds jumped out at me for his or her IP55 dust- and water resistant builds. Each units of controls work with chalky palms however they function in a different way. With the Elite 4, it’s essential to press the button on both earbud to skip songs or reply calls. To do the identical on the Buds Professional 2, you have to squeeze both earbud stem.

The extra conventional earbud expertise from Jabra and OnePlus’ buds affords higher sound high quality than bone conduction headsets too. Moreover, with OnePlus and Jabra’s earbuds, I don’t have to fret about tilting my head a sure approach and pushing the buds misplaced. As a substitute, I can transfer freely and chew to my coronary heart’s content material with out compromising the sound high quality. Sweat doesn’t pose a problem with match both: I’ve gone on hour-long runs with each units of buds, they usually’ve by no means slipped out.

Though these buds seal your ears, they help mono-listening and transparency modes for environmental consciousness. These are nice accessibility and security options, however I take pleasure in stereo playback from Shokz’ headphones. Plus, neither transparency mode can compete with naturally listening to the world by each ears.

In the end, any of those three audio merchandise can endure chalked-up palms, however solely the OpenRun have a assured dust-tight construct.