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Any recommendations for running BT earbuds?

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Hey all, long-time member, but I guess I lost my account from inactivity. So I made a new one.

My wife and I have been running more lately and want to get her some decent Bluetooth earbuds for her birthday so she can listen to music and not have to deal with wires.

My experience with BT earbuds has not been good for running because almost all of them are made to be stuck in your ear canal (which can feel invasive and be annoying) and to cancel out outside noise, which is a bad idea when running outside. Sound isn’t a huge issue, but they should sound decent. But more importantly they should stay secure and allow ambient noise in to hear traffic, other runners/biker, etc, and not have to be jammed into the ear canal.

I’ve looked at several reviews and “best” lists, and I’m surprised to find that there really aren’t any BT earbuds that have these qualities. Even in a list from Runners World their picks seemed to all be dangerous noise isolating/canceling versions. I’m now starting to think that Apple’s new AirPods may actually be the best choice (if only they had volume buttons) as they have everything on my list, and my wife doesn’t have any issues with the wired versions falling out during runs.

So I wanted to reach out to some real people instead of websites that rehash the same handful of headphones to see if anyone has some good suggestions or experiences.

Thanks!
 

Rod


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Try looking instead at "on ear" Bluetooth speakers. For example the Skullcandy Grind Wireless. These are more like small lightweight headphones with a headband but because they are not "over ear" they don't claim noise reduction. Suggested price is pretty good too at about $90.00. I'm sure you will find more if you confine your search to "on ear" speakers.


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Those aren't really good for running though.

Funny thing is I see plenty of good in-ear headphones that are exactly what I want, but they're all wired. For some reason when it comes to BT ear buds everyone makes them in ear canal and/or noise-canceling. I don't get it.
 
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No personal experience with running while wearing earbuds of any kind, but I often see my neighbor using her wired Apple earbuds. She comes back from a run in a state of near collapse and doesn't seem to have a problem with them falling out.

You could be onto something with the new AirPods. They are likely to be even better than BT versions if Apple's blurb on the M1 chip is anything to go by.
 

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