Took a trip to Texas last weekend and had a chance to put these to the test and thought I would share my experience with them.

They are in-ear, noise cancelling headphones. They got a good test on this ride. Interstate noise at 80+mph with head and cross winds.

I started out with them in noise cancelling mode and I wasn't that impressed at first. However compared to my regular ear buds, an $80 pair of Polk Audio, I was able to hear the songs at a lower volume.

When I turned the noise cancelling off and back on is when I found out how well they did work. Without it I had my MP3 player at max volume and was barely able to hear the music. At times not even being able to recognize the song. Flip the switch and that changed. They don't cancel every outside sound, the sudden loud gusts or my buddies pipes would be noticeable but never overpowering the music. They worked fine with different styles of music, from head banging to mellow.

The literature says they will last 16 hours on a two hour charge. I got about 14 hours from them. You can still listen to the music after the battery loses it's charge.

Bottom line is they do work as advertised but some ambient noise does get through. They are expensive for ear buds at $300. They also come with a built in microphone that allows you to pause the tunes and answer your phone. A feature I will never use so I can't comment on that. Would I recommend them? Yes.

They have a 30 day no questions asked return policy backed by BOSE so you can take them for a test ride yourself with no risk. Hope this helped anyone looking at them and I'm happy to answer any questions.

 

Are you wearing these with a helmet? If so, any discomfort? (FYI I have the same Bose earbuds; tried wearing with my Schubert full face helmet but too much pressure on the ears for comfortable long ride.)

 

That was my first thought too. Would these work without a helmet?

 

I was wearing a half helmet at the time. I haven't tried them without yet. They have a plastic piece that fits inside the ear, along with the bud itself, that should help it stay in place without a helmet. My ears were a bit tender after 14 hours with them in.

 

Has anyone found a good set of ear buds that work with out a helmet? I'm station in NC and will be riding back to northern CA this summer. Being from the west coast I don't get many chances to pop off the brain bucket so I want to max out my time but no tunes for that long will be kind of a bore.


OLLIE

 

not preaching at you brother, but if you're stationed in nc, that means that you're most likely military. which means that if you aren't wearing a helmet, and get in an accident (your fault or not), then you could be held liable for your medical care. (no, they can't withhold your sgli should the worst happen, that's a wive's tale).

just be aware...... and have a good ride, i'd love to go cross country

 

I just bought them and drove from Atlanta to Pittsburgh with them in - unfortunately
in my car. The noise cancel feature is phenomenal with the windows up. You can make calls, and talk without hearing yourself, and play music at low volumes hearing things you never heard before.

I said with the windows up. When wind hits them - they make a racket. But I wear a full helmet and will report back after riding.

 

Isn't riding with headphones on illegal in a lot of areas?

 

And completely legal in a lot of other areas.

 

I ride with Bose in ear headphones on any long ride I go on. Allows me to listen/hear better at highway speeds at lower volume and I can still hear ambient noise.