Wireless for sound – the verdict

My wireless BackBeat headset in groovy lime green

I have never been crazy about running with headphones. TBH I like to get away from everything when I’m out for a run, and do exciting things like work out my tax return in my head while pounding along, rather than listening to Eye of the Tiger (joke). However in the run up to the Hackney Half Marathon some nice PR lady from Plantronics sent me these for a trial, so I have been using them with a funky playlist of my favourite tracks…

After a week’s use, here are the pros and the cons, three of each. 

PRO

1. The Bluetooth works brilliantly. No wires. You  can even answer calls.

2. You can’t turn it up VERY loudlly so you can always hear surrounding traffic, which is important.

3. You can’t think about the effort required and you do tend to go a bit faster.

CON

1. My phone rang. I pulled it out of the pouch, only the pouch was  upside down. My phone smashed on the pavement.

2. You can’t hear runners coming up behind you and speed up so you get overtaken, or at least you might do.

3. You can’t focus on your running so much and if you are doing intervals, you might lose track of them.

In summary, the headphones are a bit fiddly to use, but once you get used to them, they work fine. Having no wires trailing around is excellent. For short runs and interval training I think they might distract a hardened no-noise runner like me, but for long runs I found them a treat, especially with a funky playlist. It does  make the miles click past with less pain. So I would use them for the Hackney Half, the Humber Bridge Half and the Hull Marathon which I am doing later this year, and the long training runs required, but not for short speedy training runs.

The same, incidentally, is true for my Garmin watch.