ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Suunto Wing bone conduction headphones can be found in Lava Pink and Black for $199 (plus a limited-time $40-off Amazon coupon).
- Highlights embrace a protracted battery life, LED lights, head motion management, a conveyable battery pack, and IP67 water and sweat resistance.
- Pricing is comparatively costly, however the sturdiness and endurance greater than make up for it.
My first publicity to bone conduction headphones occurred only a few years in the past, after I needed to hearken to music throughout my runs whereas my ears remained open, conscious of my environment. It did not take me lengthy to appreciate the opposite advantages of the product class, together with the longer battery life than commonplace earbuds, and the truth that these ear hangers by no means fell out irrespective of how a lot I juked and jived whereas working.
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Since then, we have gone from two or three rivals within the bone conduction market to nearly too many to rely, together with from firms which might be already established within the health market. Suunto is understood for its GPS sports activities watches, however for the previous month, I’ve been working, path working, indoor rowing, biking, and strolling with the corporate’s new Suunto Wing headphones. They usually’re improbable.
The Suunto Wing bone conduction headphones are available Black and Lava Pink (as reviewed) with a value of $199. This can be a fairly commonplace value for high-end bone conduction headphones, and the Suunto Wing provides just a few distinctive options I’ve not but seen on every other mannequin.
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Probably the most important purpose I put on bone-conduction headphones is for consciousness and security, particularly when working at evening or in unfamiliar territory. Suunto’s rendition has a novel security characteristic within the LED lights positioned on each side of the headphones.
Three small lights are embedded into the block behind your ear the place the battery is situated. The lights might be personalized from the Suunto smartphone app to shine always, in flashing mode, and in an SOS sample. Three vibrant crimson LED lights seem on all sides of your head and it will assist make you extra seen to these round you as you train outdoors and/or at evening.
Two buttons are discovered on the underside of the headphones, controlling energy and quantity up/down. With a fast configuration on the smartphone app, you possibly can then lengthy press the amount down button to toggle the LED lights on and off, which makes issues very handy while you want extra security.
One other distinctive characteristic of the headphones is the pinnacle motion management performance. Once more, this may be toggled on and off within the Suunto smartphone app and is turned off by default. When a name is available in, you possibly can shake your head backward and forward twice to reject the decision or nod twice to reply the decision.
This characteristic goes past taking calls; If you’re listening to music, shaking your head twice backward and forward switches to the subsequent track. I used this fairly a bit when listening to some random Spotify playlists and located shaking my head a lot simpler than pushing buttons on my watch or headphones.
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One last characteristic not seen by others is the facility financial institution charging system. The headset rests securely on a triangular battery pack that has a plastic clip to safe the headphones. You may then take this battery pack with you when touring and recharge your headphones, including about 20 hours of playback.
The headphones themselves last as long as 10 hours with a full cost, with 10 minutes of charging offering you with as much as three hours of music help. I traveled with the facility financial institution throughout a latest journey and may affirm that Suunto’s battery life estimates are correct. I am going to add that activating the LED lights does affect the battery life, decreasing it to about 4 hours, down from 10 hours.
I’ve had earbuds fail up to now from my sweat and the usually wet situations I run in, however bone conduction headphones don’t relaxation inside my ears and sit out on the floor of my head. It actually helps that the Suunto Wing are rated at IP67 and sweat and waterproof.
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One minor gripe I’ve is the multi-function button discovered on the surface of the left facet. It is a bit too flush and is similar shade because the headphones, so it wasn’t at all times the best to activate or see.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
I’ve examined a number of bone conduction headphones over the previous few years they usually’re solely getting higher. The Suunto Wingheadphones got here out of nowhere and have rapidly turn into my most popular headset due to the extra security options, transportable battery pack, and excellent efficiency. The pinnacle motion management is particularly helpful because it’s usually inconvenient for me to faucet round to play music or reply calls.
