5 things I learned after ditching all my Bluetooth workout headphones
My Jabra Elite 8 Actives were perfect – until I lost one. Like most people, I got used to the freedom that using the best workout earbuds provided, with no more tangling wires draped under my shirt anchoring me to my phone. Also, on runs, I often test the best bone conduction headphones to run with, as you get to soundtrack your runs and stay aware of your surroundings.
On this occasion, I was using the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2, as I was between bone-conduction headphones to test. Normally very secure, the Elite 8 Active Gen 2s are the Rolls Royce of workout headphones: super-premium, well-engineered, and very comfortable. Halfway through my run, I stopped at the local health club to grab a coffee, took my earbuds out, and one of them slipped through my fingers onto the floor.
Before I could see where it bounced, a group of kids rolled through the foyer fresh from a swim class, and that was the last time I saw that earbud. After 20 minutes of searching the floor and corners for the bud, I left my details with the receptionist and dejectedly began the six-mile run home with one earbud.
I used those earbuds for work and play, so I was practically left without a tool for meetings as well as workouts. Furious with myself, I ordered a couple of cheap pairs of wired headphones; some Sony over-ear headphones reserved for working on my laptop, and a cheap pair of Panasonic RP-TCM225DEK USB-C wired headphones I could use as backup workout buds until I picked up another pair of premium ones.
Although I was still bemoaning the loss of my buds, I was also excited to go back to wired, in a small way.
