The Shokz OpenRun are my favorite rock climbing headphones

Loads of earbuds are geared towards working, weightlifting, and even swimming. Regardless of mountain climbing’s meteoric rise and superstar standing, few earbuds and headphones are appropriate for the game. I’ve reviewed a whole bunch of audio merchandise, and the Shokz OpenRun are the perfect headphones for mountain climbing in my view.

Anybody aware of mountain climbing is aware of that you just use loads of chalk. The chalk absorbs extra moisture out of your fingers, making it simpler to grip holds. As you’ll be able to think about, chalk doesn’t simply keep in your fingers. It will get in all places.

The Shokz OpenRun are a rebranded model of the AfterShokz Aeropex ($99 at Amazon), and each headphones have a dust-tight development backed up by their IP67 score. This reassures me that I can reposition the headphones with out worrying about chalk damaging the internals. The identical applies to utilizing the onboard button controls. There aren’t any cracks or crevices for particles to slide between the buttons and into the headset. I can swap tracks till I exhaust a complete playlist, portray the buttons in chalk with out care.

The OpenRun are additionally waterproof. Admittedly, that is much less related to climbing, but it surely’s good to know they’re secure from my sweat. Plus, I might theoretically put the OpenRun underwater to scrub the chalk off with out damaging them. I don’t advocate doing that, but it surely’s an possibility in a pinch.

One other helpful characteristic is the titanium headband that may flex in any route. This design makes it straightforward to contort the headphones into their pouch and toss them right into a fitness center bag. Plus, the sturdy construct means they need to be secure from minor falls and fumbles.

I additionally admire how bone conduction headphones at giant depart my ears open to the world. With the OpenRun, I can hear every little thing round me on the fitness center. That is notably necessary when climbing as a result of I want to listen to if somebody is beneath me earlier than making a dangerous transfer that might end in a fall. Likewise, I like with the ability to take heed to music and stay alert if somebody falls close by.

Stepping past climbing for a second, these open ear headphones are additionally the most secure possibility for biking. I often bike to my native fitness center, and full consciousness whereas biking is important. Coincidentally, the match additionally makes these headphones suitable with sure listening to aids.

That stated, the design that enables me to stay situationally conscious can also be answerable for sub-par audio high quality. Don’t get me flawed, the OpenRun sound good for bone conduction headphones, however they don’t truly sound that good. As a substitute of sitting in your ear canals, bone conduction headphones relaxation in your cheekbones. They bypass your center ear, sending vibrations by way of your cranium to your cochlea. Because of this, the sound high quality lacks bass and readability.

One other minor irritation is how the sound adjustments as I chew or drink. The jaw motion from these actions displaces the headphones. I’ve additionally nudged the headscarf misplaced with my shoulder (think about twisting your neck 90 levels to the left and looking out up), dislodging the OpenRun mid-climb. As you’ll be able to think about, all of that is fairly distracting.

For many who like the concept of bone conduction headphones however are scared off by the sound high quality adjustments, get the OpenRun Professional ($179 at Amazon). These use newer expertise, so jaw motion doesn’t have an effect on their sound as intensely. Nevertheless, whereas the OpenRun Professional sound nice, the OpenRun are a a lot better worth for most individuals and, funnily sufficient, are extra sturdy than the pricier Professionals.

Any of Shokz’ headphones will likely be good for mountain climbing as all of them resist mud and water to various levels. Nevertheless, if you happen to particularly need climbing earbuds, two come to thoughts.

When reviewing the Jabra Elite 4 and OnePlus Buds Professional 2, these earbuds jumped out at me for his or her IP55 dust- and waterproof builds. Each units of controls work with chalky fingers however they function otherwise. With the Elite 4, it is advisable to press the button on both earbud to skip songs or reply calls. To do the identical on the Buds Professional 2, you could squeeze both earbud stem.

The extra conventional earbud expertise from Jabra and OnePlus’ buds provides higher sound high quality than bone conduction headsets too. Moreover, with OnePlus and Jabra’s earbuds, I don’t have to fret about tilting my head a sure manner and pushing the buds misplaced. As a substitute, I can transfer freely and chew to my coronary heart’s content material with out compromising the sound high quality. Sweat doesn’t pose a difficulty with match both: I’ve gone on hour-long runs with each units of buds, and so they’ve by no means slipped out.

Though these buds seal your ears, they assist mono-listening and transparency modes for environmental consciousness. These are nice accessibility and security options, however I take pleasure in stereo playback from Shokz’ headphones. Plus, neither transparency mode can compete with naturally listening to the world by way of each ears.

In the end, any of those three audio merchandise can endure chalked-up fingers, however solely the OpenRun have a assured dust-tight construct.