I usually can’t get my earbuds to survive a week of trips on a city bus, so these “Tested By Animals” headphones and earbuds from Philips & O’Neill caught by attention.
Philips (the Dutch electronics company) and O’Neill (the Santa Cruz surfing company) introduced a line of headphones “to withstand the rigors of an active lifestyle.” The product website features video of their “animals” — gnarly young adrenaline junkies — hucking big air on surf boards, snow boards and skis, presumably while wearing these audio products that are “inspired by the heavy-duty materials and styling of wetsuit materials,” so hopefully they can also handle a daily commute and maybe a little mountain biking. I have no idea if they’re actually waterproof and suitable for surfing or rainy weather bicycling.
$50 for a set of earbuds
$99 for the high impact & high stress crack resistant Philips Stretch.
All feature tough, tangle-free cables; the Snug and Stretch also have breakaway cables that separate from the headphones if they’re yanked. If you’ve ever snagged a cord on a tree limb you know how handy that can be.
=v= Not legal for bicycling in California. Bring back the Bone Fone!
If you have a Bluetooth enabled media players (like an Android or iPhone), I would recommend checking out the Motorola S9. I’ve had a pair for two years now and other then misplacing an ear cup and ripping off a rubber plug, the things continue to work.
I picked up a pair of Sony Qlasp after several par or Sennheiser buds didn’t hold up to gravel training rides. The Sony buds stay put and blocked just enough sound to hear the music or audio book but still pick up what was happening around me. They lasted through the Dirty Kanza 200 race and are still kicking.
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666169345
I picked up a pair of Sony Qlasp after several par or Sennheiser buds didn’t hold up to gravel training rides. The Sony buds stay put and blocked just enough sound to hear the music or audio book but still pick up what was happening around me. They lasted through the Dirty Kanza 200 race and are still kicking.
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666169345