3 Best headphones for Beginner Runners
Have you ever decided to start to work out and tell yourself "Today is going to be the day I get in shape." me too. We have all been there in our fitness journey. We all had to start somewhere, some start as a natural born athlete and grow up in sports, others of us have 9-5 jobs and realized we let ourselves go too much. No matter where you began, you have all decided to start on the journey to bettering your fitness and health in life. Over 315 Million people everyday are listening to music in some shape or form. When we workout this is no different. Whether it is a podcast, motivational speech, or just plain music, to listen to music while running requires a very important piece of equipment; headphones.
Lets be honest what would make you decide to listen to my opinion on what headphones would be best for running? Well, everyone has a unique ear canal. Allowing for a multitude of different opinions on how headphones work for a certain person. I myself have been down this path so many different times circling from one headphone to the next I must have owned over 20 different headphone types in my life. I have worked out with some and wore some everyday, but what we use to run in is going to be what fits our budget best and what can stay in your ear the best with the repetitive thumping on the ground when we run. So, here in my opinion are the three best options for headphones at three similar price points for beginner runners.
Shoks OpenRun Headphones
Price: $179.95
Pros:
-Quality of Construction: These headphones are built to last. Through the multiple runs I have taken them on they have survived falls, sweat, and the occasional water shower to cool off at the end. These headphones are well constructed and can truly last though all of your runs and training and come out on the other side ready for the next day of training.
-Over the Ear Design: These headphones are designed to be hooked on around your ear, providing for better comfort and ease while running. This design keeps them on your ears better and allows for them to have a less likely hood of falling off when you get sweaty from working out.
-No inner ear insert: For those with sensitive ear canals this part is perfect. The design of the headphones is so that the speaker sits right on the outside of the ear. This allows for the music to play with vibrations as well act as a mini speaker for each ear.
-Battery life: 10 hour battery life. Typically will take about 3-4 hours to charge from dead to full.
-Sweat Resistant: When designing these headphones the manufacture really took there time with the construction of making these sweat resistant. I am an individual you sweats a lot. When I am working out I finish with the full wet T-shirt, just like a contest. So, getting headphones that can survive the amount I can sweat was crucial to my training schedule. Being able to finish a run and wipe of the headphones and they are still operating at 100% volume and battery life is a true statement to the quality of these headphones.
-Works for both iPhone and Android: The Bluetooth connect ability allows for these headphones to work for both types of phones. While airpods will only work for iPhones, these will not stop just because you have a green bubble.
Cons:
-Takes some getting use too: The construction of the Shoks is designed to sit right outside of your ear. This design is unusual compared to most as they typical will be inserted into your inner ear canal. So, when music plays you can feel the vibration right on the outside of your ear basically vibrating your ear. It definitely is a weird feeling once you first experience it and will take some getting used too before it does not feel awkward anymore.
-No inner ear insert: Due to the design some people feel more comfortable with the inner ear insert that would allow for more stability for them. These do not come with that insert as they are designed to sit outside your ear. This could cause some issues for some people causing them to not like these headphones.
Airpod Pros
Price: $199.99
Pros:
-Noise cancellation: When apple made the airpods the designed them with the feature of noise cancellation and let me tell you they work. Putting them on in a crowded place and putting on your favorite music or podcast and it will be as if there was no one around you. These are great if you run in a crowded city or area where there is a lot of external noises that are distracting you in the middle of your runs.
-Sound quality: The developer really took their time trying to make sure that you hear every note and syllable when the music is playing and they did a fantastic job with it.
-Customizable ear tips: Apple has designed the airpods with the ability to switch between there sizes for the ear tips, which allow for better fits for all people. But with this feature other companies took it upon themselves to make different tips in the three sizes as well. This allows for different tip construction like silicon or memory foam as well as colors.
Cons:
-Only works with iPhones: With this being an apple product, I'm sorry if you own an android but you will not get to use these. There is no universal Bluetooth on these and you must own an iPhone in order for these headphones to work with your phone.
-When they get wet potential damage: When I workout I sweat a lot, a little too much at times. When the airpods get wet the ear tips get slippery and have a greater chance of falling out of your ears. I would not recommend these if you sweat a lot because of the slipping as well as when you risk a greater factor of the water getting into the mechanisms when you sweat more.
-Battery Life: 6 hour battery life. This is true to the battery life unless you are using both at the same time. Then personally I have seen the battery life last a little shorter than this for both headphones and a little longer that this for one headphone at a time.
Beats Powerbeats Pro
Price: $179.99
Pros:
-Battery Life: 9 hour battery life. The advertised battery life holds true for these headphones, when fully charged you do get about 8-9 hours of battery life.
-Works for both iPhone and Android: Due to the universal Bluetooth on these headphones you are able to use them with any phone you have. So, unlike the airpods you can use these on both major devices.
-Sweat resistant: These things are built to be hydrophobic. When you are a sweatier individual you tend to lean towards items that do not have a likelihood on being destroyed when you sweat, and boy do these deliver. The sweat just rolls off these headphones and continues to work like nothing ever touched them before. Highly recommend these to sweatier individuals like myself.
Cons:
-Inner Ear design for some ear types: With the design of the inner ear inserts they will not work for those who have issues with their ears. As personally someone with this issue getting inner ear inserts on headphones can suck and cause more ear issues then benefits of listening to the music.
-Too lightweight: While these headphones are well built, something that just seems off to me is how lightweight they are. They are built so you barley can noticed the extra weight while running which is amazing, but sometimes things can be too lightweight to where they fall of when running also. Would definitely watch out if you have issues with smaller ears or with items being really light they almost are tickling you.
In Conclusion, all of these headphones are amazing in their own right. One par might match up better for you then it does for someone else. What is great is that we are all able to choose what works best for us and run with them. So choose your headphones put them on and run. Do not let anything stop you from reaching your goal. If you would like any help with anything do not hesitate to reach out. Stay running.