When you’re in the groove you know it. You’re pushing your body past the last benchmark that you set for yourself and while you’re gasping for more air, inside you’re feeling great! This must be what it feels like to be an Olympic athlete, a pro running back or a world renowned five time Tour de France champ. When, without notice, your ear buds fall out halfway through Motley Crue’s Kickstart My Heart and you lose that rhythm you’ve worked so hard to reach. Your heart rate drops as you fumble for your phones and you lose precious seconds you’ll never regain. You forget how many reps, how many feet, how many yards or miles to go and that just gets under your craw.
I’m a cyclist and I’ve tried several different ear buds with the latest being a set of Iron Man wired ear buds. I ride alone but I never ride without my tunes. Angus, Axl, and Alice are my riding buddies and boy can they ride! Like most of you looking to inject some motivation into your workout, I don’t know what it’s like to ride tune-less. This is my Jabra Sport Coach wireless earbuds review.
Fit And Feel
I’m going to start with the comfort and fit of these Jabra Buds because for me that was the most important feature I was looking for. Without exception the buds I’ve used either hurt my ears or just wouldn’t stay in. Not so with these little gems from Jabra. These things have a fit like nothing I’ve never experienced before. Materials are soft and fit snugly. Jabra has included 3 very easy to change out “Earwings” that make a near custom fit a dream come true. I will caution that these buds have the ability to completely erase ambient sound when you have the volume up a bit. Use caution when knowing what’s around you is important. Enjoy when shutting out the world is important.
Sound
Second to fit was sound quality. AWESOME! Mids, highs and bass all accounted for. I’ve heard things coming out of these buds I’ve never heard before! I can actually understand the words coming out of Axl Rose’s lips. With sound like this I’ve been running 180 BPM heart rates and didn’t even notice! Nuff said right?
Software
I have to admit that I’m a product of the 60’s so I’m not the typical techie guy. Techaeris asked me to review these because I am one fast SOB on two wheels and I happen to be searching for a great set of musical marshmallows for my ears. Having said all of that. Jabra did include an app called Jabra Sport. It reminded me of something like Map My Walk. You can choose some basic exercise routine that the sexy voice prompts you through. I didn’t use it much because if I’m going to sweat it’s going to happen on two wheels. I logged 350 miles with the Jabra Buds though. The Jabra buds will play your iTunes library when you exercise but I couldn’t find a way for it to choose a playlist. It was shuffling through my whole library. I didn’t like that because Bridge Over Troubled Water does nothing for my average MPH. While the Jabra app wasn’t my cup of tea I’m sure others may find it useful.
Hardware
The buds are not completely wireless as there is a short cord that connects the two buds and it hangs behind your neck. I didn’t feel that it was at all cumbersome or even noticeable. Even when it caught my helmet everything stayed in place. The buds have a volume switch on the right cord that works very much like the cord on my Apple iPhone buds. I could have talked on the phone because of the BlueTooth Connectivity but who wants to talk on the phone when you’re pushing 40 MPH in a 35 MPH zone! There is also a button that sits flush on the left bud to communicate with the Jabra Sport App. Start, stop and finished set. The buds come with a cord for recharging and a nice little semi-hard case for storing.
Wrap Up
The only bad thing I can say about these buds is the pause feature you have to deal with when cycling. It goes like this: If you turn your head to your left it will pause your music until you return your head back to center. I think that it’s for safety and that makes perfect sense but I don’t always ride on the road. My music paused every time I turned my head to the left. I could not duplicate this pause feature during normal use or regular exercise. Just while on the bike.
I believe that Jabra has a winner here. In cycling’s greatest test of endurance it’s called wearing the yellow jersey in the Tour De France. In hockey it’s the Stanley Cup and I have no idea what it’s called in tennis but these things win it hands down! If you’re looking for great fit, awesome sound, ease of use and lightweight then when you finish the next set, rep, run, jump, or throw run out and get yourself a pair.
If I fly past you on the bike path please don’t be offended if I don’t return your hello… my Jabra buds and I are in the zone beating our personal best.
*We were sent a demo unit of the Jabra Coach Wireless Earbuds for the purpose of this review.
Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
