The right headphones for the right job – cycling and the office

When you use headphones for a variety of different things it can be hard to find one pair that does all the jobs. I recently acquired a Plantronics Backbeat Go 2 bluetooth headset in the hope that they would fill in the gaps and replace my Avantree Jogger headphones.

The dedicated headphones who compete for my veracious favour were both from of an elite store of mobile accessories known as MobileZap.

These are their stories.

Plantronics: The Upside

Plantronics really do make a nice headset that has a good audio quality and nice microphone. The interface is intuitive and nice to use.

I chose them because I am having trouble with the quality of voice calls on the Avantree headset. On that front they’ve done a superb job, I use my phone a lot for work and this makes it much easier.

Another bonus was the fact that they are much better at syncing with multiple devices. I walk into the office and open my computer up and pretty quickly I’m using the headset for my Macbook Pro also.

They come with a range of earbuds sizes and it has taken a while for me to figure out the right for my ear but they stay in reasonably well. Once they’re in they block out a lot of outside noise which is nice if you’re trying to concentrate with lots of noise around you.

These babies are tiny, they wrap up to the size of a regular set of headphones and most people don’t even notice that they’re a bluetooth headset until they see that they’re not connected to anything.

When I’m trying to nap with these, I can lean comfortably on them as they’re just tiny earbuds that are connected by a wire.

Plantronics: The Downside

Battery life is key for me with riding and due to the tiny size of the Backbeat earbuds they don’t have much room for a big battery. That means I probably only get 3 hours of use compared to the 5-6 hours I’ll normally get with my Avantree Joggers.

On two more rather important counts the Avantree Joggers still win out; background noise and fit.

When I’m cycling and running it’s important to hear what’s happening around me so the noise reduction of the Backbeat that I love in the office make them a no go for cycling.

Although the ear fit is nice on the Backbeat Go, they don’t stay in nearly as well as the firm Joggers. If I take one ear out or am doing vigorous exercise one will simply fall out and then quickly shake the other one out.

Horses For Courses

For now my “universal headphone” search continues, maybe with no end in sight. However, I’m happy with the Pantronics Backbeat Go 2 for making calls and using in the office and keeping my pair of Avantree Joggers for my more rigorous activities.

If you have any headphone recommendations please leave them in the comments below.

P.S. As mentioned on earlier posts. Don’t cycle with music. Headphones are useful for map directions or maybe an audiobook or a podcast. It’s important to hear traffic around you, and even then it’s best to limit to using when away from traffic or off-road.