Gear Review: Yurbuds

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m pretty hard on my running gear.  While I don’t mean to be super destructive, and I generally think I’m being careful with it, inevitably I end up bouncing things off the ground, dropping them from heights, or just eating through them with my apparently nuclear grade corrosive sweat (I’m so adorable!  How can I be so gross?). 

Unlike some runners who can’t put on their shoes before their headphones (no judging if this is you – we’re all different), I can run without music, although my preference is to have something playing, mainly to distract me from all the random thoughts in my head while I motor along. 

A sampling:

•  Mmmm, I smell bacon.
• Is that man on the bench homeless?
• Why is that person walking on the wrong side of the path?
• Aaaaah, lady, reign in the leash on your dog!
• Where is the closest bathroom?
• Oh no, shouldn’t have had spicy chicken tacos for dinner last night.
•  Man, I really want bacon

Over the years, I’ve had a collection of music players for this purpose, and I’ve found that the super basic iPod Shuffles (the cute little squares) work the best; they’re low tech, they don’t have too many buttons, and they’re pretty hardy.  I remember one in particular that I flung to the ground with my furious arm-pumping during a dash down the finish chute of my first PF Chang’s full marathon.  It bounced along for a few yards, I grabbed it on the way across the mat, and it still worked fine despite being somewhat bent and lacerated.

For headphones on these beasts, I’ve generally just used the basic Apple ones that come with the music player.  My ears tolerate the earbuds pretty well, and although they do come loose once in awhile, it’s not that big of a deal for me to just put them back in while I’m jogging along.  Hey, on a 20 mile run, any distraction is interesting, no matter how minor it is. 

Every now and then, I have to replace the headphones as the rubber lining around the earbud eventually flakes off.  Recently, this happened, and I spent some time on Amazon, perusing the replacement options.  I didn’t want to pay the $8000 that actual iPod headphones cost (note: that number may be an exaggeration), so I found an $8 pair that seemed to work the same and had a high review rate.  They were shipped through Prime (Prime!  Hooray!), so I had them in time for running the PF Chang’s 5K and half marathon.  While they were okay sound-wise, they kept falling out, and putting them back in eventually became annoying and hurt my ears.  Back to the drawing board.

Over the years, various friends have recommended Yurbuds, headphones that are specifically designed for athletes.  They use what they call Twistlock technology to keep the earbud “locked” into your ear canal and prevent it from moving.  Essentially, you put the bud in at an angle, then twist it down, locking the rubber tip into place.  It sounds more complicated than it actually is.  Here’s a picture:

Patented fanciness.

Yurbuds have a few different lines of products, including wireless buds that can play your music through the Bluetooth on your phone or enabled audio device.  Since my device is not nearly that fancy, I decided to try out the simplest product offerings, the Inspire line.  I went with the very lowest model available, the Inspire 100, since it was both cheap ($20), and I didn’t need the additional features on the more expensive ones (magnets to keep them untangled, audio controls on the cord to answer calls, etc).  Mine are the lady version of the Inspires, so the earpieces are a bit smaller than the standard ones.  Here’s the ladies’ Inspire line, and my 100s are in the top left corner:

But I got them in pink.

I’ve had them now for a few weeks, and I have to say that I absolutely dig them.  The first time I put them in my ears, they felt a bit odd, but since then, they don’t bug me at all.  I’ve done several long runs with them as well as harder effort runs, and they stay locked right in place at all times (even when I’ve accidentally yanked on the cord for some reason); until I choose to take them out, I honestly forget I’m wearing them. 

Since Yurbuds are designed for athletes, all models make it a point to allow users access to ambient sounds around them.  Most of us are running/riding on roads or trails, so it’s important to be able to hear when a car or another person is coming up behind you, so you can dive out of the way of danger on short notice.  My experience with this has held true as well; while I can still hear my music, I can also clearly hear approaching cars, pedestrians, dogs, bikers, and the like.  Actually, the first time I put them on for a run, it was a windy day, and I felt like the wind was whistling right through my ears; a strange experience to be sure, but the Yurbuds were doing what they were supposed to do.

In reading through online reviews, it seems like a common problem with the buds is that the little rubber tips sometimes come loose of the actual earbuds, and since they’re small, they can be easy to lose (you can see the rubber tips in the photo above - they're the colorful parts over the white buds).  I haven’t found this to be the case so far, but the Yurbuds website offers replacement tips for purchase in case this is a problem.

The Yurbuds line is manufactured by JBL, owned by Harman, so the audio quality is pretty high, particularly for a set of headphones designed to be worn while pounding the pavement.  They’re certainly not giving me a concert-like experience, but I’m not looking for that.  Also, in reading through the comments online, the customer service team working for the company was really responsive to users; while I haven’t had to use them yet, it seems like they have a strong commitment to happy customers.  For example, when some ladies complained that even the smaller earbuds didn't fit, the Yurbuds folks asked them to take a picture and send it in, so buds that fit them properly could be shipped out.  That's pretty impressive, non?

Overall, I’m darn happy with my Yurbuds, and I’d give them a solid recommendation.  I bought mine through the Yurbuds website for $20 with free shipping, but I was at Ross the other day, and they had standard pairs for as little as $15.  Not a bad deal!

Later!

Amy