Plantronics BackBeat FIT wireless headphones – Review

The first wireless headphones I used which connected to your phone with Bluetooth were amazing, but flawed. I felt the volume wasn’t as good as I’d hoped, the sound was a bit tinny and there was some lag between commands on the headphones and the action being taken on your phone. Oh how far we’ve come. Today I’m sitting on a train enjoying brilliant clarity of sound ad complete freedom of movement – all thanks to the BackBeat FIT wireless headphones.

No, they’re not at their best sitting around, for the active user these things will stay in place during your jog, run, trek whatever it is. They’re also “sweat-proof” – not a feature I am likely to be checking out any time soon.

Although, I did have to run for both the bus and train this morning – and not for a second did I feel like they were going to move out of place.

Their rubbery construction means they are super flexible, they wrap around the back of your head and fit quite snuggly into your ears.

The actual earphone is pointed out and when in your ear seems to channel the sound right down into the ear – so there is less loss of sound and quite a good block of the sound around you (I can barely hear that the train announcements are being made around me).

According to Plantronics, 54% of people listen to music with headphones while exercising. If you’re doing this with earbuds on a wire – you’re doing it all wrong. They get tangled, in your way, they fall out if your arm catches on the cable – goodness knows what else.

These new BackBeat FIT headphones from Plantronics will set you back $159 when they go on sale at Rebel Sport on July 1. Two weeks later you’ll find them at Officeworks, JB HiFi and some Telstra and Optus stores. They also come in two colours – Blue and Lime.

As an added little bonus, in the package you’ll also find an arm-band carry case. When you’re on the go this will hold your smartphone and house key on your arm, when you’re not using the BackBeat FITs you can store them in the case.

You’ll get up to 8 hours of battery life from them while listening to music which should be plenty and they charge with a micro USB.

Because the loop between each ear is quite a solid rubber piece it sits quite a way off the back of your head which at first seems a bit weird, but then you realise it gives you complete flexibility of movement – wherever you turn your head you don’t even notice you’re wearing them.

My only gripe during my review was that when I flick to my next track (double press of the left ear), it clips the start of the track if it’s an abrupt song start. But if I’m so picky I’m flicking between songs – I can live with that.

You can pause, go back, go forward, answer and end calls and control the volume all from the earpiece controls.

Great quality sound – in fact some of the best I’ve heard in a very long time – great design, easy to use – these are top-notch and highly recommended.