(The following is a guest post by my brother, Eric Cunningham.)
I admit: I wanted to like the original Jabra Sport Bluetooth Headset. It had military grade protection against water, and had exactly the behind-the-ear design I was looking for in a pair of headphones I intended to jog with. Sadly, they weren't very comfortable, the sound was lacking, and the battery life was abysmal. When I heard they had released a new Sport+ model of these headphones I really hoped they had addressed these issues and turned them into the headset I was looking for. Did they suceed? Well, they kind of did, but kind of didn't, read the rest of my review to find out how…
Pros
- Nice behind-the-ear design
- Improved fit over previous model
- Military grade water resistance is legit
- Stand up to the impact of exercising
- Good bass
Cons
- Awful battery life
- Wireless connectivity can be spotty sometimes
- While bass is good, treble is tinny and annoying unless EQ'd
- FM radio is really weak
Click here to see what other customers are saying, and find out what they're choosing instead!
What I Love About These
As I mentioned above, I really like headsets with this design. You have an earpiece on each ear, connected by a wire. To me, this is ideal because I don't have to worry about a headband squeezing my head, fighting with a hat for head space, or messing up my hair. The Jabra Sport+ Bluetooth Headphones are nice and light, so you can sort of forget it's there even while you enjoy your music, which is a feature bigger headphones don't have.
This headset comes with 7 pairs of gel earbuds over the original's 3, which I think goes a long way in making the fit better. With the old ones I couldn't make them fit right, so not only were they uncomfortable, but the sound was lousy.
With earbud-style headsets, where the speakers are tiny and sit right inside your ear, you need a nice fit to hear the bass, otherwise all the air it should press into your eardrum to make the sound just leaks out. Since you have more sizing options with this set, it's easier to get the right fit. When you do, they have surprisingly nice bass for earbuds.
Stereo seperation is good. I've had issues with older bluetooth headphones bleeding the left and right channels together, but the Jabra's don't seem to have that issue.
I also didn't have any issues with the headphones slipping or sound cutting out while I jog, which has been an issue for me with non-sport type bluetooth headsets. I even did some jumping jacks and they worked fine. Using them in the hot tub wasn't an issue either, and I was able to watch Netflix comfortably without them crapping out if they got splashed.
What's Pretty Good About These
The Jabra has some features that are pretty standard with these types of sweatproof bluetooth headsets, and which they pull off adequately. Pairing is easy enough, it only took a minute or two to pair with either my iPhone or my older Android phone. There are also buttons to control volume, take calls, and pause and skip tracks. The buttons are the perfect size for comfortably controlling these functions.
Serious Disadvantages To The Jabra Sport+ Wireless
Okay, if you buy these things, make sure you turn them off when you're not using them. If you leave them in standby mode, on but even playing, you'll drain the battery in 4 or 5 hours, which is pretty lousy. And you will probably need to charge them everyday if you use them, anyway, because play time is only a few hours.
While the Jabra Sport+ headphones live up to their "sport" title by being able to handle a ton of sweat, even rain, and the shock of exercise like jogging and jumping jacks, they still sometimes cut out simply because the Bluetooth signal isn't as strong as I think it should be.
For example, I was wearing these on a crowded bus, and as more and more people got on, it started cutting out more and more. I couldn't believe somebody standing next to me would be enough to cut the wireless out!
I also had issue with the overall sound. The bass is pretty nice, but I thought the highs sounded like a mosquito buzzing in my ear. Adjusting the EQ on my phone made a big difference, but the sound straight out of the box is kind of bad.
Finally, there is a built in FM radio, but if you buy it for that you're wasting your money unless you live right next to the broadcast tower for whatever station you're listening to. I think it's because they're overall small headphones, there's not much room for a powerful enough FM receiver. Only the strongest stations come in enough to listen to, and where I live the strongest stations aren't the ones I like to listen to 🙁
Like the original Jabra Sport headset, I really really wanted to like the Sport+ model. The design is perfect, and the construction rugged enough for the conditions I throw at it. Sadly, the weak battery life, wireless signal, and overall lacking sound make these a bad deal for me. As an alternative, I'd probably go with the sweat-proof JayBird BlueBuds X
For the official specs, user ratings and current prices, check out Amazon.com.
