Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
For years I was a dead set against listening to music while working out. Growing up running on country roads and trails, I loved the sound of the wind, crunching leaves, birds and streams as my workout soundtrack.
And then I bought a bike, started doing triathlons and the high volume indoor training that came along with it. And then got Really REALLY board. The sound of a fan blowing in my face in front of me and the bike trainer buzzing behind me for hours just wasn’t doing it for me. I quickly changed my tune.
First it was the iPod Brick in 2006, strapped to my handle bars with a rubber band. Then I upgraded to the iPod shuffle, clipped to my shirt collar or visor lid. Then the iPhone (with Phonak earbuds) balanced on a sweat rag between my aero bars so I could hang out on Twitter while spinning away the miles.
My latest upgrade is the Sony Walkman Series-W. It is a one piece MP3 player that sits in each ear like a Bluetooth headset with a connecting cord that sits snug across the back of my neck.
The good:
Storage:
At 2 gigs, it isn’t a lot, but for the price, it is spot on. (The 2G iPod Shuffle is in the same price range.) It probably won’t hold your entire music collection, but it will hold more than enough of your favorite workout tunes to keep you moving and still have plenty of variety.
Fit:
Like a glove. I could barely tell that they were there. I especially loved that there were no dangling wires bouncing around as I moved. The whole thing stayed completely still.
Comfort:
Once they are on, I can barely feel them. They are not too loose or too tight and because there is no loose wire dangling, nothing moves at all. I haven’t had to readjust them to keep them from falling off or to prevent my ears from feeling like they are getting crushed. Unlike the simple clip of the iPod Shuffle, these are designed to be worn and moved around with, and they do it really well.
Price:
It is only $49.99. You have spent far more money on far less essential training equipment. These are a solid investment by anyone’s calculations.
Water resistance:
While I love my iPod shuffle, it doesn’t have the greatest track record in the rain. I have always chosen to leave it at home and listen to the sound of the raindrops when running in a storm. Sony planned ahead and made them water resistant so that isn’t a worry. If you are REALLY sweaty, want to run through a sprinkler on a hot summer day or compete in an impromptu wet T-shirt contest like this woman after your run, you can do so without skipping a beat. Or getting electro shock therapy through your skull.
Song navigation:
Since the whole device is strapped to your head, you can’t actually see any of the buttons, but they are all easy to find while on-the-go without having to fumble around. Sony even has built-in technology to let you scan just the choruses of each song in short clips until you find the song you want to listen to. Once you find it, just hit play and it will start from the beginning. It is great for finding that “pick me up” song that you need if you are losing motivation mid-workout.
The bad
The sound quality:
While it is not necessarily bad, it is far from great. It is probably due to the fact that it is pretty hard to get a good seal to cancel out outside noise and get good bass. But, given the comfort factor, this is an acceptable sacrifice. The fact that these don’t cancel out outside noise is actually a good thing for me. If a car, cyclist or another runner is coming up from behind me, I don’t want to be surprised. These are not for you if you are an audio geek, but if you are, you probably have not read this far down. For blasting some motivational tunes while working out, they do the job just fine.
File management:
I’ve become very used how easy iTunes makes it to update my iPod and iPhone with my favorite artists, albums or specific songs. Moving songs over to the Sony Walkman is a little clumsier, but overall not too bad. Just mildly disappointing.
Overall
These are a great buy, will fit a wide range of head sizes (unless maybe you’ve got a watermelon sized-dome) and you get plenty of gear for the price. Two thumbs up.
GIVEAWAY
Sony has bestowed upon me the opportunity to give away two of the Walkman Series-Ws to some of my faithful readers.
Here are the four ways to enter. You can do just one or all four. The more chances mean the better your chances of winning.
1) Click the “Like” button on this blog post to share it with your Facebook friends. Leave a comment here telling me to get credit.
2) Post the following to your Twitter account. Leave a comment here telling me to get credit.
“I just entered the @Sony Walkman giveaway on @JamesonBull’s blog – http://swimbikerunlive.com”
3) Become a new fan of my favorite triathlon series, Rev3, on Facebook. Leave a comment here telling me to get credit.
4) Post a link to this post on your own blog. Leave a comment here telling me to get credit.
Comments will close next Thursday (3/24) at 8pm EDT and I will count up the entries and announce the two winners the next day.
Good luck!
Disclosure: Sony gave me one Walkman Series-W to review on top of the two others for this giveaway. Sony in no way contributed to the text content of this review or rules and winner identification of this contest.
| Posted in Cycling, Reviews, Running, Triathlon | 21 Comments »
