Sennheiser PMX80 In-Ear Sport Series II Behind the Head Earphones
by Sennheiser
|
List Price: Our Price: $49.98 You Save: $9.97 (17%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sennheiser PMX80 In-Ear Sport Series II Behind the Head Earphones
Customer Review: Great Running Headphones
Summary: 4 Stars
This is my second pair of Sennheiser PMX80's. I run long distances daily, and these headphones hold up longer than just about every other headphone I've run in and sound pretty good considering they're being used for running. Generally all of my headphones have failed at the joint between the wire and the mini 1/8 headphone plug. Usually one channel of the headphone will become intermittent and the other channel will be OK. This leaves you angry and upset playing with the connector to try to get both channels of sound while out on a long 20 mile run. A frustrating experience. These headphones are actually manufactured pretty well and there are 2 coatings at the solder joints. A hard plastic mold, surrounded by a flexible PTFE coating. The wires are also insulated with a soft PTFE instead of standard rubber insolation. I dissected my failed pair to see the failed solder connection. The PTFE coating is more resistant to sweat, and also seems a bit more durable. The headphones rap around your neck and sit wrap around both ears, and sit in your ear well. They're fairly comfortable, and you will not find yourself fidgeting and readjusting the headphones like ear-bud headphones. Thankfully they're much lighter than most other headphones, but of corse they're still a bit heavier than ear-buds. This pair should last longer than the I-pod nano that I've been running with for a 2 years with now. The last pair I left plugged into the jack, and the metal of the I-pod jack oxidized and basically welded the headphone jack in place. I of corse pulled them out with pliers as I couldn't do it with my hands. This in turn broke the solder joint, and caused one channel to become intermittent. Any headphones that survived this are tough.... and worth buying.Customer Review: Awesome!
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't know what the deal is with the one star reviews, these are THE perfect runner's headphones (with one caveat related to cold-weather running, ***see below).
DURABILITY: I have had these for nine months, run over 800 miles in them, poured copious amounts of sweat all over them with 10-15 mile long runs in summer, and used them for countless hours in the gym without a single problem. If these died tomorrow, I'd have more than gotten my money's worth out of them and would happily buy another pair. I don't deny that a few folks have gotten a bad set, but no manufacturing process is perfect, that's what warranties are for. And if you're beating the snot out of them for 6 months to year of daily fitness wear, do you think any set of headphones is going to withstand that kind of abuse for much longer than that?
SOUND QUALITY: Awesome! What more is there to say.
FIT: fit perfectly for runners (make sure to watch the video about how they should sit over your ears). They are absolutely not too tight. The folks complaining about that probably aren't wearing them properly. They stay in place and NEVER have to be adjusted. A runners dream!
OTHER: Easy to clean. I run these headphones under running water(!) after every single use to clean off the sweat and salt deposits. The running water doesn't bother them in the least and they've remained in pretty good shape.
*** ONE CAVEAT: because of the design of these things with the wrap-around band around the head, you cannot wear these under a beanie or ear covering of any kind. For cold-weather outdoor running, you'll need a backup pair of earphones without the wrap-around feature (e.g. the PMX 85's).
Customer Review: I hope these come back better
Summary: 1 Stars
HERE'S AN UPDATE
After a month of no response from Sennheiser, I called them to find out that the PMX80 is no longer manufactured, and that they are sending me a PMX680 set as a replacement. I will have to wait and see how this goes...
So, Sennheiser get's a "C" for customer service. I'd give them an A if I hadn't had to call and check up on the warranty repair a month later. But, at least they are sending a replacement.
And the product? Well, if yours last longer than two weeks, then congratulations. But, I'm giving them 1 star.
*** Original post below ***
I bought these for running and was very very pleased with them out of the box. As others have reported, they look like they would be less comfortable than they actually are. Once you get them on and seat them properly, they feel and sound wonderful. I haven't experienced the 'cord sound' that others have reported, but I used the cord clip that it comes with, so I think that must help.
Here's the problem: two weeks after I bought them, the jack that plugs into my iphone broke clean off. I haven't heard of this happening to anyone else, so I'm hoping this is just a fluke. I sent the headphones back to Sennheiser (they have a 2 year warranty) and am waiting for a replacement, which is apparently going to take a few weeks.
If I have no issue with the new pair, I will assume that I just happened to have a lemon - which does happen from time to time and I will come back and change my rating. If it does happen again, I will come back and update again, because that would indicate some systematic problem.
Customer Review: Great sound but very fragile
Summary: 3 Stars
My initial reaction, after putting these on my head was "Wow! Great sound". The other plus is that they don't fall out of my ears when I run.
On the down side, these are not suitable for use during a workout, unless your workout is confined to a gentle stroll. Break into a jog and you'll hear the wind whistling around the edges of the ear-pieces - sure you can crank up the volume to drown that out, but it's disturbing, distracting and disappointing.
But wait! There's more! After 3 weeks, I need to replace the Sennheiser earphones because I have intermittent breaks in the sound on either channel. They have failed the rowing machine test. Once a week I spend 20 to 30 minutes on the rowing machine. I wear the headphone wires under my shirt so they don't get tangled in the workout equipment, but my movements on the rowing machine obviously pull on the cord. The headphones that came with my iPod survived this for 15 months; the Sennheiser lasted just 3 weeks - a total of 1 hour of rowing.
Another consideration is what to do with the Sennheiser headphones when they are not on your head. If you don't have a solid case to store them in, they will break, as I discovered this morning. I store my headphones in a ziplock bag and try to pack them carefully in my backpack, but they must have been bumped by a book or by my netbook computer because when I pulled them out of the backpack this morning, they had snapped at one of the ear-pieces.
I'm not particularly tough on my equipment, but it needs to suit my lifestyle - I'm not going to change my lifestyle to protect fragile equipment.
Customer Review: Overpriced, average sound quality, great construction.
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm an avid runner and go to the gym 3 days/week. I also work in music production and know plenty on frequency response and fidelity. In regards to active, or fitness listening headphones...
Construction: 5 stars, Well built! Firm fit, reflective back band, bright color.
Fidelity: 3 stars sub par bass response, great mid/high to high end kHz. (for the size) But ultimately not well balanced.
Value: 3 stars Considering the price with the sound quality I think there are better options.
I have been using the Phillips SHS5200 for the past 2 years. Before that a pair of Pioneer(loved those cant recall the name specifically, discontinued). Big fan of "wrap arounds" for fitness listening.
Both headphones eventually failed me at the 1/8th connector(left/right channels would drop/fuzz issues) I was actually surprised how long the Phillips lasted, although they got slightly rusty (cosmetic problem not functional, looked a little gross). But what should someone expect primarily working out/running with their headphones?
If your not really particular about sound quality, and prefer rugged construction I'd say these will work. But I did return mine and went back to the Phillips, I like how they go over my ear so I can get some ambient noise while I run(I'd prefer to hear the car just before it hits me). They never slipped and theres value at $15 for the pair. Maybe I was lucky having these last for 2 years, but I got a lot out of them.