I’m pretty picky when it comes to headphones. When I first started running with them, I bought a pair made by Nike that were light weight and hooked around the back of my ears. They wouldn’t always stay put and I went through a couple pairs when the hook part broke off.  I got sick of replacing them so I tried JVC, Apple and other brands that either didn’t have great sound quality, would break easily or wouldn’t stay in my ears. It was frustrating. Earlier this year I was sent a pair by yurbuds, a company that I trusted and had been using for a little over a year before losing the last pair that I had purchased. The pair the company sent me got me through the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in SF and I thought they were great. I didn’t have a problem with them until my recent full marathon, CIM.

This windy, rainy race put those earbuds through the ringer and they showed me their flaws. When the silicon from those buds got soaking wet, they were not good at staying in my ear, that and perhaps the force of the wind ended up having me annoyed that one ear kept falling out bringing the other one with it. I was surprised, I never had a problem with them before! Towards the end of the race, probably from all my messing with it, one of the tips fell off. I didn’t go back to retrieve it because I didn’t want to stop or get trampled.

I was disappointed, I really liked yurbuds, and I think during most circumstances they’re great, but CIM took them down, now I was headphone less.

When Reebok decided to send the newest Bose SEI2I headphones to me via a FitFluential partnership I was excited to try something new.

The first thing I noticed and appreciated was that they are iPhone compatible meaning that they have a microphone that will work with my iPhone.

The second thing I noticed was that they have a little clip so that the cord won’t swing around. This was a bit of the problem with the yurbuds, the cord was getting in the way and while an older pair that I lost had a clip, the most recent pair did not.

Thirdly, these earbuds have the option of being long or short. This was something that I liked about those original Nike ones I had, they had the extension available, but I always liked to keep the cord short. Less cord also equals less tangle.

Definitely engineered for exercise.

So I took the Bose pair out for a spin, I normally don’t wear armbands and because I have an iPhone5 I didn’t think that my phone would fit in it. While it doesn’t fit perfectly, it still worked! Due to the new placement of headset jack on the iPhone5 and the longer body, the buttons don’t line up, but it didn’t matter that much, it worked for my 30 min run. I put the armband over a long sleeve shirt and it stayed in place, I didn’t have to fidget with it at all.

I still have my old iPhone4 so I tested it out to see if it would fit. As you can see the menu button is easily accessible through the plastic screen cover and it fits snuggly in the pouch.

Test one was completed!

The earbuds fit really well and at the end of the run when my husband happened to give me a call, it was really easy to answer the phone. I like that I can adjust the volume right on the cord! So after 30 mins the headphones were comfortable, they stayed put and the sound quality was really great. This got me pumped up during my morning run. The next test was for longevity, if I want to run a marathon with these head phones, can they stay comfortable for a long time?

Answer is YES! I wore them during my two hour flight home that week and while watching in flight entertainment I popped them in and watched a movie. I can say that I barely felt them. I imagine another hour and half running with them wouldn’t be a problem.

The package comes with three different size tips in case the medium doesn’t fit you.

I think one of the best things about the tips is that they’re kind of a mix between in-ear buds and on-ear buds, the little wing tucks into the crease in your ear. This will prevent them from slipping out even when they get wet. While this design allows some outside noise to be able to come in, I found that to be a plus because I prefer to hear my surroundings when I’m running. The sound quality is perfect for me, I felt like I could hear every note and lyric and the bass wasn’t overdone or scratchy.

Overall, these new headphones are great. I would definitely recommend checking them out. Here’s a video that explains more and here’s a link on where to get them, they come in Orange and Green!

Disclaimer: I received these headphone through a campaign with FitFluential and Reebok. All opinions and experiences are my own.

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