Gear Semi-Retirement: Bose Wireless Headphones Review

It seems we've come to the end of the road.  Maybe even an era!

I've been running in Bose sport series headphones for years now.  From the wired sports, to the first version of the wireless buds with the connecting cord, to the current truly wireless set you see above. 

Every body got different ears.  Naturally.  But what I'm saying is, what's good for me may not be best for you. 

I've tried all sorts of wireless headsets in my quest to find the "perfect for me" pair from various manufacturers.  But it seems I always came back to the beloved Bose.

Pros: 

• Comfort; All day comfort and fit for my ears
• Safety; Hear through design allowing ambient noise to leak through so MFs can't sneak up on your rear and steal your soul for a midnight snack
• Battery; 5 freaking hours! (when new actually was around 5 hours and 30 minutes)
• Water splash Proof; Yes you can get these puppies wet!  You can't soak them at the bottom of the pool.  But you wont cause trouble if you happen to dip your head in the water to cool off with them in your ears.  Just don't drop them in the water, lake, or ocean.  They will sink.  No buds for you.  

WTF:

• Size; these things are freaking huge!
• Heat Management; Above 110 degrees they tend to shut off.  Not good Bose when living in the desert.  
• Controls; despite the controls being fairly common in how they work and perform.  However when wearing gloves, it is hard to find and manipulate said controls.  Could be difficult with people with large fingers; just so you know.  
• Fit; I know I know I mentioned above about the comfort and fit.  However, when your boy is turning up the pace and the sweat gets dripping.  If sweat gets in my ear, the seal between the ear piece and my ear breaks.  With the size and weight of these puppies, I end up having to re-seat the ear pieces every half mile or more often. 

 So what's the problem?  Why are you retiring them?

Well I'm not totally retiring them.  These pair have been with me for over 20 months and I have used them damned near every day!  With that their battery performance has deteriorated as a result.  The batteries typically last about 2 hours now before they protest and scream you need to begin thinking about recharging lil man or else!

 With cell phones all loosing their headphone jacks, a return to my beloved wired set is a needless wish.  For distance runs, I typically will run with a small battery pack for my phone which takes up the same port for the headphones to charge. 

So I'm in the market!

Bose hasn't released an updated version of my beloved headphones, and I'm not a brand loyalist.  So I have to get out my comfort zone and begin the process of testing again.

Thank goodness BestBuy has a good return policy! 

But if you're in the market and want a trusty pair of headphones that I have loved and shared plenty of miles in, check out the Bose.  They are pricey but they are well worth the price.  I definitely got my money out of them.

They aren't going totally, I'll still use them for shorter runs until that fateful day when they can no longer hold a charge. 

Thanks Bose for the memories.