Sunday, July 3, 2011

Sound, sans wires (kinda)

Jabra CLIPPER Bluetooth Stereo HeadsetAs the saying goes "music is the soundtrack of your life", one thing for sure, it definitly makes long distance riding a lot more enjoyable. Having gone through the trouble of building an iPhone holder for my bike and adding a cigarrette lighter to power my iphone, I figured I might as well use more features of the phone other than the maps and GPS.

After getting everything set up the way I wanted, with the holster on the handlebar exactly where I like it, and running the usb cable just right, one thing I did not want is to run another set of cables for headphones. Nor did I want headphone cables dangling from my helmet plugged into the phone. To me that would totally mess with aesthetics.

I decided that bluetooth was the way to go. The key now would be to find a pair of bluetooth headphones that fit comfortably while wearing a full-face helmet. I read up on many types of bluetooth headphones and eventually came across this review on cnet. Instantly I though this would be perfect, the Jabra Clipper was exactly what I needed. It's a bluetooth receiver that can be clipped on articles of clothing and can also be used with any headphones. The unit comes with a pair of really short earbuds that work great for some applications, but not for how I wanted to wear it.

The unit is not spring load and has a very limited range for the mouth to open. It would most likely not be able to clip to a thick belt. It works with jacket lapels, sleeves, jeans pockets etc...

Setting it up was fairly simple. Enable bluetooth discovery mode on the iPhone, then hold down the Clipper's center button for about 5 seconds and voila, the unit is now paired. In addition, the pairing button can be used to start/pause music as well as answer/end a phone call.

The other two visible buttons are used to increase and decrease volume. There is a 1/8 inch headphone jack and a micro USP jack for charging. The charger is included.

One bonus is that it also has a microphone so in a pinch,  I can pull to the side of the road and answer or make a phone call without taking off my helmet.

I clip it to the end of my left jacket sleeve and run the earbud wires up inside that sleeve as well. I find that location quite convenient as I can easily access the Clippers controls.

No comments:

Post a Comment