Goriot

Wow, long time since I've posted here.
Funny, I moved to a city more hostile to biking (Edmonton) and started swimming. Now back in bike heaven (Vancouver) and in the saddle for commuting and fitness, I realized how much I missed it.
And how much technology has changed

I always use the stock wired apple earphones while cycling and knockoffs too. Just the right bud with the microphone and left tucked away. I love it, especially the microphone. I can dictate to siri and send texts, and maintain full work conversation without problem. It really is amazing while commuting around.
Now I have a pair of jabra elite active t65. Pretty amazing bluetooth earbuds. They work great for sound, but at any speed at all, the microphone just doesn't work. Very poor quality.

Is there a bluetooth system with a microphone comparable to the original apple ones?? For now, for any longer rides I still prefer the wired one for the guaranteed quality but would love to change that.

Cheers, nice to post back on this forum!

Bassmanbob

I currently use Aftershokz, but it's not great. They work well to listen to music, but they don't work well to use as a Bluetooth for the phone while cycling. Any significant road noise, like background traffic will prevent your party from hearing you. Any significant headwind will also drown out your voice to the person you are talking to.

I did have the Cardo BK-1 and loved it. It's not an ear bud, but it attaches to your helmet. There is an attachment hub that attaches to your helmet via velcro straps. The "brains" of the device gets charged and then clipped into the attachment hub on the outside of your helmet-- yes, it is water proof. The attachment is then hard wired to one or two (your choice when you set it up) speakers and a microphone that is taped to the inside of your helmet. The speaker sits about a half inch away from each ear and the microphone sticks out about half way from your ear to your mouth, on the side of your jaw. The microphone is covered with padding, like outdoor concert microphones to block with wind noise. I used these for about four years, until it got ruined in a crash I had-- my fault. I think the company was sold and they are now available as Terrano XT.

JohnJ80

The apple ones work the best for Siri. I have both the Airpods II and the Airpods Pro and I’d say they both work equally well. The Pro, with it’s ability to do active noise cancellation can work better for hearing in a high wind.

I have number of other bluetooth earbuds and headsets and while some of them sound pretty good, none of them work with Siri as well as Apple which is not exactly a surprise.

I also have both of these, well actually three, if you include the Terrano XT (I have the new and old models both). The Terrano X/XT work pretty well for hearing and for talking their noise cancellation is very good. My wife and I use these as intercoms as we ride and we like them a lot. They work fine also over apps like Zello (PTT walkie talkie app) and for phone calls. THey are supposed to be able to be used for Siri but I haven’t tried it yet.

FWIW, Cardosystems spun off Terrano into it’s own company focused on bike products. They take the motocycle products and rebrand them for the cycling market. It’s a great system and works very well.

The aftershokz headsets are kind of my goto riding headsets for daily use. I listen to podcasts when I am riding on safe streets plus I use a the Varia app on my cell phone to play the alerts into my headset while riding. For audio, it’s hard to beat bone conduction technology but if I have to answer the phone with the Aftershokz, I pretty much have to stop or the wind noise hoses up the conversation. So I’d say that of the three cases - I’d say this works the least well with talking or Siri.

J.

fietsbob

on the road get a bone conduction headset not in ear phones .

JohnJ80

disagree.

I use an Apple AirPod in my right ear and I cannot distinguish a difference with it in or out. There are many earbuds that work, it’s not limited to none conduction vs in ear canal.

atwl77

A microphone has to be close to your mouth in order to get clear sound. Your wired headset works better because the mic module hangs further down the cable, closer to your mouth. The wireless earbuds don't work as well because they have to try and pick up your voice all the way from your ear, and filter through all that road, traffic and wind noise.

Whatever solution you find, will very likely involve something that gets a microphone module close to your mouth.

fooferdoggie 

used AirPods for a long time. masks make them suck lost one or two. Bose soundsport works great stays in your ear can handle rain wrap around your neck and stick in place.

adamrice 

I have wondered whether there's a bluetooth lavalier mic that one could put one of those tribble windcovers over. So far, I've only found a couple of options, and I'm not sure how well either one of them would work with the wind noise on a bike.