On your bike: Get an earful of tunes instead of an earful of traffic
EARPHONE UPGRADE OPTIONAL
Two products make a great combination for an earful of tunes — or answering your girlfriend’s call — while on a leisurely bike ride. The first is the Bikemate Slim Case 3 smartphone
bike mount, which to me is one of the best among many bike mounts I’ve tested.
My reasoning is that it’s design and size allows users to put their smartphone inside the clear window case without removing your existing case.
This enables it to be compatible with most every smartphone including iPhone 5 (as tested), BlackBerrys, Droids and the Samsung Galaxys; as long as it’s no bigger than 3.5-by-5 inches it should fit inside the pouch.
Attaching it to the bike frame is simple. If it takes more than two minutes, you did something wrong. It attaches scratch-free with the rubber grip you get in the package and can be adjusted for most bikes.
The case is made of a dual layered foamex to keep your smartphone clean and more importantly visible and accessible.
A Velcro seal keeps it in place but there are openings for full access to the headphone and charging ports.
You can also hear sound from the device’s internal speakers, but a better solution for sound is the next product.
Obviously you should always keep your volume low to keep yourself safe to hear any surrounding noise, vehicles, etc.
Details: satechi.net $24.99
Phiaton’s PS210 Bluetooth headphones make a great partner with the Bikemate case.
I’ve tested many other headphones from Phiaton and these are as good if not better than any of the previous ones.
They feature an ergonomic half-in ear design, which give you great sound and at low volume I was able to clearly hear my XM radio along with outside noise.
All the controls are on a small controller, which has a clip to attach to your shirt or pocket for easy access.
Once I paired the Bluetooth with my iPhone 5, the controller allowed me to change the volume, switch tracks and even answer calls and talk through its built-in microphone.
A built-in battery takes a microUSB charge to give you about 14 hours of music listening.
When you want the headphones really cranked up to higher volumes you get great sound with enhanced noise cancelling technology along with the Bluetooth 3.0 technology.
Additionally, you get four sizes of silicon ear tips for the right fit, a neck strap, carrying case and a USB charging cable.
Details: phiaton.com $98