Effing earphones

I have been through four pairs of earphones since this running adventure began six months ago. Four. Does that seem like a disproportionately high figure? I can't tell. It's not like I'm smashing my ears on the scenery as I run, either. I'm not a total moron... mostly.

Nothing this extreme, annoyingly.

Pair number one was a lovely set of Bluetooth push-in earphones with a small rubber grip to keep them from slipping out while moving. They were comfortable, the battery life was excellent, they were lightweight and never caused me any problems. Until the rubber cable pulled out of the right ear, making them unusable.


Pair number two was the same model, in a different colour. These were fine until sweat managed to get inside the unit and completely destroy the electronics, rendering them entirely useless.


Pair number three was another Bluetooth set I bought with the sweat problem in mind. They were cheap and - to their credit - they are indeed sweat-proof. However, that's the only positives I have to say about this pair. The problems are numerous. For starters, the volume, pause, phone, and skip functions are all on this little bar that hangs down from the right ear about an inch or two.

That's about six or seven inches

This should be fine, in theory, but when you run, this bar starts to swing. Get a good pace going and the control bar constantly slaps you in the chin. It's beyond irritating. The only way to counter this is to tuck the bar into your shirt, but if the wire is stretched, it loses connection and starts jumping through the songs. Plus it likes to randomly disconnect while you're running and if the bar gets caught in the collar of your shirt, the control can buttons can get completely jammed, meaning the volume raises or lowers or the songs start skipping entirely. There is nothing more annoying than having a song jump mid-stride. Plus the battery life is shocking. They need charging after a decent 90 minute run, or they'll cut out next time. This pair lasted only a few runs until the lower volume button got stuck. Thank goodness they were cheap.


The fourth and most recent pair was the wired set that came with my phone. It was fine - light, comfortable, and the control bar didn't move too much. The rubber grips had a tendency to slide out if sweat managed to get into the ear, but that was manageable. This pair broke in the gym last week when the bloody lower volume button got stuck, rendering them bloody useless.


So now I'm running with a very comfortable pair of wired headphones. So far, so good. And better sound, too... for now!

How long until this happens?