Suunto’s Wing are the primary set of headphones made by the Finnish model, which is especially recognized for making sports activities watches.
There’s little to fault concerning the efficiency of the bone conduction headphones, and so they arise effectively towards competitors from the most effective exercise headphones. Certainly, the headphones have intelligent options I’ve not seen on different bone conduction units, like a transportable powerbank and flashing light-indicators on the headphones. Nonetheless, their value is simply too excessive. The Shokz OpenRun, particularly, provide higher worth if you need bone conduction buds.
Suunto Wing: Value And Availability
The Suunto Wing headphones launched in October 2023 and value $199.99 within the US and £169.99 within the UK. That is dearer than different bone conduction headphones I’ve examined. The Shokz OpenRun Professional are the most costly Bluetooth bone conduction buds within the Shokz vary and value $179.95/£159.95, whereas the OpenRun are $129.95/£129.95.
How I Examined These Headphones
I’ve been utilizing the Suunto Wing as my primary headphones for 2 weeks, and have logged a number of runs in them, together with a few energy classes and bike rides. I’ve additionally examined your entire Shokz vary, together with many bone conduction and open headphones from different manufacturers.
Design And Match
The Suunto Wing are bone conduction headphones that hook over the ear, so pads relaxation in your cheekbones to ship audio by way of vibrations that journey by your bones. This leaves your ears clear to listen to exterior sounds, which is why bone conduction headphones generally have turn into common with individuals who train open air and wish to keep conscious of what’s occurring round them.
They’re pretty mild at 33g, with a case comprised of silicone and titanium alloy, and I discovered they rested comfortably on my ears all through runs, even once I was additionally carrying glasses and a hat. The band stands proud past your head, although, which suggests I pressed towards it once I lay on my again for workouts throughout energy exercises.
The headphones are rated IP67, in order that they’re water- and dust-proof, though they don’t have inside storage so you’ll be able to’t use them for swimming. The Wing headphones can help two Bluetooth connections without delay, and I discovered they switched seamlessly between my laptop computer and cellphone when linked to each.
There are two buttons on the fitting aspect of the headphones which can be used to show them on/off and lift/decrease the quantity, and a multi-function button on the left pad that you should use to manage music and reply calls.
The Suunto Wing are charged by placing them right into a powerbank. That is the primary powerbank I’ve seen for bone conduction headphones and it makes them simpler to cost on the transfer. The powerbank itself is IP55-rated, permitting you to place it in a operating belt or rucksack with out worrying that rain or sweat will harm it. The headphones include a clip to carry them within the powerbank.
The crimson LED lights on both aspect of the headphones are one other novel design ingredient, and one which makes you extra seen when utilizing them at night time. They are often set within the accomplice app to be on consistently or to flash. You’ll be able to even set them to flash within the morse code sample for SOS. They’re turned on or off by holding the quantity down button.
Sound High quality
You don’t purchase bone conduction headphones for his or her sound high quality, which essentially suffers from the open design. The Suunto Wing are not any exception, and there’s not a lot bass from the buds, which can be too quiet to listen to when operating by busy roads. The readability isn’t superb both and there may be distortion at excessive quantity—you even get a bit of cheek tickle from the buds if you increase the quantity close to the max.
The buds don’t sound dangerous, and are equal on this entrance to the Shokz OpenRun and OpenRun Professional headphones, however if you need higher sound high quality you’ll be able to simply discover it on cheaper in-ear buds, or open headphones which have a speaker close to the ear, just like the Cleer Arc II or Shokz OpenFit.
Within the accomplice app you’ll be able to select from two sound modes, regular and outside, and the latter reaches the next quantity for noisy environments. The modes didn’t sound completely different to me, and the Wing headphones are nonetheless too quiet for noisy environments in outside mode.
For sports activities use, the Suunto Wing have ok sound high quality with the additional benefit of additional consciousness. However they’re not headphones I loved utilizing exterior exercises, and the open design means they aren’t a lot use for journey—when exterior noise usually drowns out the audio.
Battery Life
The Suunto Wing headphones final 10 hours on a cost and the powerbank provides one other 20 hours. If you happen to’re caught in need of battery, give the buds 10 minutes within the powerbank and they’re going to final three hours, which is great.
This powerbank is the characteristic which may make the Suunto Wing price the additional value in contrast with different bone conduction headphones, which must be plugged in to cost. You would carry a transportable battery and a cable to cost the likes of the Shokz OpenRun, I suppose, however Suunto’s powerbank is a chic resolution that rivals the charging circumstances of wi-fi in-ear buds. If you happen to commonly deal with lengthy bike rides or run ultra-marathons, the charger will likely be useful.
Controls
Together with the button controls on the buds, which work reliably and are straightforward to make use of throughout exercises, there are movement controls you’ll be able to allow on the Suunto Wing. Flip these on and you may nod your head to reply a name, or shake your head to reject it. You may also shake your head twice to skip to the subsequent music. This final management may be helpful at instances, but it’s not with out its issues. Typically it did not recognise my head shakes regardless of repeated makes an attempt; at different instances it skipped tracks throughout my runs once I didn’t imply to. Given you can skip songs by urgent the multi-function button twice, the movement gesture felt too hit-and-miss to me, so I turned it off.
Are The Suunto Wing Value It?
The Suunto Wing are nice bone conduction headphones with some helpful options. Nonetheless, none of those are important, and you may get bone conduction headphones that match simply as effectively and sound simply nearly as good for significantly much less. The Shokz headphones are additionally lighter and the OpenRun Mini model comes with a smaller band that matches nearer to your head, which is beneficial in energy exercises the place you lie down for workouts.
The powerbank is a chic moveable charging resolution that may attraction to some, however for many customers it received’t be that rather more handy than charging with a cable. If the worth drops in gross sales, the Suunto Wing are price testing, however whereas they’re $200/£170 it’s too straightforward to seek out higher worth elsewhere.
