what are the headphones which drown traffic noise?

[Cyril Haearn]

Plus Two, the permutations are almost endless

[[XAP]Bob]

In a car I have three good mirrors, whereas on a bike if you have a mirror it is a tiny thing juddering around and giving you very little information.

I disagree I find a CatEye BM-300 RVM on the bike invaluable and pretty steady in use on all but the roughest of roads and trails.

Would you still think it good if it replaced the three mirrors on your car? I just think three car mirrors each give a steadier, better view and all three together give much better coverage, meaning that you are in a much better position to anticipate the intentions of a vehicle behind.

Your own fault if you only have one... I have two decent sized mirrors, with different degrees of curvature at the moment - so I have a 'distant' and a 'wide angle' view behind me.

Both are perfectly stable...

[mjr]

Bikes and cars are two completely different animals that require different methods of riding/driving.
I only ever treat a RVM on the bike as supplementary tool which isn't a replacement for direct sight,such as the 'lifesaver' over the shoulder look,which in itself sends a message to traffic behind me when on the bike that I've seen them and that I may be about to make a manoeuvre.
Driving a car is a different kettle of fish,where the three mirrors are enough rearward vision needed most of the time,though there are instances when an over the shoulder check is still necessary.

I agree with all that, but I simply add that part of the difference is that on a bike it is useful to have sound as well.

It's useful to have sound as well when driving a car. It really is depressing to read some of the replies to this discussion both condemning cyclists defending their ears against the obnoxious noise pollution produced by motorists, while asserting that basically they don't benefit from hearing when they drive but they do when they cycle - sounds like flawed logic to me.

Bluetooth earphones were mentioned - the problem with many of those is that if they fall out, they hit the road rather than dangling from the neck of your clothes by a wire. Also, the batteries in them don't last that long.

Anyway, for another purpose, I'm going to try one of those bud-less ear-hook bluetooth headphones. I suspect it'll need taping in place for use on the bike too. I'll report back if there's any interest.

[Psamathe]

.....
Anyway, for another purpose, I'm going to try one of those bud-less ear-hook bluetooth headphones. I suspect it'll need taping in place for use on the bike too. I'll report back if there's any interest.

I've been using the Apple bluetooth ones this summer (not whilst riding on the bike). For normal moving around, camping, etc. use they have not yet fallen out. They seem to last a few hours and in their case charge amazingly quickly.

Ian

[mjr]

.....
Anyway, for another purpose, I'm going to try one of those bud-less ear-hook bluetooth headphones. I suspect it'll need taping in place for use on the bike too. I'll report back if there's any interest.

I've been using the Apple bluetooth ones this summer (not whilst riding on the bike). For normal moving around, camping, etc. use they have not yet fallen out. They seem to last a few hours and in their case charge amazingly quickly.

Which ones? Apple have made a few variations, but I'd not noticed any bud-less ear-hooks from them.

[Psamathe]

.....
Anyway, for another purpose, I'm going to try one of those bud-less ear-hook bluetooth headphones. I suspect it'll need taping in place for use on the bike too. I'll report back if there's any interest.

I've been using the Apple bluetooth ones this summer (not whilst riding on the bike). For normal moving around, camping, etc. use they have not yet fallen out. They seem to last a few hours and in their case charge amazingly quickly.

Which ones? Apple have made a few variations, but I'd not noticed any bud-less ear-hooks from them.

Just their normal Airpod ones. No ear-hooks but they seem to stay in well (as in not yet fallen out).

But is suspect a lot depends on ear shape and what works for one person would not necessarily work for somebody else. e.g. I can't stand those ones with rubbery bits that go in your ear and keep a fair amount of noise out - 5 mins and I've got bad ear ache from them.

Ian

[[XAP]Bob]

And you can get little silicone 'hooks' for airpods as well, that hook over the ear for more support...

I now wear hearing aids - and can stream directly to them...
Currently using closed domes - which are fairly isolating, but of course the hearing aid is piping the sound into my ear anyway...

I can therefore turn outside noise up and down independently of the volume of music I am streaming to them.
In the house/office I tend to stream at very low volume, with ambient at or about normal volume. That means that the rest of the family can still get my attention.
Out and about I engage the noise filters etc, and turn the volume down a bit. I could add music and turn it up a bit more than I normally would (wind noise is still present)...
I could even mute the outside world...

[Psamathe]

And you can get little silicone 'hooks' for airpods as well, that hook over the ear for more support......

If you have any links to hand I'd be interested. Not for riding and mine have never yet fallen out, but there must always be that risk and they are expensive!

Ian

[Postboxer]

There are bone conduction headphones now too, that leave the ears free of obstruction.

I find wind noise cuts out pretty much any outside noise when I'm cycling so can't hear much anyway. I don't know if I somehow get more wind noise than normal, my ears stick out a bit, helmet straps and sunglasses, might try some of those cat ear things, discussed here

viewtopic.php?t=101844

or make my own, they're just bits of fur aren't they?

[hufty]

Just a recommendation for Soundpeats bluetooth ear buds. I have the Q30s. Anyway, they stay in my ears pretty well, they have a degree of water- and sweatproofedness, the sound quality is good enough for the gym so I'm guessing fine for riding along a road. The important bit is they only cost £20 or so so there's nothing to lose if you lose them. Available from Amazon...

[hamish]

Wow, this issue generated a lot of interest. I will go with the idea that everyone is free to make their own decisions about what's safe and what's not. But... I tried listening to music on my commute when I got an IPod and was excited by the whole iPod thing. My commute is about 21 miles of all kinds of roads. To cut a long story short.. I gave up on the music because not only did it spoil the feeling that cycling gives me of being outside and interacting with the world, but because I found I couldn't hear cars approaching around bends in single track lanes, I was continually looking over my shoulder thinking something was coming when it wasn't and I would sometimes get engrossed in listening and be less attentive in terms of riding my bike. For me, it made cars more dangerous and I felt more vulnerable. Yes deaf people cycle but they are probably used to relying on their other senses and they aren't distracted by listening to music or radio. Being deaf is not the same as listening to something on headphones.

From another point of view i do get a bit fed up catching runners and cyclists up on the cycle path and waiting ages for them to notice I'm there and let me past because they have headphones in. Sometimes I pass them if there is space and they 'jump' in surprise because they haven't heard me despite me making all kinds of noise to let them know I'm there.

[[XAP]Bob]

Search on your favoured retail site for "AirPod ear hook" or "AirPod ear loop"

There are a myriad of ones that attach in different places, and some which are concha retention, some which are behind the ear retention.