Video review of wireless sports headphones from Jabra. 2 ~months of daily and very intense usage in various use-cases:

  • running
  • cycling
  • video conferencing
  • listening to podcasts

The pros

  • Way cheaper than their successor Jabra Elite Active 75t.
  • Sound upgrade comparing to (old generation) of Backbeat FIT. Please note that the Backbeats were very old at the time of the swap, so the comparison might not be fair.
  • Can connect to multiple BT devices at the same time.
  • Even after very heavy usage, I had to charge the box only every other day.
  • If you return them to the case after use, it's virtually impossible that they will run out of battery.
  • Automatically turns on after removing them from the case.
  • Automatically starts playing (music) once connects to a device.
  • Automatically pauses (music) once you remove one of the earbuds from your ear.

The cons

  • It's not easy to tap precisely on volume-up / volume down without knocking the headphones out from the ear.
  • While it can connect to multiple devices at the same time, Apple usually hogs the connection, so you need to disconnect it before using on another device.
  • Maybe this would be a pro for some people, but the isolation capabilities leave a weird sensation of "no sound" in your head. Did not like it.
  • Still just micro-USB connector. No USB-C.
  • After two months using those I tried very old AirPods and oh my, the Apple headphones were so much more comfortable. There is no way of putting the 65t's in your ears securely without a little bit of discomfort.
  • If you smile a lot, they will fall off. Muscles/skin movement during deep smile is just too much for them.
  • Mechanical lock on the case prevents opening with one hand and feels like it will break soon.
  • I never felt secure wearing 65t's during sport. To be fair, they fell off from my ear only when I was not moving, never during running/cycling. But the feeling is still there and losing hundreds of pounds to insecure-by-design is not nice.
  • If you wear buff or hat, the likelihood that you knock them off is high.
  • The Jabra phone app feels very dated. Find my Jabra function often reported each of the headphones being in different places.
  • Cleaning the case from biological material is kinda a nightmare.

Conclusion

My piece of Jabra Elite Active 65t got faulty after ~2 months of usage. One or both of the buds volume started being extremely low for random periods. Trying to return them now and getting different brand/model.

For sportsting what I'm looking into now is:

  • Wireless: Can't be bothered with the wire nonsense ever again.
  • 100% secure fit: During training or competition the last thing I want to worry about is headphones shenanigans.
  • Comfort: Probably all in-ear models will have some, even slightest level of discomfort. Try to bear with that during ultras.