It’s rare for a tech review session to kick off with a near-religious experience, but that’s what happened when I first strapped myself into the new Logitech FreePulse Wireless headphones ($99.99, logitech.com). I’m serious. And yes, I have been taking my meds. First, a little backstory to explain…
I LOVE to dance. As an aging cyberpunk, I spend way too much time with my head poked inside of a computer screen making sure I don’t miss anything good happening on the other side. That leaves little time for getting my feet to a treadmill, a gym floor, or a dance floor. In fact, I never find time for such exercise, at least not on a regular basis. So, once in a great while, I’ll decide I need to dance my ass off (a literal attempt) and I’ll grab my Nano, queue up a dance mix, and bust a move in my office. Which brings us to the next part of our backstory…
I freakin’ HATE headphone cords! I inevitably catch the cord on something as I’m whirling around like a drunken Dervish, or even if I’m just making lunch in the kitchen. I end up yanking the phones off my head, resulting in near whiplash, or my Nano gets yanked out of my pocket. If I try to take up the slack in the cord, it restricts freedom of movement; letting it all hang out forces me to be mindful of it at all times. Not fun. So, last week, when the fine folks at Logitech sent me an evaluation unit of their Bluetooth-powered FreePulse Wireless headphones, I was anxious to see what a wireless mobile music experience might be like.
Out of the box, you need to charge up the phones and the Bluetooth adapter. The phones come with a wall wart which splits into two mini-A USB plugs that go into jacks on the phones and the adapter. Once charged, you press a button on the adapter which begins flashing red, then you press the Connect button on the right phone and when both lights turn blue, Bluetooth pairing is successful. The right headphone also serves as the volume up (top of phone), volume down (bottom), Pause/Play (Connect) and Bass Boost (Volume Up + Connect).
On the iPod side, the adapter plugs into the headphone mini-jack. The FreePulse comes with plastic adapter “plates” for all iPod models, allowing the Bluetooth adapter to fit different players. It’s perfect for my Nano and it’s even in a matching always-stylish black. It obviously won’t look as tailored-made on other Pods. The FreePulse can also be used with other MP3 players, pretty much any audio device that has a mini-plug headphone jack. I was able to plug mine into a Olympus DM-10 digital voice recorder. The fidelity wasn’t great, but good enough for voice playback.
With the gear charged and the phones talking to my Nano, I randomly selected a playlist so that I could take it for a test drive. I landed on one of my dance mixes, one I hadn’t listened to in a long time, so long that I’d forgotten what was on it. It was like I was listening to someone else’s mix. Damn, this sounds good. Oh man, this sounds great! I started dancing around my dining room. No cord to worry about. No cord! Go, Gareth, go! I danced my way into my office and danced with a rare and joyous abandon (and thanked my lucky stars that the boy was off in college). I left the phones on for hours, making my lunch in the kitchen, working at my desk, all the while bouncing inside the grooves of my own soundtrack. It may sound like I’m overstating the case, but the freedom of this was ridiculously liberating.
Blissful out-of-box experiences aside, the FreePulse Wireless is not without some drawbacks. The first is obviously the price. Wireless freedom will set you back 100 bones. Also, I found, after extended periods of wearing the phones, that my ears throbbed. The cans are kind of heavy and the behind-the-head design means that the full weight of them rests on your ears (and are pulled inwards by the tension of the spring steel headpiece). I definitely wouldn’t want to wear them for long stretches without a break. It’s also clueless to me why they didn’t add song skipping to the controls. Seems like this could have been easily handled by a combination of existing buttons. The FreePulse Wireless phones are rated to work up to 33 feet (standard Bluetooth range). Maybe with perfect line of sight and a full battery charge, but I gave up trying to leave my Nano in a central location within sight, after too many drop outs, and just tossed it in my pocket. The phones are rated for 7+ hours of life on a charge, but I never trust such numbers. I didn’t do any actual battery tests, but they definitely lasted for a day’s worth of (sometimes heavy) use and I just charged them every night before bed.
Armed with my new wonder toy, I’ve now been dancing a few songs every day and started taking a walk around my neighborhood after dinner each night: the daily exercise I could really use. Maybe it’s just a passing fancy, spurred by my latest gee-whiz techotoy, but so far, I’m a true devotee of the FreePulse. As rare as it is to have an ecstatic experience with a gadget, it’s equally rare to think that one might actually make you healthier, but I’m at least hoping that’s the case with these headphones, which have finally made me and my music truly mobile.
November 25th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
I’ve just purchased a pair myself, and am quite pleased with them. One complaint I have however, is that my headphones will randomly turn off. They aren’t low on power and are within range (2 feet even). Have you experienced this before? The only solution I have is to turn them on again. Doing this 4-5 times a day, however, can get a little annoying.
As for the headphones, the first thing I noticed is that they don’t fit my head at all. Thinking about their new springsteel design, I decided to bend them to the shape of my head. Now they are the most comfortable things I’ve ever worn. I essentially widened the band (widening the space between the actual earphones) and tilt each headphone to cup my head better, relieving the the stress on my ears.
November 27th, 2006 at 4:54 am
I definitely have not had this problem of cut-offs. The only interruption of operation I’ve experienced is periodic drop-outs, for a second or two. That happens a few times a day. It happens nearly every night during my walk in almost the same exact place, so I figure it’s interference on the 2.4GHz band. You may want to contact Logitech about that.
That’s a great idea about widening the headband. Silly that I didn’t think of that. I have a big melon too, so I bet that would held relieve some of the tension on the cans.
November 28th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
This sounds like the “next gen” of the Logitech Wireless Headphones for iPods that came out last year.
I have the old gen wireless headphones and they are crap.
- the band cracks in half
- didn’t work out of the box (had to do numerous factory resets to get it to charge properly)
- single button interface to turn on Bluetooth transmitter and headphones is a pain to use (”did I hold it long enough?”, “what is the difference between red and blinking red?”)
- mysteriously stopped charging after 3 months
November 30th, 2006 at 1:22 am
Well personally, I wouldn’t judge this year’s model on last year’s. I’d heard bad things about the previous Logitech bluetooth phones, too, but I’ve had nothing but a good experience with these, at least so far, and I’ve continued to use them on a daily basis.
I don’t find the single-button interface in any way difficult to use (except maybe the button on the Bluetooth adapter is a little hard to press, but that’s on purpose, so it won’t be inadvertently pressed during activity. The light flashed red when the Bluetooth pairing is in progress and then switches to blue when the pair find each other. There’s also the first chime in the phones to indicate they’ve discovered each other, followed by a second chime to let you know they’re ready.
BTW: Micheal, thanks for that tip about stretching the spring-steel headband a bit. I did that on mine, and now, as you say, they’re completely comfortable.
December 7th, 2006 at 8:31 pm
Great review!!! Anyhow, I bought mine and couldn’t be much happier without it. I don’t know if I ever go back to working out with headphone cables again, I hope not! So far this is the easiest and right to the point product. Just plug and play baby! Anyhow, about the occassional interruption, perhaps you can try resetting the dongle. There is reset button there maybe that might help out and eliminate the occassional interruption.
December 8th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
So glad you enjoyed the review, and more importantly, the product Oliver.
BTW: Part 2 of my Street Tech Gift Guide is now live, if folks are interested in other tried and true gadgets, tools, and tech-toys:
http://www.streettech.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=65
April 27th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Will these headphones work with other Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as my laptop, without using their boxy adapter?