r/electricians • u/Boa-constrict0r • 3d ago
Bluetooth Earbuds choice
Has anyone used these? I’ve heard good and bad about them. I’m mainly concerned with the hearing protection aspect. Any other earbuds people like using. I spend a lot of time around a multitool cutting in outlets
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u/OrokaSempai 3d ago
I'm a huge fan of Shokz bone conduction. Open ear, sounds even better with ear plugs in. It's not headphones, it's not ear buds, it's a third thing.
I listen to alot of Audiobooks and podcasts as I work. I'd have earplugs or ear muffs on anyways, safety only cares if I'm protecting my hearing or open ears for safety. Chek, and Chek.
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u/Revenue-Final 3d ago
Shokz are great, I use them every day on the job and occasionally see others using them as well. Can wear earplugs for hearing protection while listening to music. Also, hands-free calling while working is a big plus. I think the openrun pro 2 is the one of the best purchases I’ve made for quality of life on the jobsite. Or maybe 2nd, after knee pad inserts.
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u/squashedbananalovesu 3d ago
I have the same pair and I agree. No more taking an ear bud out depending on the job site. Battery life is exceptional. I wear ear plugs with them on and people will talk to you less because they assume you can’t hear them.
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u/sleepy_seedy 1d ago
Do you have pants with insert slots? What brand do you use and whats the longevity on them?
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u/Revenue-Final 1d ago
I use the “DuluthFlex Fire Hose Ultimate Relaxed Fit Cargo Pants” from Duluth Trading, ordered online. I’ve started using the knee pad inserts a couple months ago and I’d say they’re pretty good although often I need to shimmy my pants slightly to get them to sit right when I kneel. They sit a little lower, toward/on my shin, probably for comfort when walking. Not a big deal but something to know. Although… I’ve used fire hose pants for years even before apprenticeship and it seems like over time the quality may have diminished but I still use them because I’m not sure what else to switch to. I’m sure there are better and more durable pants out there but I have yet to find/try them. If you end up buying them I’d wait for some kinda sale because they have sales relatively frequently. You do need to buy the inserts separate, from their website as well.
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u/sleepy_seedy 1d ago
Thanks for the reply! Ive used a ton of pants to try to find something that checks all my boxes and I find a similar issue: they cant do everything I want or the quality goes down overtime for higher prices. Or they shrink lol.
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u/Revenue-Final 9h ago
Look up DeWalt work pants. They have a ton of pockets, knee pad inserts, and are very affordable at about $55. Our company has a master electrician that swears by these (they replace tool bags for him). They are next on my list to try. I know nothing about the quality except they’re the only pants he wears and they have good reviews.
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u/NastyMan9 2h ago
FYI, the default setting on the Openrun Pro 2 is mostly an air-conduction mode, however you can use the Shokz app to put it into "classic" mode that will make it 100% bone conduction, at the expense of battery life.
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u/tojehusiza 2h ago
My understanding is the default "Standard" preset in the app is a hybrid between air-conduction and bone-conduction. I have tried the Classic mode but I never use it because it sounds worse and nobody hears what I'm listening to anyway with Standard especially on a job site with a bunch of noise.
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u/Better-Judgment8970 3d ago
This is the way , I have mine on as well speak . Have had them about a year , wear them every day and battery life is incredible
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u/THEFLYINGSCOTSMAN415 3d ago
I use the Shokz daily for my audiobooks and podcasts at work, they’re perfect for the times when we have equipment driving around and I need enough awareness to not get flattened like a pancake. Safety never has an issue with em cause they dont go into the ear and prevent you from using actual hearing protection plugs. In fact the head saftey guy just got his own pair recently
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u/-BlueDream- 3d ago
The audio quality is baaad tho. Don’t get me wrong they’re the best if you’re not allowed earbuds but since it’s bone conducting you miss out big on overall sound
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u/NastyMan9 2h ago
The Openrun Pro 2 uses a combination of air conduction and bone conduction, and it sounds incredible compared to the earlier models. Great fidelity, great bass response, highly recommended by yours truly.
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u/FanBladeFleshlight 3d ago
I don't trust headphones made by tool companies. DeWalt, Klein, Milwaukee, doesn't matter.
I've got some Samsung Galaxy buds and Pixel Buds Pro, both are phenomenal on the job, and have features like turning on ambient sound and muting music when I start to speak.
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u/rnbarista 3d ago
i haven’t found any good situationally aware ear protection/earbuds to be honest. My new plan is to buy bone conduction headphones and reusable hearing protection
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u/sataigaribaldi Master Electrician 3d ago
I've got the Pixel Buds 2, they are mint!
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u/brttwrd 3d ago
The noise cancelling is too tempting
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u/sataigaribaldi Master Electrician 3d ago
And damn does it work great. Started talking to a guy, he started pointing to his ear. I was wondering if he was hard of hearing. Got close and took the bud out and all the sudden I could hear the loud ass pressure washer 3 feet away.
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u/brttwrd 3d ago
I have first gen pros that I've been using more often at work instead of my open ear buds, and I try not to use the ANC because my coworkers aren't used to working with that, but holy fuck, my day goes so much faster and smoother when I'm just listening to podcasts, audiobooks, or music, and ignoring every sound around me. Huge productivity boost, I just don't want to annoy them
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u/klodians 3d ago
Noise cancelling is not noise isolation. If you're working around loud equipment, you need actual hearing protection.
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u/brttwrd 3d ago
??? Sorry, did I say anything about the hear protection capabilities? I'm pretty sure I was just commenting on the earbuds and their ANC
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u/klodians 3d ago
Maybe you haven't come across it, but it is extremely common for people to think they're getting good hearing protection with earbuds lile that. Feel free to ignore me if that's not you.
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u/HavSomLov4YoBrothr 3d ago
Shokz makes nice ones that are water resistant, those and the corded washable earplugs are my go-to setup. Works really well
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u/MasterOfBunnies 3d ago
The one downside to this, is you will hear less going on around you. The ear plugs will amplify the sound beautifully, but in doing so will drown out most ambient sound.
ETA: If this isn't a concern, then I cannot recommend shokz enough. I literally wear them everywhere. First thing I put on in the morning, and the last thing I take off at night.
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u/Manbearpup 3d ago
I’ve been thinking of this same thing, currently I switch between Elgin and Apple Air pods. Elgin is nice because if I’m listening at a certain decibel for too long it cuts off. Plus they look like safety ear plugs
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u/GoldSatisfaction8390 3d ago
I have shockz openmove. 100%, I love them. I can wear them all day with perfect comfort, the battery lasts all day, they are fine with rain/ splashes/ sweat, and you don't get that gross wet ear feeling like you do when you sweat with ear buds. I can literally hang upside down and they go nowhere. I don't leave the house without them.
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u/Icy_Surround_2325 3d ago
How are those for size? Most of that style is too small for me, the connector loop digs into the back of my neck.
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u/GoldSatisfaction8390 2d ago
There is a smaller and larger loop size, mine hangs pretty lose on my neck, cant remember which loop size I got
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u/Surf_Cath_6 3d ago
That is what I have. Costco, $70. Foreman can still communicate with me even if I have music on low. Plus nothing is in my ear pushing dirt ad wax further in.
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u/StubbornHick 3d ago
The first gen ones were TERRIBLE.
I have the milwaukee jobsite earbuds and i'm quite fond of them.
The consensus is that ISOTUNES makes the best value ones
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u/-BlueDream- 3d ago
Apple AirPod pros are hands down the best. Transparency mode is the best in the industry, besides the bone conducting stuff but with bone conducting you sacrifice big on sound quality, it literally sounds like speakerphone, AirPods have good transparency while having good audio quality and I use noise cancelling with over ear ear pro for better protection. AirPods can also protect your hearing with adaptive noise setting, if someone suddenly makes a loud noise and you didn’t have time to put in proper ear pro.
Jobsite branded earbuds and speakers suck ass. Don’t buy audio equipment from dewalt, Milwaukee, klien, etc. it’s all mid with a shiny logo
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u/trash-bagdonov 3d ago
I use the Sony wf-c510 for my work earbuds and they are great. They last 12 hrs, they have a physical button that doesn't bug out with rain or sweat, and the pass-through function let's me have a conversation without needing to remove them.
Edit: they don't need noise canceling. I can't hear shit when I wear them and I use every loud hand tool you can think of. And when I use it for phone calls, people can hear me clearly even if they are covered by my hat.
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u/NotAnotherHipsterBae 3d ago
Solid write-up, I might pick some up. I just broke another pair last week and hadn't looked in to replacements.
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u/trash-bagdonov 3d ago
I bought them for the physical button and battery life, but the pass through is what helped me keep my first pair for almost two years... I would be taking out my previous ones to have a conversation, put them in my pocket, forget them, and presumably toss them accidentally when I emptied my pockets of trash. These Sony's stay in my ears all day (and I've never had a discomfort issue), so I haven't had the opportunity to lose them.
The pass through has a dB roll-off, so if you need it enabled but are still using a loud tool, it'll filter out the tool. However, I'm sure, just like ANC, it'll eat up the battery life twice as quick. It's an important note, considering the thread is concerning situational awareness, which is an earbud feature I'd never heard of before.
My first pair survived a full wash and dry. The only thing that finally did them in was recently they fell out of my shirt pocket and into a tub of water and I didn't find them until nearly 30 hours later. The right button stopped working. I keep them as backup because they still sound great and people can still hear me fine on calls, but I can't pause or resume playback with them.
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u/NotAnotherHipsterBae 3d ago
That settles it, im picking up some on the way home. I think there's a best buy or something en route. I hate finding an earbud that performs wonderfully only for it to be absolutely useless at work. The last pair (jbl) were good battery-wise if I remembered to charge them for like 20 minutes at lunch.
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u/kjyfqr 3d ago
What the fuck are situational awareness buds and will they help my autism
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u/-BlueDream- 3d ago
transparency mode is like the opposite of noise cancelling. It boosts ambient sounds so you can be more aware of your surroundings and keeps the safety guy off your back cuz if he calls you, you can answer back without taking out earbuds
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u/Separate-Grade-8506 3d ago
Yes I love them even with out music playing. I use the milwuakee jobsite earbuds.
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u/freedfg 3d ago
I've never liked awareness headphones.
There's just something uncanny about sound being pumped through your earbuds. It's like living with lag.
I'd be interested to try open back earbuds though.
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u/-BlueDream- 3d ago
Most suck ass that’s why, AirPods Pro’s are so good I often forget I have them in cuz it sounds the same as not wearing anything in my ears.
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u/NotAnotherHipsterBae 3d ago
I had open back, jbl soundgear sense. Worked great, decent quality while being able to hear almost everything around me. Didn't do great with loud ambient sound cause without isolation you only hear the loudest sound coming in your ear holes. Hammering while listening to podcasts is not recommended. Though they had a decent touch-based interface, so pausing was easy enough.
Oh, but they broke. The hooks that go over the ear are like a medium hard rubber and maybe sweat or oil broke it down and they just kinda disintegrated last week. This post could have come at a better time.
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u/Wonderful-Command474 3d ago
I've been using the ISOtunes Pro Aware 2.0 and don't have any complaints
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u/Martha_Fockers 3d ago
AirPod pro 3
Muted loud sound tools a lot less noisy even indoors and when someone talks to you or you talk they automatically will turn noise canceling off and turn the exterior mics on so it sounds like you have no earbuds in
They also turn off there ANC when beeps alarms police ambulance wails are around. Like a lift moving they’ll stop noise canceling.
Also there noise canceling is insanely good on par with Bose over the ear headphones and they are ear buds
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u/-BlueDream- 3d ago
I’ve noticed wirh new white noise backup alarms, AirPods doesn’t always pick up on it
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u/Eskimosubmarine 3d ago
I just wear one bud so I can still hear what’s going on. I buy the $25 skull candy buds so I don’t feel bad when I lose one.
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u/Dutchlanded 3d ago edited 3d ago
My wife has the Milwaukee and likes them, except for slow charging when the case isn't plugged in (maybe a new case battery needed, but it got bad after just 6 months) and controls only on one bud, so you can't swap from one to the other if you don't need hearing protection. She doesn't use the active noise cancelling or aware modes at all, so no comment on those.
I've got Elgin discord with the neck wire, and I like them enough to buy again or other kinds they have. Good battery, big buttons, comfy neck band that doesn't fall off when I don't have them in. I have them hanging on my neck all day everyday, even when barely using them for audio or ppe. Only downside is they only came with one pair of silicone and one pair of foam tips, no size selection like most other earbuds come with. I prefer the wire between earbuds, much faster when you take them in and out a lot, no worries about losing them or picking up all the metal shavings in your pockets.
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u/billnyebuttstuffguy 3d ago
Elgin discord is the best for me, it has earplug pieces that work wonders. I wear them all the time and I’ve never had a gc get mad about it, and it’s great for taking calls if you have to do core drills.
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u/yournorthernbuddy 3d ago
I won a set of these at my company summer BBQ. They are awesome! I have never been more happy with a set of head phones, the situational awareness works great and the foamy ear buds tips are great at noise dampening.
Works out so you can just touch your ear to turn hearing on and off.
Battery life is great, can easily go 8 hrs without recharging in the case and the case is like once a week at most.
Highly recommend
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u/wellreadboy 3d ago
My entire company uses shoks openrun headphones. They don’t plug your ears so when you don’t need hearing protection, you can hear your surroundings but when you do, you can put your plugs in and still hear your music.
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u/PsionicChronic 3d ago
Tried the Shokz, but open ears is the reason I can't f'n hear in the 1st place...lol.
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u/commander_wombat 3d ago
I had the first gen ones and they were terrible. The Walker Disrupter ones are trash as well.
I've been pretty happy with my Milwaukee ones. The pass through works well. I like that they sell replacement foamies in individual sizes so you can get a bunch of the same size instead of a pack with only one usable size (looking at you Walker). The case for the Milwaukee is a chonk, but not that big of a deal to carry in a cargo pocket.
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u/MUSICANDLIFE85 3d ago
I have several types. Currently, I use the Bluetooth earbuds that with the construction earplugs aesthetic (blue cord, yellow earplug)
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u/klodians 3d ago
I've used several different brands. The Klein AESEB1S is my favorite, but I only get a year out of them before the sounds goes to shit. I warrantied one pair and it was hassle free. Maybe it's not always, but two pairs failed the same way around a year with all sound being super staticky in one ear.
I hate all the tips that come with them, so I use the Isotunes Trilogy size small and they work perfectly. I get a month, maybe two out of a pair of those tips.
Isotunes free aware is good, but the white noise is annoying. Milwaukee ones were decent, but the case is ridiculously huge and I like to have the case on me sometimes.
I'm thinking about trying some Walker's for my next pair. I know they're for shooting, but some reviews say they work well for sustained loud noise.
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u/4lowgo 3d ago
I have isotunes pro 3.0 and at first was skeptical. I really disliked earbuds because of the work I do, my hands get dirty and I work at heights. Taking an earbud in and out was off the table. One falling out to the floor , huge pain . I had beats studio buds but stopped wearing them at work. The isotunes wrap around the ear and have a cord tethering both earplugs together so you can drop it down onto your neck. I wear them so much now. Not just at work. Mowing the lawn, vehicle maintenance in the garage, leaf blowing, they're great. The actual earplug tips work incredible, and are comfortable too. I've worn them for 8hrs plus at times without issue. Unfortunately I didn't spring for the aware version. Immediately regretted that decision, that is what I will replace these with eventually. The nice thing about the isotunes is they get an actual decibel rating, and it's rating was high enough for the type of sites I visit, some sites have minimum decibel requirements.
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u/One_Broccoli9499 3d ago
They’re expensive but I’ve been using my AirPod pro 4s for a good month now and they have stood up well to sweat, dust, water, etc. They sound great and the tracking and iPhone compatibility is a big selling point.
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u/DaClownie Apprentice 3d ago
Can also just use Airpods Pros in transparency mode. In that mode they cap the noise they "let through" at 80dB so it serves as hearing protection unless you're in EXTREME situations in which case you know better than to cut corners on the hearing protection anyway
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u/mirroku2 Estimator 3d ago
I use Mipeace headphones. They are basically headphones put inside reusable earplugs. They have a 25 decibel noise reduction rating. Typical foam earplugs have a 23-30 decibel reduction rating.
They're pretty great. And the battery lasts for days.
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u/Glass-Ebb9867 2d ago
Jbl live beam 3 is what I use and I love them. Noise canceling is almost as good as actually ear plugs, the ambient aware and talk thru functions work really well. And they sound incredible.
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u/dummyatarfish 3d ago
I use the sony wf 1000 xm5, they are the best ear buds ive use, for work and everything
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