Jabra Elite Sport headphones review – 2018
Jabra is one of the few tech companies to make truly wireless specialist sports headphones. We've tested the Elite Sport earphones to see if they're worth the money
I THINK the highest compliment you can give gym or running headphones is that you forget they are there. For the most part, that is true of the Jabra Elite Sports.
I was initially unsure about true wireless earphones, especially for running, as having nothing to stop a couple of hundred quids worth of technology from plummeting to the floor is a little unnerving.
But in a week testing the Elite Sports, I only had one bud fall out once and I’m pretty sure that was because I put it in wrong.
I’m still not sure I’d take them out running on a dark, rainy night for fear of losing one, but they are more than good enough for the gym and park runs.
I was also worried I’d look a pillock wearing true wireless earbuds, but they actually look better than plenty of other wireless headphones I’ve tested. You can definitely style them out if you’re wearing gym kit, less so if you’re not.
I’ve read reviews claiming the Elite Sports are uncomfortable, but for me they fitted snugly without being unpleasant, and I’m pretty fussy when it comes to fit.
Obviously this comes down to personal preference and ear shape, but there’s three different earpiece-fitting options with the Elite Sports so hopefully most people can find one that suits them.
While running and lifting weights in the gym, they were tough to shake loose, fitted comfortably and provided very decent sound.
They can also be used to take calls - with surprisingly good results given that they don’t have a mic anywhere near your mouth.
Part of the reason the Elite Sports are more expensive than a lot of wireless gym headphones is their party trick: a built in heart rate monitor.
Presumably through some sort of wizardry, the headphones recorded my heart rate accurately (when compared with the results of a couple of smart watches).
Combine your heart rate info with the free app and you can start tracking your workouts and progress in more detail, as well as building custom workouts and long-term fitness goals that are updated regularly with data from the earphones.
Using the heart rate monitor, you can also measure your VO2 max (your body’s ability to absorb oxygen) and train to improve it, although I didn’t dig too deeply into this feature.
Aside from being super convenient for listening to music in the gym, the thing that most impressed me about the Elite Sports was the workouts you can find in the app, which sync up with your headphones.
Find the best running and gym headphones you can buy in 2018 here
The Jabras can automatically track your repetitions for certain exercises (very accurately as it turns out), and the headphones can guide you through an entire workout while tracking your progress all the way.
This means you’ve got a voice in your head telling you when you’ve got to start your next exercise, and you can also see how hard you were working on the app once you’re done running or working out for the day.
As someone who struggles to keep up the intensity in the gym when training by themselves, I found the Elite Sports’ guidance a pretty good motivator and definitely worked harder than I would have with music alone.
The battery life is good as well. You get around four and a half hours life from a single charge, but the earphones also come with a handy case that doubles as a portable charger, giving you an extra nine hours before you need to reconnect the headphones to the plug.
In terms of drawbacks, there’s a couple of obvious ones for the Jabra Elite Sports. They RRP at £229 - although we’ve seen them MUCH cheaper on Amazon and elsewhere - which is a lot of money to spend on gym headphones.
Also, no matter how well they fit, if one ear bud bounces away from your head, there’s not a lot to stop it landing in a puddle/in the gap between train and platform/dog mess.
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The verdict
All things considered, I really enjoyed using the Jabra Elite Sport headphones. They were comfy, secure and pushed me to train harder than I would have done without them.
Plus, if their VO2 max analysis and long-term training plans work as well as Jabra claim, they’d make a seriously useful training tool for someone training for a distance race.
I’d never buy them myself at full price, (I could buy a heart rate monitor and very decent pair of wireless headphones for less) but now the prices are dipping to around £150, I could be tempted when payday comes around.
- Find the Jabra Elite Sport headphones at Amazon -