A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about whether or not the Freewavz earphones could possibly be the best earphones made, not only for fitness but also travel and everyday use. Shortly after writing it, I had the pleasure of talking to the creator/founder on the phone for over an hour and got a lot of questions answered as well as getting a feel for the man behind the product and his passion for it. The product really just impresses me and even more after speaking with Dr. Eric Hensen, which is why I am hoping you jump in with this as well.
Kickstarter – FreeWavz Earphones The goal is $300,000 by August 7th – as of today, they are at $103,000. The cost of these earphones after production will be $299. If you back this Kickstarter project at one of the levels – $179, $199, or $239 – you will get these after they are produced (the different levels allow different selection of color and/or earlier production runs). So, by funding this project, you can get these earphones for $120 less than they will cost in a few months – not bad!
The FreeWavz Earphones
I am constantly on the lookout for the perfect earphones. I found the perfect ones for travel – the Bose QuietComfort 20i – and really loved them but they were not good for exercise (in fairness, that is not what they were created for).
The working prototype of the FreeWavz
For me, one of the biggest factors in play with earphones is their ability to stay in my ear without falling out during running. For the life of me, I cannot understand how people run with the Apple earbuds because I have never been able to run without those slipping right out. I am glad they work for so many, though!
When I found out about the FreeWavz earphones (currently as a Kickstarter campaign), I couldn’t help but fall in love withe some of the features.
First of all, earphones that have multiple points of contact to provide a secure fit? Great! But they are really so much more as well. They provide standalone heart rate and fitness monitoring which works great for all types of activities. They also work with your cell-phone to provide communication abilities as well as MP3 playback. Another big plus is the sweat resistance – very grateful for that!
4 points of contact for secure fit
More Details
Another factor that really convinced me to gain a better interest in these was the fact that the creator is actually an Ear/Nose/Throat surgeon. Dr. Eric is someone who knows all about the ear canal and what works with it. To hear him talk about the different aspects of where earphones should sit for maximum audio performance as well as providing a secure fit helps to show that he knows what he is talking about and what he was looking for. The around the back of the ear is just right for this type of application allowing the earphones to sit just inside the outside part of the ear.
Another really cool part about this is the independence between earphones. You can set one to be at 25% audio and the other at 100% to allow for safety on the road (allowing more outside audio in on the ear facing the road when running/biking) or for communicating with a friend. This can work equally well for airplane travel as well, allowing you to keep in contact with your seat mate but still get the other ear blocking out the engine noise. While these are not billed as noise-canceling headphones, they are noise-isolating so they should work very well on airplanes.
Along with that independence is the ability to split them up and use them with friends – so each of you can use one and listen to the same music or use them as separate units. It will also allow for separation of bio feedback.
The battery life is slated to be very good as the design of the earpiece allows for a large enough battery to be inserted to give great life to the units. Eric tells me that it will be possible to get 6-8 hours of battery life out of these – that is a lot better than some earphones that only do bluetooth.
Continuing on, the design of these is such that it will accommodate your sunglasses (something else I find annoying with other earbuds – the misplacing of my sunglasses behind the ear because of the hook). It seems like such a little thing but for me it is huge!
The software that is built for your device allows you to control your feedback and the audio passthrough live. This is nice so you can adjust things on the fly as well as set your alerts for feedback on your fitness. In addition to the heart rate, it also checks your O2 saturation, calorie burn, steps, distance, pace, and more. Quite a lot to all come from your earphones!
The Best Part
Not only is the creator, Dr. Eric, more than qualified to work with devices like this but he has a great team working with him to make sure this device will be a success. Towards that end, those who are interested in this device will be happy to learn that they are already to start building. This Kickstarter is to give them the additional funds to just get this thing out the door. They have their boards printed and are ready to move. This in contrast to another earphone that was Kickstarter funded – that device is still in the development stage even though it is slotted for delivery early next year.
Customize when you receive biofeedback alerts
Eric has a lot of things up his sleeve to work with this device to continue to offer upgrades to the software after release. Since so much of this is software-based, it is totally possible to improve it with updates. He has some pretty great ways to expand the uses of this earphone set after the release occurs.
Now, Eric is not only the creator, but he is a creator that believes in this. So much so that he gave me permission to give his cell phone number to anyone who would like to speak with him or has additional questions. How many people do you know that will do that? 🙂 If you are interested in speaking with him, just shoot me an e-mail and I will get you the number.
While I know this post sounds like an advertisement, I get nothing for doing this. It is just a product that I think has great potential and I want to see it get fully funded. If it does, we will all have access to it soon and be able to see how great it really is. I have a lot of confidence in this and I cannot wait to get mine. So, head on over to the Kickstarter page to make your pledge!
