The Perfect Wireless Earbuds for Long-Distance Runners – Gear Patrol
The Perfect Wireless Earbuds for Long-Distance Runners Gear Patrol
The Jaybird Vista are wireless earbuds designed for long-distance runners. They are smaller and cheaper than the Powerbeats Pro.
Jaybird has carved out a nice little niche in the wireless earbud market: all of its earbuds are rugged and water-resistant, designed for long-distance runners, trail runners, mountain bikers and other extreme athletes. The company’s newest true wireless earbuds, the Jaybird Vista ($180), stay true to those same ethos, too. They also look to be the company’s best-ever true wireless earbuds.
The first thing you’ll notice about the Jaybird Vista, which are effectively the next-generation of the Jaybird Run and Run XT, is the size – they are tiny. Both the individual Vista earbuds and the charging case are slim and lightweight; the case is actually designed to take on long runs, too. Each individual earbud has a roughly 6-hour battery life, with the case giving each earbud an extra 10 hours.
Another neat addition to the Jaybird Vista is USB-C charging; you can now charge them with the same charger that you use with your MacBook Air or Android smartphone. It also means that you can quick-charge the Vista – a five-minute quick charge gets you an additional hour of play time.
The Vista earbuds are, with an IPX7 rating, fully waterproof and sweatproof. And like the company’s previous wireless earbuds, they’re compatible the Jaybird app, so you can adjust the EQ settings or borrow the EQ settings used by some of Jaybird’s sponsored athletes, like Timothy Olson or Rory Bosio.
If there was an issue with the previous Run and Run XT earbuds, it was with their connectivity; sometimes the left and right earbuds sometimes got out of sync. However, Jaybird has remedied this issue with Vista. Instead of your smartphone just pairing to the right earbud, which then talked to the left earbud, both of Vista’s left and right earbuds talk directly to your smartphone, which should result in a much more stable connection.
In the greater landscape of sport-focused true wireless earbuds, there are a couple options we’d recommend. The Powerbeats Pro ($250) are great for iPhone owners, but they’re also pretty darn expensive. The Jabra Elite Active 65t ($189) look to be the most direct competitor of the Jaybird Vista, but those have an entirely different fit and are better for calls thanks to their more advanced microphone array. If you’re looking for strictly workout earbuds that are true wireless, which are lightweight and comfortable, the Vista look to be a bonafide option.
We’ll have a full review of the Jaybird Vista in the coming weeks.
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