These wireless earbuds have built-in AI technology that provides real-time coaching as I’m running — I’ve cut my mile time by more than 3 minutes – Business Insider

I dislike running.

I often blame it on my short legs, but the truth is that I find it boring, challenging, and not enjoyable. I run inconsistently, but given the health benefits, I decided it was worth lacing up my sneakers and giving it another try.

I have trouble jogging more than half a mile without a break, so I needed some assist – that’s where the Run Free Pro Bio earbuds from Soul Electronics come in.

The Bluetooth earbuds have an integrated artificial intelligence coach that provides real-time suggestions to improve your running

The wireless Bluetooth earbuds have built-in artificial technology that acts as a coach for real-time suggestions to improve your running performance. It can analyze your gait and measure everything from your speed to step length to head angle. The earbuds are also waterproof, so you’re covered when you break a sweat or get caught in a drizzle.

I love the idea of having someone (something?) to help improve my running form. While I’m still not a good runner, I can definitely say that the earbuds made me a better runner – and made running a bit more fun too.

Here are my full experiences with the Run Free Pro Bio earbuds in case you’re considering a pair.

Even though they’re meant for running, the wireless earbuds are lightweight, stylish enough for everyday use, and easy to control

caption: The headphones have built-in artificial technology that provides real-time suggestions to improve your gait, head angle, and more.
source: Suzie Dundas/Business Insider

As with many wireless earbuds, the Run Free Pro Bio has a sleek and streamlined look. It comes with a round carrying case, several different sizes of rubber tips and earlocks, and a small charger that is compatible with mini USB.

I especially liked the small clip, perfect for attaching the earbuds to your shirt to ensure you won’t lose your earbuds while running or if you’re wearing them in just one ear, as I did while biking. You can turn off the wireless coaching so I was able to use them beyond just running.

The set-up process for the Run Free Pro Bio is fairly straightforward. You’ll have to pair it with Bluetooth and the Soul Fit App. After I downloaded the app, the instructions walked me through the calibration process in about a minute. Creating a profile is easy and quick too, requiring your email, gender, age, and weight.

The headphone controls are on a small bar under the right earbud, a convenient location for right-handed users but not so much for lefties A quick tap adjusts the volume and a more prolonged squeeze skips to the next song, making one-handed use a breeze. I had no trouble changing songs without missing a step while working out.

The real-time personalized coaching advice improved my running performance – I was able to shave more than three minutes off my usual mile time

Without question, what makes the Run Free Pro Bio stand out is its coaching feature.

Before using the earbuds, it took me around 14 minutes to run one mile and was a mix of jogging and fast walking. It’s objectively a pretty slow pace; most long-distance runners in my age bracket can cover a mile in under 12 minutes.

During my first run with the Pro Bio, it took less than 10 seconds for my first piece of coaching advice to deploy – “slow cadence, run faster.”

Being told I was going too slow was annoying, but the next two commands were more helpful and positive as the AI suggested to take smaller steps and land lighter, both of which I was able to quickly adjust. Less than 15 seconds later, the coach was back with some encouragement: “Your cadence is better. Good job.”

However, some of the coaching wasn’t as helpful if you don’t know how to correct the issue. The voice kept telling me to land softer but didn’t teach me how so I had to do some research later to learn how to adjust my form to appease the Run Free Pro Bio coach. However, I do appreciate that the earbuds brought the issue of impact pressure to my attention as I likely wouldn’t have known I was doing it wrong otherwise.

By my second run (jog, if we’re honest) with the Run Free Pro Bio, I had my mile time down to 11:30. It’s still not fast, but it’s quite an improvement over my usual 13:50 mile time without the unit.

Using the earbuds is fun and made running seem like a game, which reduced the number of stops I made and encouraged me to push myself a little more. Between that gaming mentality and personalized coaching I’m getting from the AI, I’m encouraged by the potential improvement I could see over the next month of casual running.

The coaching can become a little annoying, but the app lets me turn down the frequency

The Run Free Pro Bio has two running options: inside and outside.

Running inside (like being on a treadmill) can be done with location services turned off, but they have to be turned on for outdoor running. This will cause your phone’s battery to drain quicker but it won’t be an issue for casual runners; I can see it quickly run a phone battery down to zero on a marathon-length run.

I also found after a few runs that the coaching was too frequent and I was getting annoyed with how often the voice would chime in, especially if listening to a podcast.

Fortunately, there’s a setting in the app where runners can control coaching frequency and certain data points. For example, I turned off the “shock” data point to eliminate the annoying interruptions that reminded me I still wasn’t landing correctly; I eventually turned it back on.

The Run Free Pro Bio has drastically improved my running performance and has made running fun

caption: The headphones come with a little clip to secure them on runs, and a microphone so you can use them for phone calls too.
source: Suzie Dundas/Business Insider

The more I use the earbuds, the more I appreciate it and can justify the price tag. At $109, they’re inexpensive for a quality pair of earbuds, but still not cheap by any definition.

The audio quality is solid for both music and podcasts, making it a great set of Bluetooth earbuds for everyday use. Soul Electronics claims 11 hours of use time from a two-hour charge and in my experience, that’s been accurate so far; the battery is longlasting, even when using the coaching feature.

But for me, the most useful feature is the personalized coaching, which I’ve used to improve my form, pace, and distance. If I just want a leisurely jog and not track my performance, it’s easy enough to turn off too.

It’s easy to see how the AI guidance could help reduce the chance of injury and improve my pace, but it’s also made running more fun, which is what I needed to get myself out the door. I’d recommend it for beginner runners, or even runners who want to improve their performance.

Pros:

Makes running fun with customizable coaching
Offers real-time coaching to help improve your form and reduce injury
Good audio quality; works well as an everyday audio device

Cons:

Requires location services for outdoor running, which can zap phone batteries
The voice is a bit robot-ish
The default coaching interruptions may be too frequent for distance runners