When you're running, it can be tricky to strike the right balance between immersing yourself in your workout music and remaining safely aware of your surroundings.
Aftershokz' latest bone conduction headphones, the Aftershokz Aeropex might just solve that problem.
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That's because bone conduction headphones leave your ear canals totally open, allowing you to hear your workout buddy, oncoming traffic, and passers by.
Place this nifty headset on your cheekbones, and they'll transmit sound through your bones without stopping your hearing.
The IP67 water resistance rating means they can withstand sweaty workout sessions, as well as a spot of rain. Theoretically this could work in shallow water for 30 minutes, but we'd be averse from trying them swimming - there are the Aftershokz XTrainerz for that.
They also support eight hours of playback from a single charge, which should be enough for even the most hardcore marathon runner – unless you like to run at a very leisurely pace of course.
Trekz, take a hike
Following on from the AfterShokz Trekz Air headphones, the new Aeropex headphones feature a titanium frame and wraparound band, which is impressively 30% smaller and even 13% lighter than the already-unweighty Air headset.
The running headphones also sit at a 30-degree tilt against your face to reduce unwanted vibrations on your skin.
It may sound good on paper, but how do bone conduction headphones sound in real life? AfterShokz is all too aware of the bad reputation the technology has when it comes to audio quality, and we noticed in our reviews that the bass and leaking sound was poor. That's something that's, apparently, been addressed with the new Aeropex, with deeper bass and far less sound escaping.
AfterShoks says that sound leakage has actually been reduced by 50% compared to the Trekz Air headphones – no mean feat considering the open design of the headphones.
Coming in grey, black, blue, and red, the Aeropex are available to buy in the UK for £149.95, the same price as the AfterShokz Trekz Airs were at launch. We don't currently know whether the headphones will be coming to the US or Australia, or how much they will cost.
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