Yurbuds Focus Earphones

Yurbuds Focus Earphones (£25)
www.yurbuds.co.uk

 

Most would agree that there are two flaws when running with earphones, the tangled cord and, an earphone that doesn't slip out of a sweaty ear.
Yurbuds, claim that they have the answer, developed by athletes for the athlete, Twistlock technology addresses one problem. Though alas, I find not with the first point. Pulling the woven cord from my pocket I find a ball of tangled spaghetti in my hand, which delays the start of my run, although not as bad as other earphones that I have owned I might add.

Inserting the earphone is very easy, with a quick twist, once you get the hang of it, can be a bit fiddly at first.
The ones I had initially didnt fit as the "bud" part didnt want to twist into place, being too small, but a quick email to yurbuds and they sent replacements free of charge! now thats service.

They felt comfortable and secure, but for how long would they hold in place..?. Only one way to find out, long run, and what better way to access the sound quality, than good old Metallica

Six miles late I am surprised, the earphone is still secure and throughout the run there was no cause for adjustment. The clarity of the earphones is very good, and the ambient noise quality impressive, as I like to be aware of traffic around me.
At last a reliable pair of earphones that do not slip out, are sweatproof and dont take all day to untangle.
 

Garmin Vivofit Actvity Tracker

GARMIN Vivo Fit Activity Tracker(£76-£100)

The VivoFit consists of a central unit that snaps into a wristband (small and large supplied). So if you decide you fancy a change in colour, just purchase a new wristband and away you go. The clasp is a bit odd, but proves comfortable to wear over the course of the day. I quite like the design too, even if I did get a lot of mixed comments mainly that if looks cool but also that it looks like something out straight from the set of Star Trek…

The watch is primarily a pedometer - no GPS as you may expect from Garmin. So it would appear that it’s primary objective is to encourage gradual improvements to your day-to-day activity levels. The band provides the number of steps and distance walked per day. I decided to compare the distance measurement with my Garmin GPS watch. The distance accuracy seemed reasonable but not brilliant, certainly not in the same bracket as a GPS based unit.

There is a red bar that appears on the bands screen now and again. Whilst not immediately clear what its purpose is, I worked out that it is a move bar that comes up when you have not been active for a while. Great idea, but this is let down by the fact the watch has no kind of haptic or audio feedback as often I would not see that it was telling me to move.

Syncing the vivo fit with the iPhone app is really simple and gives you a full overview of your activity levels for the whole week. Therefore, you can spot days when you are less active than others. There are various  badges to earn, mainly focused on achieving a record number of steps.

Not having to remember to charge the unit is a great feature. Although it does come at the cost of not having a back-light, so no reading the time or syncing in the dark - but I can live with this.