-Few things are more irritating than having the headphone cords yanked from your ears, but these dog tag headphones put an end to tangles with a wireless bluetooth signal that cuts the cord.
I'm Justin Yu, headphone editor for CNET.com.
This is your first look at the Outdoor Technology Bluetooth Tags.
Most of the bluetooth headphones we review come with a plastic band that sits on top of your head, but these wireless earbuds eliminate even more that bulk and are better for active lifestyles and travellers.
The individual earpieces are joined together by this long cord that wraps around the back of your neck and comes in handy when you're not using them.
They're meant to dangle off your neck like a pair of dog tags and a small plastic clip actually lets you twist them together as well.
The set comes with three color-coded eartips and mini-USB cable for charging through a port on your computer and a small plastic carrying case.
Now, since there's no rubber cable for the remote control, all the navigation is done directly on the right earbud using three
buttons, one multifunction button to play and stop your track and two directional buttons to skip forward or backward through a playlist.
The company also includes two plastic ear clips that securely fasten to your ears while listening.
The tags weren't specifically designed for athletes, but the clips make it really easy to add a soundtrack to jogging, cycling, hiking, and other active sports.
Pairing the headphones to a bluetooth-connected smartphone is really easy, but if you don't have a compatible iOS device,
Outdoor Technology also sells an external transmitter for iOS devices that cost $25.
Now, one drawback to bluetooth is that your music will lose sound quality in the audio compression process, so you might notice a little bit more static and a drop in clarity compared to wired headphones, but we think the tradeoff is worth it, especially considering the tags cost less than a midlevel pair of earbuds.
You can check out more details and photos in our full review on CNET.com, but that's gonna do it for me.
I'm Justin Yu.
These are the Outdoor Technology Bluetooth Tags and that sounds good to me.
