In-Helmet Headphones (Outdoor Tech CHIPS)

[Lindahl]

Anyone used them and have anything to say about them? I found a few stray comments.

I'm also still debating over going wired or wireless:
1) The wired ones have the microphone in-line, the wireless ones have the microphone in the speaker. How well does the wireless microphone work when riding on lifts when it's windy? Useless or can I talk to someone? With the microphone in-line, you can probably hide it in your jacket and still talk to people pretty easily.
2) Do the wireless ones last a decent amount of time in extreme cold, or is the battery life shit when it gets really cold? (-5 to -10 F?)
3) Is charging the wireless ones a pain in the ass since you have to remove them from the helmet earflaps? If it's a hassle, which it seems it might be, I'd probably be tempted to not charge them all the time and then never have a full battery when I need it.

[jacob_dbu]

I've never used them, but reviews seem mixed. Look, they're a tech product made by an outdoor company - they're probably not great.

As an aside, I have Airpods and while I personally have not used them skiing yet, they are amazing wireless headphones and I think they would be perfect for it. My friend has used them for skiing and thought they worked great.

I have found with Airpods that the microphone quality is crystal clear through a buff over the ears, so I think they would do pretty well in a helmet.

[MrMan]

#dontbethatguy

[CascadeLuke]

I have these wired chips in a Smith Vantage. Cant answer all your questions as its been one day with them on mountain. Fit wise they are unnoticeable in my helmet, sound okay, and for the price $30 or $40 I paid- I'm happy. Was on Baker with limited cell coverage so no calls taken on the few runs I ran music.

[bourbonisgood]

Anyone used them and have anything to say about them? I found a few stray comments.

I'm also still debating over going wired or wireless:
1) The wired ones have the microphone in-line, the wireless ones have the microphone in the speaker. How well does the wireless microphone work when riding on lifts when it's windy? Useless or can I talk to someone? With the microphone in-line, you can probably hide it in your jacket and still talk to people pretty easily.
2) Do the wireless ones last a decent amount of time in extreme cold, or is the battery life shit when it gets really cold? (-5 to -10 F?)
3) Is charging the wireless ones a pain in the ass since you have to remove them from the helmet earflaps? If it's a hassle, which it seems it might be, I'd probably be tempted to not charge them all the time and then never have a full battery when I need it.

I've got the Smith branded ODT Bluetooth chips 2.0 that I picked up new for a song on eBay.

1)the microphone works ok but poor in moderate to high winds as you can imagine. I definitely did not by these for that feature.

2) I estimate I get 12-15hrs of playback before charging. Temps here generally range from 5-25F so no helpful info for you regarding brutal cold.

3) I don't generally remove the chips from my helmet to charge them. Plug into the USB in my car on the way to the mountain and I'm good to go.

FWIW, I'd buy em a again.

[klauss]

I have the wireless chips last few seasons and highly recommend them. I've read the bad reviews, but my experiences have been excellent. Good battery life and wife can hear me fine on phone calls. I bought her a pair last time I saw them on sale.

Sound quality won't blow you away, but loud enough for me at least to enjoy the tunes while I ski and super easy to turn off start again with gloves on

[johnnyg82]

I have the original wireless Chips. The mic works very well, while talking to people they hear me clearly and don’t believe I’m skiing. I’ve had them running 8 hours at a time playing music over Spotify at -20 C, I’ve never had issues with battery life. You can just slide one side out for charging, it’s really not bad, but may also be helmet dependent, is it easy to access the audio pockets? They charge with a 3.5mm audio style jack, which you can also use if the battery dies to convert them to wired.
Audio wise, I was quite surprised with the quality. My daily driver headphone are Shure in-ears.

[johnnyg82]

I just bought the Chips 2.0 for the wife and I for the walk-in talkie feature, but haven’t taken them out of the package yet.

[eskido]

Picked up the wireless chips for my sister and she absolutely digs them... super easy to use, never seen her hassle with them, batteries hold up great, and I've been on the other end of a phone convo and could hear her better than on a vehicles's Bluetooth by far (although never in a very windy spot, doubt that's very fixable with anything), honestly I'm jealous enough of her music situation I want to buy a helmet just for that

[Benny Profane]

Uncomfortable (too tight) and block out outside sound.