Recently, I've been feeling a little wary on my runs. Put it down to my recent true crime binge (don't talk to me about Ted Bundy [1] right now), the fact that my morning runs are getting darker and darker as Summer wanes, or the all-too-frequent attacks on female runners we never seem to stop hearing about. It actually infuriates me that I have to be so cautious while simply pursuing a hobby, but that's the world we live in and another article for another time. Women who run have learned, out of necessity, to take their safety into their own hands. And the more I read about the small weapons female runners have started carrying, or the self-defence classes they take to protect themselves, the more I worry about one running habit I can't — and don't want to — get rid of.
I listen to music on my runs [2] and, look, in the grand scheme of things, I get how insignificant that seems. Really, Maggie, how good can your playlist be that you're willing to be that much more vulnerable, all because you just had to turn it up on "Bye Bye Bye" by *NSYNC? OK, sure, but have you tried running a half marathon with nothing but the blood beating in your ears and all the thoughts you don't want to confront screaming circles around your head? Yeah, thanks, I'm good. I'm not willing to give up something that makes my runs easier, bearable, and better without looking for some kind of middle ground.
Turns out that middle ground might come in the form of a line of headphones called AfterShokz. It's a brand that produces "bone conduction" headphones, which sit outside your ears and transmit sound through your cheekbones to your inner ears, leaving your ear canals uncovered and unplugged. The premise is that you can hear both your music and your surroundings at the same time. For me, that meant not having to sacrifice my music — part of what makes running so fun — to feel safer.
For reasons that should be obvious by now, I was intrigued by AfterShokz's latest release, Aeropex, a set of Bluetooth headphones purported to be a lightweight, long-lasting (up to eight hours of battery life), high-sound-quality solution. AfterShokz sent me a pair to try and I've worn them on five runs so far. Here's what I thought.
Are AfterShokz Aeropex Safe?
Aeropex are simple and lightweight, and wrap around the back of your head and rest just in front of your ears. The sound quality was clear and rich, the music sounded as normal as it did with any other pair of headphones. You couldn't feel vibrations through your head or anything like that. Understandably, Aeropex weren't as loud as headphones that cover your ears, like earbuds and AirPods. The whole point is to hear ambient noise, which I did: my footsteps, cars, voices, the water splashing in the bay where I ran. It was harder to tune out my surroundings, but again, that's kind of the point. You're pushing music to the background of the run, for better or worse, so you can be more aware of what's going on around you.
Did I feel safer? I actually did. I could kind of tune in and out of the music as I wanted and had a better base-level awareness of what was going on around me. I knew when cars were coming up from behind and could hear people talking. I wasn't hypervigilant and I didn't want to be, but I definitely felt more in tune with my surroundings. I think changes like that, as small as they seem, can actually go a long way in making me feel safer and more confident as a runner [3].
The headphones aren't danger-proof, though. There was one moment where a couple of bikes sneaked up on me without me hearing them at all. It was a good reminder that even though I might have better situational awareness with bone conduction headphones, they didn't make me supersonic. I still had to pay attention, especially when I turned the volume up higher.
Are AfterShokz Aeropex Comfortable?
As far as overall comfort, what I liked about Aeropex was that they didn't make my ears ache the way that AirPods [5] and earbuds do; I'll sometimes have to massage my ears after using my AirPods for a few hours, but Aeropex don't enter your ear canal at all so this wasn't an issue. They did make my temples a little sore the first time I used them, whether from the physical tension or because of the bone conduction vibrations themselves. I didn't have this problem after that first time. I've since used them on runs of over two hours without any kind of issues.
Aeropex didn't shift around when I ran (another concern) and I forgot they were there after a while. You could use them for other workouts, but they may not work for anything that requires lying down, like crunches; they wrap around the back of your head, so I couldn't lie down without pushing them off. Though they don't have the same music control capabilities as AirPods (RIP my double-tap song-skip tool), they do have volume buttons on one side. And although I haven't tried these features, Aeropex are also equipped with microphones to make calls, and are waterproof in case a shower hits while you're out running or walking.
Do I Recommend Aeropex?
Would I recommend Aeropex [6] ($160)? If you're a walker or runner, I'd say yes. I can't help but be more aware of everyone and everything around me now, and while I wish that didn't have to be the case, I also accept that it's worth the tradeoff. I have more peace of mind running during dark, early-morning hours [7] or through less-crowded areas, and these headphones meant that I didn't have to sacrifice my music to get it.