Hey Gang and welcome to another WB FItness Product Review. Today we will be talking about the Gripped Fitness Audio Equalizers V.3. I spent a long time looking for headphones that were right for me. For a few years I used Jaybird X3 Buds which were good, but I just do not like ear buds. I wanted an over the ear headphone.
The popular Beats audio, however, are very susceptible to water damage as are many of the other models. So when I saw Kai Greene Endorse a Sweat Resistant over the ear headphone I was really excited. After a lot of research I pulled the trigger. The results are mixed.
THE GOOD
Ok, let’s start with the good. First of all, as the brand name suggests, Gripped Fitness grip the head really well. I use them in a variety
Ok, well sometimes AFTER the workout it is fun to horse around with bigger weight, but only after you get your workout in. This is not exercise, it is just fun.
of positions from standing, to flat bench, to incline and decline benches…I even do hanging crunches where I hang upside down with gravity boots and they always maintain a solid fit.
The next bit of good is the sound. I am by no means an audiophile. The super high end doesn’t sound very different than the apple ear buds to me. I will say that the Gripped V.3 is loud enough to block out the sound around me and there are no obvious sound flaws that annoy me. If you are a sound snob I can’t speak to their absolute quality, but I think they sound great.
Battery life. The battery life on the headphones is great. I wake up early and hit the gym for a few hours. Then I turn the headphones off and 8 or so hours later after work I go back to the gym and the battery is usually only about 1/4 done after all that.
Sweat Proof. I sweat a a lot when I work out and have soaked these through. In nearly a year of daily and often 2 times a day use it has never had an impact on the sound or on the pads.
THE BAD
Ok, So there are some problems with GFA Equalizers and they are pretty extreme. For some reason the Bluetooth almost never connects on the first try. I always have to turn the headphones on and off, toggle the Bluetooth control on my phone and turn the phone on and off before I get a connection. It is so bad that I actually make time for it in my workout. There is nothing worse than being ready to hit the weights and then having to spend 10 minutes pressing buttons just to get your headphones to work.
The second strike against these headphones is that they just don’t seem to be built in a way which is going to withstand heavy use in a gym. My right headphone is hanging by a wire (which holds to my head thanks to the good grip, but still) and the left side is dented up and will probably crack soon.
Conclusion
I love these headphones. This is actually a problem. Because I love them I over look the annoying bluetooth connectivity issue and their fragility and am willing to just buy a new paid when these break…I just hope I can get a minimum of 16 months out of them. The headphones list for 160 and if you want them in a popular color like silver, matte black or glossy black that is what you will probably pay for them. I have seen them, if you don’t care about color, as low as 100 dollars and if you follow them on social media you can often get a discount code. Mine, after tax and shipping, a matte white paid, wound up costing about 110.