This week at CES, folks got their first look at the now final production units of the long-awaited Bragi Dash. The company began shipping development kits a bit ago, but only just now is working to get the first few thousand (of tens of thousands) of final production units shipped.
I got a chance to talk to founder Nikolaj Hviid for a while about the entire evolution from their beginnings about 2 years ago, to finally seeing the end of the tunnel now with shipping underway. And of course, I got to spend a bit of time trying out one of the units.
Now, for those of you who haven’t heard of the Dash headphones before, I’ll just give the bulleted version of why it’s been such a highly tracked product since its announcement:
- Totally wireless pods (both of them)
- Internal storage for music playback
- Heart rate sensor built into them
- Ability to act as a phone’s Bluetooth headset
- 3hr battery life
- Waterproof and able to swim with it
- Able to determine steps, pace, and distance
- Plus a crapton of other really cool stuff
I’ll cover all the details in a follow-up post, as this is more of a first impressions thing. Plus, I’ll also cover up those items that were promised at Kickstarter launch, versus what’s actually there today.
Initial Impressions:
Now to be clear, my time with the Dash this go-around was pretty limited. I got an overview of how it works, got to listen to some music, and got to pretend I was running. Expect quite a bit more detail and a full review when my (I’m a Kickstarter backer) device arrives in the next few weeks.
Still, since I get more requests than I can count on a daily basis for my thoughts on the product, I figured I’d get you started with these for now.
First up is the case. Silly as this may seem, the case is quite frankly the coolest charging thingamajig I’ve ever seen for a sports tech device. Essentially, it’s a charging case and battery pack combo dish. Yup, it’ll give your Dash five (Yes, 5!) full charges before you need to re-charge the battery pack.
On top of that, the case has bits of magnet in it, so your Dash ear buds simply snap into the charging ports without much effort. I love that it also protects the product, yet still is actually useful. Compare that to most wireless earphone cases (usually round jewelry pouch like things) that honestly just take up extra space without any practical purpose. Whereas this would pass the Alton Brown test of not being a uni-tasker.
Once we’ve removed the device from the pod, we’ll plop it on our ears. Now the big claim to fame with the Dash (among other things) is that there’s no wire between the pods. Thus each pod has their own battery and wireless systems.
In my case, the pods fit fairly well, snug and seemingly comfortable. Though, I know full well that something that may be comfortable for a few minutes might not be comfortable for hours on end. So it’ll take more testing there.
You control the pod via touches and swipes. It can be a bit confusing as first, since the touches and swipes are generally along the bottom portion of the pod. So it’s sorta like a continual DUI test in whether or not you can touch the correct portion of the pod straight away. Still, like anything new it’ll just take a few times to get used to.
The pods contain 3GB of storage on them, so we got straight away to listening to music. You can control and select playlists through a series of swipes and touches. They gave me instructions for how to get through the menu system, which made it straight forward then. Though I’m pretty sure I’ll screw it up by myself.
Once the music started virtually all exterior noises evaporated. They were very good at noise cancelling. In fact, too good. I was then unable to continue holding my conversation with them.
That’s where they instructed me on how to turn on a mode (Audio Pass-through) that lets me hear those voices while still listening to the music (it’d also let through a car horn for example). That worked great. I could then continue our conversation while still hearing the music, and still having the rest of the background noise a bit more muted.
Now the main attraction to the fitness crowd is some of the sport modes. For example the ability to measure and communicate your heart rate, as well as your pace and distance. In talking with Bragi’s Marijo Sarac, they are particularly proud of pro triathlete Helle Frederiksen being an avid user of the device. And Bragi themselves has a number of athletes among their product team.
Given the show-floor constraints I wasn’t able to do much of a test of the running mode, other than turning it on and running in place to get it to trigger some stats (which it did). Ultimately, it’s a key function I’ll be testing later this month. However, Nikolaj did note that while the HR mode works fairly well at rest, he said it still struggles a bit in sport. An area he says they’re working to address (and that he does expect me to test thoroughly).
The Road Ahead:
In order to look ahead, you actually have to look back. If you turn on the way-back machine to when The Dash was first announced, I was pretty critical about it and their timelines. I noted that what they set out to do was going to take quite a bit longer than they said it would. And sure enough, it did (about 18 months longer).
But you know what? Despite that early criticism founder Nikolaj Hviid has kept a rather friendly rapport with me* (unlike some companies that don’t like a reality check), and he seems genuinely eager to talk with me about how far they’ve come and what they’ve learned along the way. He’s open and honest that it was definitely harder than they anticipated. And he’s also open that they still have work to do in the fitness realm, and that I may find it a bit rough still based on my standards (speaking to the HR pieces primarily). But he’s justifiably proud of where the company and the product has come.
(*He actually grabbed me out of the busy hallway elsewhere in the convention center as I was on a phone call walking at pace and didn’t see him coming. He easily could have just let me float on by. We ended up chatting about 20-25 mins about everything from giving his employees the holidays off, to the struggles of early production runs.)
At this point, the company is largely past the main initial hurdles of production manufacturing. They’re still working to optimize the yield on the production lines, a process that all-in he feels will take a bit longer. They expect to wrap-up shipping to Kickstarter backers at some point in February, and then will transition into pre-orders for regular folks. Obviously, it’s in their interest to get there as fast as possible.
But with manufacturing soon to be somewhat self-sufficient, much of the attention now in the company is turning to rounding out the software experience. Nikolaj was clear there’s numerous features to be rolled out still, based on the initial Kickstarter promises. Hopefully by time I have a review ready, I’ll also have a bit more clarity on what that roadmap looks like.
Lastly, do keep in mind that this product really appeals to two factions: Those that just want wireless headphones and don’t much care about the fitness features. And those that want the fitness functions. Even within the fitness crowd, there will be different portions of the product that some people do and don’t care about (i.e. some may not care about HR, but just want good sport headphones).
Like I said earlier – I’m definitely looking forward to using these soon and getting a better handle on how well they work. Plus, perhaps they’ll just convert me into a running with music kinda person. Just maybe…
With that – thanks for reading!
–
Don’t forget to check out all of the DCR CES 2016 coverage, as well as a slew of updates that were only seen on Twitter. It was a crazy busy week!
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I would probably loose them rather quickly. :/ But interesting concept.
Thats what I’m afraid of as well. If used for sports in hot summer conditions, will they really stay in place? I lose all other headphones that don’t come with a loop around the ear, quite annoying to adjust them every 2 minutes. But lets see first reviews.
It might be your ear shape, it is with me. Try the Panasonic HJE120 – these are the only in ear headphones which fit me and they fit perfectly, almost never falling out even when sweaty. My problem is that I can’t invest that much for wireless ones when they almost certainly won’t fit me properly due to ear shape, and due to hygiene can’t be returned. It would be useful if expensive wireless headphone makers offered trial ones without electronics to get the fit right. I’d happily pay 50p for the privilege of trying them on first!
Nothing that a quick trip to the local piercing shop can’t fix. XD
Apple takes anything back that you return. I do this in order to try out various in-ear phones. They just don’t sell anything other than their own (wired) version that I like, unfortunately.
Any FM receivers built in? That is the great thing about the Jabra Bluetooth Sports and a better feature than ability to measure HR or any other measurements that the watch we all wear does already
There’s nothing trendy about broadcast radio, much less analogue broadcast radio. Sadly this whole industry is about trendy, and that very often trumps good features or even working features. Objects are now sold on “wouldn’t it be cool if…” rather than “this product is excellent at…” and it rarely matters whether the cool stuff works because people buy it, get disappointed, then buy version 2 which “must be better”
Not a comment on these headphones – I’ve never seen them. More a comment on the industry as a whole 🙂
I also have been looking at a good wireless headset with FM radio, without success for now (I have seen the Jabra but am not convinced by its form factor).
Especially when working out, FM would be of great value for me as I like to listen to the news and other radio broadcasts while doing so .WiFi is not an option most of the time when outside and 3G/4G is dependent on a phone and consumes lots of data.
I am actually surprised no brand has picked up on this. At least now I know I am not the only user looking for this 🙂
funny that. The LAST thing I´d be interested in is FM radio.
Really.
I actually want AM radio! A lot of live sports are only on AM. I can pay to stream but a lot of the time I’m in areas with bad cell coverage.
Good luck with AM – it’s gradually being phased out to free up bandwidth for electronic gadgets, including the type of radio signal between these headphones I expect!
I’m not particularly old but I am baffled by a generation that’s shunning radio in favour of a stream of music they don’t own. Why do they feel the need to listen to a stream of music that nobody else is listening to? MP3 made sense as a more convenient way to store records/CDs
I think FM radio would be great – love listening to the radio on long runs, makes the time fly by.
Then buy an AM radio…. not top of the line, cutting edge, industry pushing wireless earbuds. If you want the old, stick with the old. Dont knock evolution.
Their point, I believe, was that they do want wireless headphones. They just want them connected to a radio because data charges and 3g/4g signal make streaming unattractive and some people don’t like the repetitiveness of MP3. Old and new technology are not mutually exclusive, it’s just that manufacturers don’t tend to keep offering the older stuff for some reason.
Well, it’s not like one owned the radio either. Usually the streams are free or dirt-cheap (I can listen to tons of different albums all month, for the same price that would purchase only one) and commercials are much more limited than radio, if they’re present at all.
Almost all streaming services offer some level of curating and automatically selecting things the user might like based on past preferences. Music discovery is a big part of the picture.
Back in my day if you wanted to listen to music on a run you had to use a walkman! It was as big as a toaster and gave the added benefit of a single arm workout lugging it around! Good old FM and AM radio were available so a disc jocky could spin me some fine tunes! Darn new-fangled technology getting in the way of everything these days. 😉
Even the phones I’ve had with FM receivers, required you to use wired headphones or earbuds in order to make it work – the wire became dual-purpose, not only piping the sound but also acting as the FM antenna. I imagine that this antenna requirement would present a real hurdle for wireless earbuds.
Can we wear them as a single unit?? I’d be interested for cycling, one ear open to world around me…
Checkout AfterShokz Bluez 2S or Titaniums. They don’t go in your ear, but over them and rest on the mandibles of your jawbone. They work by transmitting sound via your jawbone so the sound coming into your ear isn’t blocked. I got a pair on a lark and you can hear the music you’re listening to pretty well provided the area you’re riding isn’t too congested. If there’s a lot of traffic though, what you hear from your ears drowns out what’s coming in through your jawbone.
link to aftershokz.com
The aftershokz look good.
I use a similar bone conduction product in a cap when jogging. It is called Cynaps and you can also install them in a bike helmet.
I find the sound a bit ‘tinny’ unless you put a fair bit of pressure on the conductors, but it looks like they have a slightly new product/design now to help with that.
link to maxvirtual.com
They have audio pass through technology. External mics pick up surrounding environmental sounds and directionally play in either left or right earbud.
They have audio pass-through if you swipe forward on the left earplug. That apparently lets audio in and per some other reviewers it’s even directional.
But you can also use it as a single sided headphone. The right one can be used as a standalone unit + headset for your phone.
+1 for the Aftershokz Titanium for cycling and group runs (or running where conditions are hazardous, for that matter).
Look really interesting but at 300 euro just a little steep for these pockets. That said I’m still looking for a ‘go-to’ BT headphone for gym work….
Ray,
I heard they now only BT to communicate with the phone and some other magical magnetic field thingie between headphones to sync the music correctly (since BT between the head kind of sucks). But are they still NOT included ANT+?
No, not ANT+.
Just a heads up, in the article you say it has 3GB storage, it’s actually 4…
You may’ve confused music playback + tracker battery-life (3hrs), with storage capacity.
Nope.
The unit has 3GB of usable storage for music/workouts, 1GB of the 4GB chip is taken up by their system.
First I’ve heard, they’ve never stated that in any of their many write ups…
You might want to clarify that in the article, as Bragi themselves don’t even say it on their official site.
link to bragi.com
“…they’ve never stated that in any of their many write ups…”
I mean their status updates, haven’t read all their other doco (assuming much of it’s publicly available).
On their website it sais that there are 3.5 GB available for music (right under the one year limited warranty). Don’t know if this was a there all along, but now it’s there.
Love the headphone case design – when i saw the pictures i was hoping it had the charger built in with a battery – it reminds me of the far less interesting but utilitarian Plantroncis Voyager Legend UC that i use day in and day out on lync. link to plantronics.com
one of the most under rated and amazing features is the case which magnets and charges and has a battery – so glad Bragi did the same.
I use only the right usually, for convenience. Would love to see a 2 right earpiece variant, so I could instantly swap out a discharged one for another (right)
fully charged one.
Am I the only one reminded of a pair of eyeballs sitting in a box?
So I am guessing I cannot swim laps and stream Spotify from my phone as it would lose the connection. Although I think my ears are out of the water most of the time… Flip turns would lose it. But for music on the ear buds I still would be interested if they will stay in, seems like they would fall out unless they are really stuffed in
You don’t run w music?!? How on earth do you survive the boredom without….
Question: Does it in anyway integrate into the Garmin world (e.g. EDGE/Fenix), for logging the O2 and HR metric?? If the O2 level is even there? I see there is no ant+, but it guess it could do it via BLE.
I hope they are going to take a look at Garmins IQ connect and make a data fields and even a control app/widget for it… Actually surprised Garmin hasn’t bought them yet 🙂
I didn’t think Garmin’s supported BLE measurement devices / integration… just integration with a phone… so the heart rate information would not get transferred. Unless it is possible to bring it in with a new data field / application on the 920/F3
Avoiding being run over by cars, buses, and bikes whose drivers think pedestrians should be illegal is all the excitement I need, personally
It is great to hear what a stand up guy Nikolaj is. He and the team have done a good job of keeping people updated despite all the delays. For a project this ambitious (crazy?) it really does take a true believer to actually make it happen.
The obvious counter example is Limits. What is funny is that they could change that tomorrow. Just be clear where things are at keep people updated with relevant info about the product.
(FYI, not a backer of Dash nor interested in buying it. Think it is a pretty interesting product.)
Do you think it’ll be possible to communicate between a Garmin watch app and the earbuds?
So you could control the music features from your watch, among other things.
Nope!
Garmin works only with Ant+ and The Dash only with Bluetooth.
I’m a kickstarter and as I run with a Garmin watch I asked the same thing to Bragi/Nicolaj.
He answered that it’ll depend on Garmin. If they allow communication by bluetooth it’ll work.
(Probably Garmin would answer that it depends on Bragi. They have to integrate Ant+).
Battery life of 3 hrs seems a bit short to me. Implies that you have tonrun the marathon in less than 3 hrs which is quite fast or need someone to help you charging your earbuds. ?
BTW, I run without music or radio also. Gives me time to think about almost anything and enjoy the nature.
Put a charged spare set in your SPI belt.
So can’t use it as a replacement for HRM strap with Suunto Ambit 2?
Ambit2 isn’t BT enabled
My main concern would be how sweat proof the buds are. I have used several Jaybird Freedom in-ear bluetooth earbuds and, despite the manufacturer’s quibble-free sweatproof guarantee (which I have called into play several times now), they have died on me a number of times. Sweat is so much more pernicious than water as it is acidic and can travel in the form of vapour… I’m happy to try to “kill” these too, in the spirit of beta testing… 🙂
Same experience. So far all died. The Jabra Sport survived quite a while but has signs of failing also. At least they have contact charging, means no sweat can crawl through the charging plug and lead to oxidation of the electronics inside.
Just a thought… it would have been great to say “By the way these are in-ear headphones”.
It would have saved me a lot of confusion in trying to figure out what the hell they are.
So it seems they have definitely scaled back the running metrics that the device will provide. I had thought of these as the Jesus Earphones when I saw their website and Kickstarter page. It was going to give you HR, speed, pace, cadence, distance and other body measurements. Now it looks like all it provides is HR, run duration and number of steps (according to their webpage). Are they still planning to provide these additional metrics down the line?
There’s another product in this space from Sony (Smart B-Trainer). It is a pair of headphones with built in sensors and 16 gb storage for MP3s. According to their website it tracks heart rate, calories burned, distance, time, speed, pace, pitch, steps, strides, route, and altitude and will provide coaching. It also can tailor the music to your pace. It has GPS built in so you don’t need your smartphone.
I have the dumb version of the headphones that is just an MP3 player. It’s not as convenient to transfer music manually but it works pretty well in terms of essentially wireless headphones that don’t require a smartphone or MP3 player to use.
Might be silly, but aren’t people worried about these waves too close to their brains/ears?
I’m not talking about this product specifically, just wireless headphones in general.
Is the default audio pass through?
Reason why I ask is I notice a lot of walkers/joggers/runners on my bike commute to work (shared trail) the walkers/joggers/runners I see always have both ears plug and can’t hear my bell or “on the left” and they also practice the 180 turnaround without even looking over their shoulder and then get upset because they almost caused a collision.
Based on your short time with the dash it does a very good job of noise cancellation but if this is the default may make the user more prone to being disconnected while using the shared path.
In my area bicyclist can only have 1 ear with a earphone. There are no laws for walkers/joggers/runners. So with that said, it would be nice if the Dash came default with the audio pass through mode.
I would think that the default is *not* audio pass through but from the demos I’ve seen it is easy to switch modes with a tap. The ownness will be on the user.
Onus that is. Not ‘ownness’. Not sure what I was thinking…
The trouble unfortunately is two-fold. First, you haven’t the visual hint of wires sticking out of the persons ears to tell you they’re likely a danger to others. Second, and sadly, the “bicyclist hits young mother on jogging path” headlines put the blame on the cyclist regardless of the pedestrian being the one actually at fault.
Would you be able to talk about the expected life-time of battery when you do your review?
Sealed in Li batteries make me fell rather guilty, especially as they effectively limit the lifetime of a device in the same manner as planned obsolescence. That’s not a criticism of the product, but I’d be worried that with daily (or twice daily) recharging, the battery life would half within a year or so.
Other than that, this is a very interesting product.
and then I saw this:
link to 9to5mac.com
I’d be interested in these, if they had a snowball’s chance in hell of staying in my ears… which they don’t. My ears need a redesign.
Yep, the only headphones that stay in my ears when running are ones with ear hooks or similarly styled neck-bands. Earbuds with wings do fine for a few minutes, but a bit of sweat and then I’m futzing around with them the rest of the run (or just jam them in my pocket in annoyance)
link to support.bragi.com
Is there anything you can say about the soundstage?
I’m really interested in these because the marketing site shows a guy swimming and as doing hours up and down a pool staring at the floor does my head in they would at least provide something to distract me! The question would be fit and the likelihood of them sinking to the bottom of the pool. Interested in your review Ray how they cope with swimming.
Thanks as always
If their HRM is not good, they must not be using Valencell for the ear buds. Who’s tech are they using?
Ray,
I agree with Rhenium (post 33), sometimes it takes a long time to realize the general purpose of the product you are introducing/reviewing.
Sometimes reading your article about a new product I have a feeling like I have just woken up in the middle of a class and should know all of the basic stuff.
On the other hand it may very well be that some of the clues that give away what the gadgets do are lost in my inability to understand english perfectly or… that you do that on purpose 🙂
How do the others feel about it?
Thanks
Sorry!
Totally didn’t meant to forget to type the word headphones into the intro. In fact, I had actually added (prior to publishing) a mini-section at the beginning titled “Now, for those of you who haven’t heard of the Dash before…”, but alas, forgot the word headphones. Sorry!
Haha, don’t worry, makes it so much more interesting when you pick up the clues slowly as you read 🙂
How long can I swim with the device?
what is the battery life expectrancy
Yes, you can swim with it. The general battery life is 3hrs, I’m not sure if there’s a lower rate for swimming.
I’ve been reading a lot of reviews about these headphones and cannot for the life of me find anyone that talks about the quality of the music. I’m curious as to how much treble and bass these things pack or are loud or kinda quiet?
I’ve been reading a lot of reviews about these headphones and cannot for the life of me find anyone that talks about the quality of the music. I’m curious as to how much treble and bass these things pack or are loud or kinda quiet?
For your in depth review, can you test the battery under most conditions. That is, one where it’s just listening to music with the health sensory features off, everything on during exercise conditions, just on a call, and anything else you can think of?
Yup, will do.
Worst comment section I think I’ve ever read on any article on the Internet. None of you should buy these. Completely Clueless.
Well, I’m a running with music kind of person. i’ve been using jaybird BT bluebud since almost a year now. mostly pleased with all the features. just some (serious) battery drain issue when in stand by, but I still can listen music for more than 3 hours so far. i’m very happy with the ear fit system too, but from time to time they do fall off my ears. let’s say, this happens one time out of three i go running which, on average, is every 50 km. Supposing a pair of totally wireless headphones being two or three times better designed to fit firmly into the ears, i’m afraid i’d find a bit expensive having to replace them after 100-150 kms of running. over ear loops are ugly, I know. 🙂
Did you get to test the phone ability? I remember there was that bone conduction microphone promised, so you could make a call so long as the buds were connected via BT to your phone at the time.
Thanks for the review. I’ve been following them since the Kickstarter campaign and am really excited. You hit the nail on the head about how within the sport community there are different types of people. I don’t care about HR because I’d be wearing my Garmin gear anyway during a run. Until there’s a version that could talk to a Garmin device and report stats during a run without me carrying a phone, I’m not interested in anything besides them being wireless, having good audio, and staying in while I work out.
Hoping there is a version of these with a lightweight behind-the-neck headband to keep the earbuds in place in your ears. Number one issue for in-ear headphones with me running and riding is that they eventually slip out – despite various ear buds tried. Simple solution is the neck band
MacroPhotoFly if you mean just to prevent you dropping them on the ground, yes, they already have this—it’s an optional attachment (their webpage talks about this). If you mean to actually physically hold them in your ears, I don’t see how a behind-the-neck band would solve this.
Could you please be so kind as to spam some other site. People wish to have insightful discussions on All Things Tri over here. Thank you.
Just zapped them all.
Hi Ray
These look interesting… couple of quick questions:
1. What sort of audio content are these good for – can I listen to your soothing tones on the DC Rainmaker podcast easily enough or is it going to be annoying to grab the mp3 on a laptop and faff to get this over.
2. Kinda related – do these need to be physically wired to a PC/Mac to get audio content or have they come up with a wireless/app based solution to get content onto the headphones (although slightly different application and playback vs storage, Sonos app does a nice job of allowing content from devices to be streamed wirelessly) – afterall having to plug into a computer every time there is a new podcast is just too much effort/life is too short.
Hi Ray,
Have you heard about the Kanoa earphones that they expect to ship in April, they are similar to these bragui but are sports orientated. Their website is getkanoa.com
Any opinion?
Just to clarify I just pre-ordered my set but am able to cancel my order if the bragui is a better set.
I briefly mentioned them in my CES roundup post here: link to dcrainmaker.com
Thanks for the reply Ray,
Those Kuai earphones also look interesting from the sports sensors and antenas, but the ones I saw are from another company called Kanoa which are also true wireless like the bragui. I guess right now the market is flooded with similar pieces.
I read the return policy for the Kanoa and they are ok to take them back if I don’t like them which is great. I’ll tell you in April my impressions and will be watchful for your in-depth review of the bragui.
Regards
Thanks for the early review.
I’m a backer as well, but I am rather disappointed with Bragi’s communication.
When do they expect to get codes sent out so I can actually order mine? I’ve asked them, but there response wasn’t sufficient.
Finally got mine yesterday.
So far the bascially does what was promissed.
I have some issues with BT and BTLE so my samsung s4 mini at the same time, but i can have BTLE to the BRAGI APP and BT to with streaming music from my PC.
I can get heartrate in the Bragi APP but so far has not been able to get Endomondo to find it. Anyone knows other apps that can record HR for an activity ?
Without recording it is not easy to compare to other sources. So i’ve done any hard workout with it but just compared the numbers to a vivofit hr and they seems to be in the same ballpark. Also when taking 4 flight of stairs.
Updated my phone with an unofficial cyanogemod 12.1 to get BT and BTLE working.
Yesteday called for some exercise and since the weather outside is cold and wet as usual this time of the year i choose some indoor cycling.
(PC with Virtuel Training 2015 controlling an Kettler X7)
So a fine setup for testing heart rate on The Dash.
For reference (and connected to virtual trainer and and a phone with endomondo) i choose a Scoshe Rhytm+. It is more comfortable than a breast strap and in my experience very accurate.
With regard to optical heart rate i also have a Mio Link and Garmin Vivosmart HR. The Mio Link works for me most of the time but i have had a few more issues with it on some occasions. Swimming in a wetsuit provides usually solid data but not always when cycling. The Vivosmart HR does not work for cycling at all for me – the HR is all over the place.
But back to The Dash. Since there is no recording of HR yet i just looked at the number in the Bragi APP and from the scosche from time to time. In general it followed but lagged a bit behind and was also somewhat lower. On some of the steeper sections is was 15-20% to low but most of the time is was 5-10% to low.
But even trough i was sweating so i was soaked and dripping i did not see any dropouts in HR.
I’ll be looking forward to a firmware upgrade with recording of workouts. I have enough gadgets to choose from on land, but the ultimate test will be HR while swimming.
I was at the Starkey Expo this month when they announced the partnership between Starkey and Bragi. It will be interesting to see what they can add to one another and I can’t help but wonder what proprietary element Bragi held to have been able to broker such a deal. It tried the Dash, liked the sound, didn’t like the fit. That will be improved upon by Starkey, I’m sure. The ability to lower background noise on demand is fantastic. I wrote a recap of the expo at link to levinehearing.com , going over some of my thoughts on this partnership. Custom earmolds, vital sensors…pretty cool future.
I received my Bragi Dash y.day in the mail. Looks real cool (black ones). I had some trouble updating it setting it up, but after some initial teething problems, it seems well and truly underway. Just used it for some music streaming and works just fine. The gestures are complicated and will take getting used to. The most disappointing thing was heart-rate monitoring – it was woefully below actual readings. I’m not sure how future software updates will solve this.
I also own a pair and am very disappointed with them to be honest. They just dont deliver what they promise. Heart rate is indeed the worst feature. It just doesnt work properly and gives very inaccurate readings. Activity tracking is lacking the tracking bit, it does not save anything. Not to mention the bluetooth range problems (you have to wear your phone in your upper right pocket or it will fail).
For anything activity related i wouldnt recommend it unfortunately.
Worst money I have spent in a long time. Was mislead into thinking that this product was going to be made in Germany not the infamous false economy of China
I’m not sure why the locale of where it’s made has anything to do with it. After all, the iPhone is made in China. Nor would a ‘false economy’ have anything to do with manufacturing. Companies get what they pay for in different manufacturers. None of which has anything to do with software.
Nor did Bragi ever say they were making it in Germany. Very few consumer electronics are manufactured in Germany (or elsewhere in the EU), since the costs are just too high for most products at large volumes.
None of that excuses the software issues some folks are seeing of course, but that isn’t a manufacturing item. That’s a Bragi internal issue (and they do software development in Germany). So basically, you’re saying your upset with the work done in Germany then.
Are you willing to give an estimated timeline of when we might see the in-depth review?
Not quite sure, haven’t spent a ton of time with them over the last few weeks.
I would enalso really love to read your review 🙂
I go mine and I use them from time to time but your reviews always show some strengths and weaknesses I would never get 🙂
Any word on when you will have your updated review?
Would love to see an in depth review on these bad boys. Anything in the works?
Unfortunately nothing planned. I somewhat lost interest with them, and don’t often run with music. Atop that I haven’t honestly seen much interest in audio related reviews here. :-/
Thanks for getting back to me Ray! You da man!
Hi,
Any plans do test HR monitor accuracy of the Jabra Elite sports ?
I really love them as headset for daily (conference) calls, listen to podcasts and music, much better then anything else. link to trustedreviews.com
HR monitor seems to work well, not having typical cold startup issues. However I would love to hear any views on the the accuracy for interval trainings (compared to e.g. my scotch rhythm+ or garmin chest strap)
Ben
Not at the moment. I guess to me I just don’t listen to music enough while I’m running to really dig into it. :-/
I need a review too please Ray! Just bought these and would love to see if they worked with the Garmin Fenix 5, android wear, and what the hr and steps count accuracy is like! Would love to see Garmin release a 4D menu like the Bragi OS 3 to move through menus or data pages! The Dash Pro looks to be more refined, but I’m really interested if The Dash could connect to any ant+/BLE sensors (using CA:BLE)… This is a big step in technology I think!