A while back I made a post about a pair of nice cheap Chinese IEMs I got from AliExpress, and to continue in the same vein, here’s another post about a cheap AE find.

I got these Xiaomi Mijia Bluetooth bone conduction earphones because I wanted something I could easily wear with a bicycle helmet. They cost about 12 dollars depending on the seller, but if you’re familiar with AliExpress’ coin system, you can easily find them at 60% off, at which price they’re a steal. They don’t look or feel too cheap either- you could tell me these were 30 bucks and I’d believe you.

I found my previously existing wireless earbuds to be a pretty bad fit for cycling: not only are the touch controls fiddly to operate while riding (or even when you’re just standing still, touch controls suck), but they also block too much outside noise which isn’t great for safety.

These fix both of those issues- they have nice definite physical buttons, and since they don’t block your ear canals, you stay much more aware of your surroundings. When they’re off or not playing anything, they don’t affect your hearing at all, so you can just leave them on and forget they’re there entirely, especially since they only weigh about 26 grams

These are my first bone conduction earphones and some of the customer reviews question if they use true bone conduction, but they sound fine to me. The sound quality is perfectly adequate- certainly for the price, especially at the previously mentioned -60%. They’re not as loud or as bassy as other headphones and you will struggle to hear anything if you’re next to busy traffic or a construction zone, but I’ll take that tradeoff for safety

They seem to leak a lot at high volumes though so if you’re sitting in a quiet room listening to TrueAnon at full blast, everyone in the vicinity will probably hear what brace-dark-cowboy is saying, which may or may not be something you want

The promised battery life is 11 hours and this seems to be true from my experiences. I’ve yet to even hear a low battery beep even after 8+ hours of use

  • FidelChadstro [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    11·
    1 month ago

    I’ve had some “Aftershokz” bone conduction headphones for years for exactly this purpose and they’re great, I still use them almost every day. They’re better for podcasts or audio books than music, but they’re still good for music, just some details get lost

    • eldavi@lemmy.mlEnglish
      8·
      1 month ago

      i’ve been a fan of their products for years, particularly their smarphones; but now i can’t use them in the united states anymore since all american carriers have blacklisted chinese branded phones from their networks based on their imea numbers.

      • doublepepperoni [none/use name]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
        6·
        1 month ago

        Most big Finnish retailers pulled Xiaomi phones from their shelves a few years back because Xiaomi does business in Russia. However, they can still be bought elsewhere and they’ll work in Finland

        • eldavi@lemmy.mlEnglish
          7·
          1 month ago

          same in the united status up until around 6 months ago; i would buy them online and have them shipped from china and they worked fine until trump came into office.

          they’re still 100% capable of working, they’re just blacklisted in the united states.

          • Lyudmila [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
            4·
            1 month ago

            There are tons of fakes on Ali, loads of companies just slap a mijia logo in the listing and ship whatever other manufacturer’s product which may or may not have a fake Xiaomi sticker on the the item, depending on effort level.

            Check Xiaomi’s product website before buying to see if it’s even something they sell. It can be a little confusing for discontinued items, but the global site is pretty straightforward to use, even with browser translation.

  • tombruzzo [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    8·
    1 month ago

    I got some Lenovo bone conduction headphones years ago off aliexpress for cycling as well. Mine have touch controls which can get annoying, but otherwise they’re a great way to listen to your favourite pods on the bike.

    Try look for one with a regular usb port instead of proprietary magnetic bullshit so you can charge them anywhere

  • gay_king_prince_charles [she/her, he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    3·
    1 month ago

    some of the customer reviews question if they use true bone conduction

    They seem to leak a lot at high volumes

    Then they’re not bone conduction. Bone conduction shouldn’t leak, but they sound like good open air headphones.

  • godlessworm [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    3·
    1 month ago

    great review. wasn’t looking for anything like this but you made me want them

    do you think these would stay on well at the skatepark? or do they feel like they might fly off in that scenario? id be wearing a hat. not sure if that would make them less likely to fly off

    • doublepepperoni [none/use name]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      3·
      1 month ago

      do you think these would stay on well at the skatepark?

      They sit pretty securely on your head, I don’t think you’d need to worry about them flying off unless you have the head of a tiny baby or don’t have ears or something. They’re specifically meant to be used during sport, after all

      Just for reference: I bought these for about 6.50€ with free shipping. I think they’re definitely worth a shot at that price. In the current sale that’s about to end I could get them for like 4.30€ which is nuts

  • Clippy [comrade/them, he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    2·
    29 days ago

    the xiaomai bone conduction earphone were even more inexpensive if you purchased them in the bundle deal section, it was 10 cad or 7.35 USD, but you did have to buy 2 other things