FJ's Verdict:

Product Name: I360 Hat Beanie
Company: ithreesixty (i360)
MSRP: $49.95
Availability: Medium (Most Major Online Retailers)

There are many major factors that can motivate a workout. Some people have a love for the burn. Others like the fact that they’re getting stronger every lift session. And then there are folks such as myself who like all of the above along with having their favourite tunes thumping in their ears. Honestly, good music can make the difference between an OK workout and a kick ass workout. You don’t need to do official scientific studies to know that people can just push harder when their favorite song is on.

But what’s one of the nuisances of having music in the gym? Wires! God damn do I ever hate wires. If there is one market that is untapped right now, it’s the wireless earphone sector. I’d pay some big bucks to have a wireless music option without much sacrifice in music quality. And today, we have a product that aims to deliver just that. But in a slightly different way.

It’s called the i360 Hat Beanie.

Official Product Description

Created by Sacramento-based Soundescapes, the i360 line of headbands and beanies are infused with wireless musical capabilities – just add an iPod or mp3 player. The fashionable and musically functional headwear eliminates messy wires and bulky headphones while also delivering top-notch sound. The headwear uses a patented technology that includes a washable 3-jack wiring assembly
and internal pockets allowing listeners to connect their iPod to custom i360 speakers, all hidden from view.

The i360 includes an internal 3 jack wiring system with detachable speakers allowing for easy disconnect when washing. While the usual over the ear speaker lacks, i360 designed custom speaker casing provides optimal sound quality and bass response for peak performance maximizing airflow with no distortion. Like no other these speakers remain compact and hidden from view bumpin at a high volume.

Tech Specs:
Speaker Plug: 3.5mm
Speaker Impedance: 32(8~150) ohm
Speaker Power Rated: (Max.): 200 (400) mW
S.P.L.: 121 +/- 3dB at 1KHz

First Impressions

While the beanie comes in many different styles, the one I chose to review was the hat beanie. The reason being that up here in Canada, the winters really bite you in the ass, and so when the time comes, I like to make my way over to the slopes in the hopes of learning snowboarding. As an avid skiier, it’s quite the challenge to transition over to snowboarding as anyone would know. But I can’t live without my music and I can’t let my ears get cold so this was an obvious choice. Also, I got word from the official spokes person that you can in-fact use the i360 products on the slopes.

What about the summer? Well the gym I hit up is nicely AC’ed, so it’d be a perfect place to take this piece of kit for a little test drive.

The hat itself is high quality stuff, I can see this lasting for years to come. The tension of the elastic is good and it fits snugly on your head. There are wires on the inside which will connect to your iPod but upon wearing the thing, I couldn’t really feel them… so without the iPod the comfort gets a perfect sore, 5/5.

Real World Results

This is where things get a little funky, like a monkey. The way the i360 works is fairly simple – There are two headphone-like speakers that float around on the inside of the hat and basically plug into the headphone jack of your iPod Nano which slides into the little pocket. So there are wires, but they are out of the way, hence wireless? Sure, why not.

The overall product suffers from 3 flaws IMO.

The first problem is that when you insert your Nano into the pocket, you can clearly feel a rectangular slab on the side of your head. Like you’ve gotten a metal plate implanted in your skull. Speaking of which…

I feel for that kid. The culprit is the padding between your head and the nano insert spot. It’s literally paper thin. I’m not sure why they didn’t enhance the thickness in that one area, or even have a comfort patch insert included with the hat… because it would make things a whole lot better.

The next problem is the obviously the controls. Once you get used to the position of the iPod, you can fast forward, rewind or turn up the volume but shifting through menus (which I often do on any mp3 player) will require you to either look closely at a mirror and figure out how to read backwards text or remove the player, do what needs to be done and then re-insert. Not too exciting. There is a small work around for this and that is playlists. Then you can easily shift through tracks without needing a menu.

After playing around with the beanie, I realized that there will be people who are willing to over-look the above mentioned flaws due to circumstance. For instance, I have a buzz cut but someone with lots of hair might not feel the nano on the side of their skulls as much. The control issue, as stated, can be resolved through the use of playlists. However, if there is one thing that I cannot and will not compensate for, and that is shitty speaker quality… which the i360 possesses.

I listened to everything from metal, hip hop and pop, and across the board it was the same. Bass was flat and nonexistent, the treble was tinny and barely audible. I’m no audiophile but it’s really hard to “enjoy” music when it sounds this bad. My usual choice of gear for the gym is a $30 in-ear headphone option but around the house I have a normal Philips back-of-the-ear style headphones lying around. These cost me $20 like three years ago and the difference in sound quality between the i360 and the Philips is like night and day.

Conclusion

It’s hard to have a conclusive statement for the i360. I mean on one hand, it’s a pretty good idea: The hat beanie is portable, hands free, worry free, stylish, made of good material and will stay on your head snugly. On the other hand, it can be slightly uncomfortable when the iPod nano is inserted and the sound quality leaves much to be desired.

It won’t take anyone long to figure out that a normal $20 beanie coupled with $20 in-ear headphones will provide a better sound experience while leaving you with $10 in your pocket. However, if absolute convenience is an issue, then maybe you can pick up the hat beanie. There are two immediate things that i360 can do to take this excellent product idea to the next level.

1. Upgrade those silly speakers. Seriously, fire your current supplier and buy your speakers from someone else. For a $50 product these are unacceptable.

2. Because the wiring inside the beanie is dead-simple, provide an exchange option for current customers. We send you the old speakers, you send us newer, better sounding ones. Or you can drop the price of the hat beanie by 15 bucks and offer a speaker upgrade option on the site where for $5 – $10 I can upgrade to cans that deliver a sound of pure awesomeness.

Plenty of options to play around with. Anyways, this review needs to come to an end, and as of right now I’m going to give the i360 Hat Beanie a major pass with 2.9/5 stars. I’ll probably use it in the winter because it’s just so damn portable but my ears won’t be thanking me when Eminem’s voice resembles Alvin the chipmunk.

- FitJerk

Content originally written by FitJerk for www.fitjerk.com – © 2010 All Rights Reserved – This post is NOT to be republished without author consent under any forms of media (including print, internet, video or audio transcription). Doing so is a violation against copyright law and should be punishable by a punch to the face.

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© 2010, By FitJerk. FitJerk.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – No part of this post is to be republished without author consent under any forms of media (including print, internet, video or audio transcription). Doing so is a violation against copyright law and should be punishable by a punch to the face. All images are copyright of their respective owners.

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