Having bought the Apple iPod nano 8 GB Green (5th Generation) NEWEST MODEL , I was very interested in this product. I have had the `beanie’ for several weeks now and have only worn it in my air conditioned home since it is currently too hot outside.
Quality wise the beanie is made very well! If one wants to use it as a beanie to stay warm in the winter this would fit the bill. It has a nice knit texture on the outside and is lined in a very well made fleece. It would be an expensive beanie; however it is made so well you would want to wear it (alone). Size wise I was surprised at how small it fit. I am a female with a smaller head, I can wear children glasses and always get small hats. Knowing this is a unisex beanie I was surprised at the tight fit. It fits OK for me but I can see where other people, mainly men, would have issues with it being too tight. Also tight is the fit for the MP3 player. Having the latest generation for the nano I assumed it would be easier to slide into the pocket. I did plug in the speakers as instructed before inserting the player, however, the speaker cord is at the bottom and does not affect the fit. I had to really work on getting the player in the sleeve and it is still snug and does not show the bottom of the player. It is right on the bottom line of the stitching. I know you are supposed to control the player while it is on your head, however it is rather hard. I find keeping the songs on shuffle is your best bet. Sound wise I was very impressed! For little speakers stuck in the beanie they are great sounding! I also would keep in mind though that a lot of that will have to do with what you have your equalizer set at if any on your MP3 player.
Overall I am very impressed and looking forward to the winter to get the best use out of it. For people wondering if it is washable it states it is hand wash only. They suggest you remove the iPod (obviously) and also the speakers which are easy to detach. The wires are to remain in place in the beanie though. I would think that washing it in the gently cycle of your washer would work or if you have a hand wash setting. I have not had the need to wash it yet but I am sure I will. I would give it a 3 and a half star rating but since it is made so well and also sounds great I am giving it 4 stars. If it truly was a “One Size Fits All” and the sleeve was not so tight I would rate it higher. Maybe they will make some improvements on it. Please see my pictures in the gallery of this item for more information.
When discovering this surprise product, I thought it would be terrific to have a hat to accompany me to the gym and ski slopes without wires protruding from my pockets. There’s a fair amount of fumbling going on in these activities, and endlessly it seems, I’m adjusting my i-Pod’s volume or getting wires wrap around equipment. One time I remember skiing and bending over to adjust my boot strap, and I nearly blew my ears out when the squeeze position sent the volume to the top.
Now I had some misconceptions about this i360 Music Infused Hat. First of all, I had no idea that there are invisible speakers that adjust inside the knit that fit right onto your ears, so you don’t have any wires show at all. My i-Pod, which is the 5th Generation (the newest model to date) fits snuggly into the plastic compartment, and the plug makes the short wires unseen as well.
In this compartment, you can easily change tunes, but adjusting the volume doesn’t work easily, so you have to pull it out of the compartment. The good news is that my test drive proves I don’t need to do that volume adjustment because the fluctuation is diminished from song to song (unlike when I have ear phones plugged into the unit).
One size fits all. It is also unisex. I think it’s stylish–even though I believe women will prefer the style to men. However, when I add my ski goggles to the mix, I look perfectly fine, warm, and music ready. It is also a bit snug, but I always need that in the winter. I can also see myself on the gym floor during the non-summer months.
I’m always looking for how to wear a headband that both blocks sweat from getting in my eyes and can accommodate my headphones while working out.
Anytime I’m working out, I’m either listening to music to pump me up, or for more monotonous exercises, I’m listening to a non-fictional audiobook.
I’ve also been blessed with some sort of sweat-attracting eyeballs, complete with perfectly channeled sweat riverbeds ingrained in my forehead, leading directly from my hairline to my eyes.
Needless to say, a head sweatband is a necessity for me, but it’s always interfering or getting moved around due to my headphones or their annoying cables.
After an exhaustive search, I finally found a company named iThreeSixty that makes a number of solutions for taking your music device with you in a variety of situations, and their headband particularly interested me because of the lack of wires, essentially turning my ipod nano into a wireless device.
The wire is almost always the most frustrating part of the other solutions I’ve tried, because no matter what, it always gets in the way at the wrong time.
The i360 Headband takes care of this problem by integrating both your ipod Nano and the small wires into the headband itself, so not only are you keeping sweat out of your eyes, you can listen to music without any annoying headphone cables swinging around.
The headband makes sense, because it’s right next to your ears anyway, and the integrated speaker sounds great.
I was concerned that I might feel the hard Nano against my head and it would be uncomfortable, but there is enough padding there to not even know the Nano is in place.
The padding and material also appears to protect the Nano from excessive headband sweat as well.
While I would certainly love to be able to use my iPhone this way, I think that it would be too heavy and bulky to integrate into a comfortable headband.
I know there are a few companies that make armbands for working out with the iPhone, but I always found those to be inconvenient when doing sprints or lifting weights where the size of your arms are constantly changing.
So, the i360 headband definitely saved my ipod nano from the MP3 player graveyard, and I will be leaving it permanently in the headband for easy grab-and-go on the way to the gym.
For pictures on how to wear a headband like this, or instructions on its use, check out the product now at iThreeSixty.
Imagine a world where you can listen to your Ipod without worrying about wires getting in the way. Picture being able to go mountain biking without worrying about having pockets to keep your Ipod in. Now imagine combining these two realities together. What do you get? The music infused iPod Beanies by iThreeSixty designed for those of us who enjoy an active lifestyle.
What happens when you workout with wires?
These IPod beanies are designed to wear your iPod nano or shuffle on your head in style. They come with an internal wiring system along with detachable speakers. The sound quality is pretty good considering they do not operate on an external battery source. The speakers are inside of the beanie and sit right at your ears for easy listening. This eliminates the need to have wires running from your pockets to your head. Also there are no ear pieces to put on. Everything is kept inside of the beanie!
I had the pleasure of receiving one of these iPod beanies a couple of weeks ago. At first glance, this beanie looks pretty stylish. iThreeSixty did a great job combining modern style with a revolutionary product. Also they are very comfortable to put on. Made of 65% polyester and 35% cotton, these iPod beanies also allow for adequate air to enter so you can cool off while exercising.
So just how functional are these beanies? Amazingly so. Since I love exercising outside, I have found many uses for it. When I go biking it works amazingly. I can adjust the volume so I can hear music and my environment so I’m not compromising my safety. I can also wear my Underarmour shorts without being concerned since they don’t have pockets. I could even wear my spandex outfit without worrying much either . It’s also useful when running because sometimes earbuds tend to fall out and wires jump around everywhere.
The next cool benefit is how easy it is to change music while wearing it. Just reach up and press next. It is much more efficient than reaching into your pocket while running to change your songs. It does take a few tries to get the feeling of where buttons are. What about the wires and speakers, don’t they get in the way? Nope, you hardly realize that they are in the beanie. When you first put it on you may need to move the speakers around to the correct location above your ears, but after that they are unobtrusive. You don’t have to worry about having lumps coming out of your head.
Of course this product isn’t perfect. The main concern is that iThreeSixty’s products only work for iPod Nano and Shuffle. This really narrows the target audience. Also as more people are moving on to iPhone’s, they may want to consider integrating other apple products. However, I’m not sure if the larger iPods would work as well. The next concern is that it is a pain to remove the wires and speakers when you want to wash the beanie. Even more of a pain to put everything back in. They make it easier with slits placed in the locations where speakers and wires go, but it still takes a while to figure out how to piece everything together.
Everything considered, I still enjoy my iPod Beanie. I have had lots of fun exercising with it. In fact, I don’t think I’m going biking again without mine on. Beanies start at $49.95 and headbands $39.95. If you enjoy exercising outdoors, then this is definitely a nice iPod accessory to have around. I’m sure that you could find many uses to wear an iPod with no cords.
CLIP OF THE WEEK #156 – Perfect Speed
FlatSpot Thursday, hosted by: Chase McMullen; Best 2 tricks over/under the yellow horses, no push. Not easy, but nothing worth winning comes easy!
Featuring: Joel WIlkins, George Vargas, Robert Landers, Freedom John, John Ramos, Shane Stephens, YAMS, Adam Heywood, and Mitch Haight.
Presented By: RenoSkateboarding.com
Precision Productions LLC
www.precisionproductionsllc.com
Shot/Edit By: Chase McMullen
Item 9 Clothing
Many a fitness buff gets her inspiration from a workout soundtrack. A playlist that works best in the gym, running, or when taking to the road on for a walk or bike ride.
And we all love our iPods, but sometimes, they don’t work so well with the jostling they get when we’re trying to work up a sweat.
That’s why the folks at i360 have created “music-infused apparel,” a series of headbands, beanies and hats that hold your MP3 player still and employ earphones that work into the band around your ears.
I tried the “Polar Infused Headband” with my iPod Nano, and it worked great. When I run or do other workouts, I typically lose my earphones after a few bounces. I’ve tried bigger earbuds and other contraptions, but this is the first product I’ve found that really does hold everything in place.
The folks at i360 were kind enough to send me both black and white versions of the headband, and I have to say I prefer the more feminine white — but it’s still not really a fashion statement for most women. Photos on the company’s Facebook page show lots of cool 20-something males using them on skateboards, etc., so I’m guessing that’s their real target audience.
However, if you like function over beauty, it really does work.
SOURCE: Maxim.com
Even if you’re sporting a pair of super tiny in-ear headphones, wearing them with a winter hat can be a total pain. The music-incuse beanie remedies that by building headphones right into the hat itself. Stick your compatible iPod in the slot (it covers most of the Nano variety) and plug it directly into the hat. Your music comes out of built-in 200 mW speakers that sit over your ears. When it’s time for a wash, you can take out the electronics and get the stank out. $50.
I was asked by i360 to test and review their music infused apparel: the i360 Sportband and Beanie. Although the name of it makes it sound like some sort of advanced technology headband and beanie filled with wires and a computer, it isn’t. Although it is something that I am surprised hasn’t been around sooner, it’s a pretty straightforward concept. The beanie and headband was designed in a way to provide an opening for tiny speakers (included) to store on the inside! All you have to do is plug your iPod into the appropriate jacks and insert the iPod in the designated slot within the product.
Having gone back into running for over a year now, there are a couple of issues I have with regards to listening to music while running. First is the rare (although annoying when it does happen) occasion when I am sweating so much my Skullcandy earbuds would slip out of my ear. There were also a few times when I would accidentally yank on the earbud cord while running, causing one or both buds to come out of my ear. And because I sweat so much from running, I have broken more than one pair of earbuds by getting sweat into the earbud. And the other problem is just trying to keep sweat in general out of my face. So with the i360 Sportband and Beanie, it addresses all of those issues.
The speakers are detachable, which allows you to wash the product so you won’t have to worry about any smells, which is nice. The materials range from cotton to acrylic to polyester fleece. The beanie and headbands are made to fit most versions of the iPod including: iPod Nano 1st to 5th generation, 2nd generation iPod Shuffle and even the Nike+ iPod system.
Quirks
There were a few things I had issues with when using the i360 Sportband and Beanie:
They were a little tight for me, even though I never thought of myself as having a big head. I could still fit in it, but if I had to wear it for an extended period, that might get annoying. The problem that all hat makers have is trying to find the most popular/common head size and make it to fit them. If you are out of that range, then you’re just out of luck.
Although the sound quality is okay, you definitely will miss out on any bass, which I am a big fan of. And when I was first putting them on and testing the volume, I noticed that you can hear the music from outside. That may be a problem if you have an issue with others listening to what you are listening to.
Controlling the iPod from the opening that is provided is pretty tricky. Luckily, this isn’t a big issue for me since once the music starts playing, the only time I will use the iPod is to jump to the next song or turn it off once I am done with my run.
Final Thoughts
Other than that, I don’t see why I wouldn’t use either the headband or beanie on some of my short runs. Although it is getting a lot warmer out, which would make the beanie too uncomfortable and hot, the headband could be used to help keep the sweat out of my eyes. Like I said earlier, it is compatible with the Shuffle, but I don’t see why you can’t make your own version of this product. Just clip it onto a regular beanie or headband, wrap the excess cable around the Shuffle or tucked in and it should work the same way as the i360. Of course, that’s just a theory; I’ve never tried it before. But if you have other versions of the iPod, it would make sense to give i360 a try.
It’s an iPod inside your hat. What does this mean for you and me? When you take your hat off you don’t need to struggle with cords being all inside your jacket and wrapped around your neck choking you with technology. It’s a cool idea. Although, I would lose the rollerblader on the website asap…it may send the wrong message.
Mad Props to AWSM.COM
Mad Props to AWSM.com for reppin the i360 on their website!! Rockin a beanie rather than a jacket is the way to go…and you save a lot more dough!
Our message is Music and promoting kids with love for their sport goin at it hard! We don’t stereotype sports as the mind set is the same…”Do what you love to do and forget the rest” ~ Aphill
