We really like listening to music when we are out on the water.
A mellow playlist of instrumental groovy jam bands while foiling in light winds to heavy trap metal when survival kiting in 30knots.
What we are using today!
For our listening devices we’re using the Shokz Open Run headsets. These open ear headsets use bone conduction technology that lets us listen to music while still being totally aware of our surroundings. At the suggestion of Larry (Stoke Ambassador) we added a small lanyard to the neck band and attach that to our helmet straps so that in the event of crash or aggressive movements we don’t lose the headset.
There are two sound modes – open ear and vocal booster (used with earplugs). We leave our units in open ear mode and choose to not use ear plugs so that we remain somewhat aware of our surroundings. We want to hear other people on the water as well as boats and crashing waves.
Our music playing devices are Garmin “Smart” Watches. Garmin has both high and low (expensive and cheap) smart watches that have the ability to install apps. In our case we installed the Garmin Spotify app on to the watches, connected the app to a Spotify account and have them paired to the Shokz headsets.
We have a variety of playlist downloaded to the watches loosely based on the different types of sessions we go out on. Playlists downloaded directly to the watch are good for 30 days before the app needs to connect with Spotify resync and verify the account is still active. It’s worth noting that your watch will need direct Wi-Fi access.
IN THE END, HERE IS OUR ONLY ISSUE.
We have found this annoying more times than we can count. With the watch on our wrist, we lose music immediately when our hand goes under water. If for just a second or two, music will continue playing without having to initiate playing again via the watch controls. If our watch hand is under water for more than a few seconds, playing is paused. The Bluetooth connection is still there which is nice but depending on which buttons you need to press and what other apps you may be running, navigating or just remembering which button presses starts the music playing again while trying to control a kite or wing or board can be a challenge.
What else?
We also run the GPS activity tracking system built into all Garmin GPS watches during our sessions. This lets us GPS track our path, speeds, and elevation, as well as monitor our heart rate and a few other things. We share that information with the Relive app which in turns makes interesting 3D video maps of our sessions sharing our routes, details and statistics. More on this in another Ramble.
