Plantronics - Backbeat FIT 6100 Over-the-Ear Wireless Sport Headphones - Black

I have a few over-ear headsets and I'm always on the lookout for something unique in this space. The plantronics backbeat fit line is known for its sweat resistant, comfortable, and durable wireless earbuds. The backbeat fit 6100s are the first over-hear headphones in this line and the short story is, they're great. Fantastic sound, very comfortable, some pretty innovative features, with only a few drawbacks. Fit - these headphones fit very well, the headband is a very soft and flexible material that adjusts easily. There is a secondary adjustment system that consists of a a plastic hook on a piece of cord ... I don't really understand how this is supposed to work. Securing it on either of the two connection points doesn't really change the tension of the clamping force on your ears. And this is where there's a problem, these headphones fit securely and comfortably, but if you're engaging in some rigorous exercise I'm not convinced these will stay put. Walking the dog, mowing the lawn, and just walking around town I haven't had a problem with these. The IPX5 sweat/water resistance is a very nice feature that ensures you're headset won't be destroyed by normal wear and tear on a hot or rainy day - though I would strongly recommend hanging them up somewhere to dry while keeping the earcups from touching. If they touch the water will just stay pressed between the cups which makes for a very unpleasant experience when you put them back on and they're still wet. Overall the build quality is great. The headband is connected to the cups with an alarmingly thin metal wire, but it feels much stronger than it looks. The earcups are made out of a soft water-resistant material that conforms nicely to your ears and don't grow irritating even while wet. the outer earcups have this matte look and a kind of rubbery feel. I don't know how else to describe it but it feels high quality. Performance - Out of the box these had a high charge, pairing is quick and easy. These headphones sound fantastic, great range across highs, mids and lows. They feel a little bass heavy, but there's no distortion I've detected (I don't listen at extremely high volume) and it's pretty normal for headsets in this price range. The right earcup has a touch panel built in which is very convenient. Turning volume up and down, skipping forward and back in tracks is very easy. There is a command to activate/deactivate "awareness mode" but I've not been able to get it to work. The illustration in the instructions is just too enigmatic for me I guess. My only complaint here is that if you're on a call and touch the right earcup at all, you're almost guaranteed to end the call. Again not the end of the world, but it is very frustrating. After hanging up on a friend 3 times in a row I just kept my hands off the right earcup and used my phone to adjust volume. Call quality is fine. Nothing out of the ordinary here. People on the phone could hear me clearly even with a good bit of background/traffic noise so they should do well for any calls you may need to take. To really unlock the full potential of these headphones you have to download the backbeat app. Doing so immediately notifies you that there is a firmware update for your headphones. Beware, the update process takes a very long time. You'll definitely want to update too, because out of the box these headphones have "awareness mode" turned on. I was never able to figure out the touch command to turn it off. When enabled built-in mics transmit ambient sound to you which ideally helps keep you aware of your surroundings. This is a very neat feature and something that I quite like when I'm out on long walks with the dog. It's helpful to be able to tell when there's a car coming or someone walking up behind us, very cool. Once you update your firmware the app will offer you the ability to enable/disable awareness mode. This is a key feature that I can't believe requires an app to turn on and off. The app is fairly light on features. There's no EQ which is the most basic feature and pretty much standard on every bluetooth headset I've ever used. Alas it's not here. You can turn awareness mode on or off and strangely choose whether you want music to pause or play with it turned on. What good is it without any media playing? At that point you're basically just wearing headphones to hear your surroundings, which you can do by taking the headphones off. It's weird. I guess if you're trying to hear someone surreptitiously it's a thing, but that's a genuinely creepy feature to include. Most annoyingly you don't have a volume slider to control the amount of outside "awareness" you want. There's only one level to your awareness mode, and it's very loud. Your own voice will surprise with how loud it is, footsteps and wind and traffic sounds are alarmingly loud. I don't want to trash the app too hard because it's definitely a work in progress, but the absence of some very basic functionality does make these headphones slightly less desirable in my book. Oh but before I forget, they do have a cool feature that allows you to find your headphones, using it causes the headphones to admit a tone so you can locate them if you set them down and forgot where you left them or the dog moved them or whatever. Not bad. Battery life promises 24 hours on a full charge. I haven't tested this yet, but I've been using them for a few hours a day for 5 days or so and haven't had to charge them yet. Sadly these headphones charge via micro usb. I really wish manufacturers would get on the USB-C train, it's the one cable I need to charge all of my other electronics (phone, tablet, video game controllers), having to bust out a different cable whenever I need to top up the battery is inconvenient. The included usb cable is also laughably short, like maybe two inches long. You'd better have a cable lying around that's long enough to be useful because this one is just way too short. You'll also need to use your own charger because there is no power brick included in the box. This is pretty standard stuff for headphones, but I feel like for nearly 200 bucks they could at the very least make sure you have everything you need to use the headset. I don't mind the absence of a power brick so much since I have an endless supply of them from past mobile phones but that cable feels insulting. Plantronics, and other manufacturers, please stop cheaping out, give me a cable that's a least six inches long. Bluetooth connection is quite strong, I've never lost signal or had a spotty signal while using these. Very happy with the range so far. They're a strong performer in this area for sure. Overall I think these headphones are great. Whether or not they'll be well suited to your own workout routine is something you'll have to decide for yourself. For walking, yardwork, and regular use they're fantastic. Performance is on par with some of the best headsets I've used, very good performance at this price range. I'd easily recommend these, but I have to add the caveat that some features are still half-baked due to the limitations of the app. Hopefully over time the touch controls and awareness mode will mature with app and firmware updates, but out of the box those features are just okay. Still that doesn't change the fact that these are a great performing and durable set of headphones that should suit you well in just about any use-case scenario ... within reason.

Headset for purpose of wearing during fitness activities but easily can be used for different need as well. It fits comfortably, ease to adjust as needed. Sound wise is above average I would say without being technical audiophile. Being On ear style, the cup does isolate well with outside noise. In this aspect, it has hardware control to hear surrounding noise by opening the mic port. Due to its material and build, bit heavy for my preference, but feels sturdy. Connection: it is seamless process. Has good feature that there is voice notification saying what has been connected. Can connect at least two devices simultaneously (use case with iPhone and MacBook). Downside is that if listening music from iPhone, and there is any activity notification from MacBook, the headset play sound from MacBook but afterward it doesn't continue playing the music and need to start play again. Controls:these are all touch sense centralized on one side. As slide through with finger it does its purpose. However, it seems takes time to get used as need to do several times. I couldn't change control at once with one touch. For instance for volume increase decrease, sliding doesn't work and find out by pressing each side. However, still in the process somehow the control get mixed with stop/start music. Most of trial to forward/backward/volume up/down had music stoped/started instead. Due to this, if need to control anything while performing fitness like running, it is a hassle as takeaway focus from the activity. Hence, don't feel suitable for running activity, but for other type of fitness at gym that doesn't;'t require high level of dynamic of movement. Phone call/Listenning music: works seamlessly apart of some details mentioned above. During phone other side does heart well while talking, hence not downside in this aspect but neither anything special. App: I was not able to use it and connect as the application didn't recognize the headset to connect. Didn't show as device to connect. Tried couple of time restarting the phone, removing from bluetooth connection. Not sure if wrong app but tried with BackBeat and BackBeat fit. The package comes with two cables, one charging cable and second for mic pluggable. For being price point that being sold, the charging cable could have been longer. It is only 1ft. The ear cup covering material could be of material used for sport jackets considering the headset is for fitness. It would be nice if it were material used for breathable like used on clothing. This suggestion comes as I have tested while running one hour on the treadmill, and felt bit too tight without vent in the ear area causing to accumulated sweat around the ear cup, and naturally loosing the sense of freedom when you are running without it. Naturally, there is trade off using headset but could have better experience changing the material. To summarize downside: material of ear cup or earpad (not sure if this is called), charging cable, need several trial to get used to controls Upside: fits well, comfortable, long hour doesn't feel fatigue in the ear compared to regular kind, sound, ease of use except of control. In the photos showing what is like after one hour of running, and package.

To start off these were quoted on the box to play up to 24 hours so that was the first thing I tested. I gave them a full charge and paired them up to my music and let them play.. and play.. I went to sleep.. woke up.. they were still playing.. went to work came back.. they were still playing haha. They lasted over 24 hours for me That was pretty amazing for a wireless headset in my opinion. Another high point I enjoyed about these were that they had touch sensitive controls on the outer ear on one side. I hate looking for the lil volume slider on a black set of headphones trying to find which one does what so this made playback, forwarding and replaying songs and all a breeze. the only downside to this is sometimes when you're adjusting them on your head you can touch the buttons. They were comfortable and are flexible as shown in the picture. Extremely lightweight! Sound quality was nice All that being said, besides the two speaker muffs and the small foam padding for the top of your head these are entirely held together by two small metal wires that look like coat hangers.. to mea it made them look a little cheap because of that. And at this price point I would think they'd have enclosed some type of bag to carry these in. The only thing you get is a charging cord.

My impressions after 2 hours of listening. No noise canceling, does have the "awareness" function if you need that at work or in the city. Definitely comfortable and I can see wearing these for extended periods of time. But the biggest kicker is they are too dang quiet, Not enough volume for me. I feel if the Backbeat 6100's had more volume I would like them better but they simply do not. I downloaded the Backbeat app from the playstore and updated the headsets firmware. That didn't help the loudness, the EQ functions help quality but not loudness. So I just gave up on the headphones. These might appeal to you if you don't like blasting music in your ears (I do) But headphones can always be listened at a lower volume so loudness should always be an option. As far as using these in the gym, I cant see how effective they would be with out the volume level and the noise canceling. Especially gyms that have music blaring. Pros: comfortable; Sound "quality" is good Durable intuitive touch controls Assistant button (or programmable to another function through the Backbeat app} 24 hour rated battery life Cons: Too quiet (biggest con for me) No Noise cancelling charges via "micro" usb. Should be the new USB C standard so I dont have to carry an addition cable No carrying case or bag To wrap this up, I think the 180.00 price tag is a bit high. Id say 150 max. But even then, I can get louder headphones for less. And yes you can get loudness and clarity/quality at the same time. Maybe Bestbuy will have these on display and you'll have a chance to listen for yourself.

These are some pretty good headphones for the price. I was a little concerned when I first got them. I tried them out by pairing them to my phone and started listening to music. Easy set-up and pairing. I started using the touch controls on the headset and got frustrated pretty fast. Tapping the center, volume up, volume down, skip ahead, skip back all by moving your finger on the headset. Sounds great, but there is one catch, you can’t tell where you are touching. It would be a better design if they had raised dots to help distinguish an area to touch. I don’t know how many times I would start, stop or change a song before I could listen to a playlist. The Saving Grace. So, after all my complaining (to myself) I went to their website and found where you can download the Back Beat app. The app really turned it around for me. I don’t remember seeing about the app in the quick start guide, but I might have missed it. In the app you can control all aspects of the headphones. The two most important controls I have found in the settings are My Tap and EQ. My Tap assigns what tapping on the center of the earpiece does. The 1 tap I have turned off, I found that I would hit it by accident and stop, start or change the song. The EQ setting is for the frequencies, I boost the low frequencies to get better Bass. Under settings you can also turn on or off the Awareness Mode. The sound quality is really good especially with the EQ set to Bass, the headphones have a strap that can tighten the headphones for a more secure fit. I found this helpful as I am riding around on my bike. The Sound awareness is also beneficial when you are out in public and need to hear some noises, like a truck or a dog, when you are walking, running or doing other outside activities.

I have been wearing my Backbeats for a few days at the gym now and at first, I thought, "whoa my ears are going to sweat more than me". That has not been the case and in fact, I am a lot more focused on myself at the machines doing bicep curls and squats than normal. I like to listen to hip/hop for heavyweights, some synth-electro stuff for stretching and country for cardio (all of which sounded pretty darn good to me). The sound quality is okay, they are headphones and not earbuds so I now know that if I want louder I need to wear my earbuds. However, because earbuds hurt me sometimes I had to get these bad boys! The actual headphones and the material they are made of are very comfy and lightweight. The design is very modern and I would compare them to styles like Alexander Wang who really understands the aesthetic between street style and athleisure. I used to think it was ridiculous to have headphones at the gym but after wearing them myself I see the allure is not for looks but for comfort and the sound quality. I have had Backbeats before and so the application Plantronics has is pretty rad in the sense that you can choose your sound profiles (I hope they create more styles of sound profiles), you can adjust the quality of different sounds, find them if they are lost, and more. The adjustable headband was also pretty game-changing, I do have fancy noise-canceling headphones but the adjustable strap never moves on my head at the gym like other headphones. When I say never, I mean it only moved when I took them off which was pretty good. I have a larger than the normal head which sucks but these make working out for me more focused. Whoa! I almost forgot to mention the controls on the earphone! So instead of fumbling for my gym bag to change songs, or reaching for my watch to switch songs, now I can just swipe my earphone and the controls will either skip a song or raise the volume! I have seen this feature in some dope headphones that were not in my range but these have that feature and Plantronics designed this part very well. Every now and then when my shoulder touches my ear during lat pull downs it pauses my song but not a big deal. Hopefully, you're in the market for some headphones for the gym that are stable enough to stay on during any circuit workout, provide good sound quality, a rad design and some high tech controls on the ears, for your ears!

Lets be honest, a workout is not a workout without tunes. After trying so many earbud headphones, and many of them continuously falling off with the sweat, I needed something that would stay on my head. Needless to say, the Plantronics - Backbeat FIT Over-the-Ear Wireless Sport Headphones held up really well throughout my workouts. For starts, the packaging is great. They come neatly packed in a molded box with the needed hardware and instruction. The setup was extremely simple: Turn on, goes into pairing mode, connect your phone, and enjoy your music during workouts, or whatever you may be using the headphones for. The Plantronics headphones are lightweight, easy to handle, and surprisingly comfortable on my ears. As for sound performance, there is definitely room for improvement. The sound volume is good enough to let you enjoy your workouts without much of the surrounding noise. I really would like a deeper bass sound out of these headphones. As for accessibility, the headphones have a large control panel on the right headphone that makes it really easy to skip songs or turn the volume up. I did find myself accidentally skipping sings when I removed the headphones, but that's not a big deal for me. The headphones look good, are lightweight, have good volume, and are really comfortable to around my ears. I would definitely recommend the Plantronics - Backbeat FIT Over-the-Ear Wireless Headphones to anyone in the market for headphones.

These headphones are pretty good. Charged them up. Used the phone software to update the firmware and I was up and running. Sound quality is pretty good. I listened to different genre of music and high range, mid range, and bass are all distinguishable. They fit nicely. Positioning is key. If it is in the wrong spot you loose sound quality but as it falls back in place it comes back. 2 really nice features are the open mic where you can actually hear the outside of the headphones with mild amplification so you can carry on a conversation or hear people around you. Only bad thing with this is that I picks up wind noise while walking around outside. Operating with wireless with fast forward, volume, play, pause and answering the phone is pretty seamless and easy to use. Small picky things here are the swipe and touch function is a little sensitive and the volume jumps a little bit much between a being just right and too loud. Other option is you can use it like a wired headphones with the micro USB headphone jack that I comes with. I would highly recommend this product. Plantronics is a solid name for wireless tech. I have owned other earbuds and phone adapters and they were solid buys as well. I am happy with this product.