jckatz's Full Review: Belkin (F5X002) Consumer Headphones
I purchased my Inno receiver in March of 2007. I love walking in the cold or not so cold, I love walking and I loved my XM Inno. Sure I had to juggle it from my left to right side depending which was I was walking, sure I had to place it on my but if I was walking North and on my coat pocket if I was walking south, but I never had a problem receiving a signal until something terrible happened. . . Winter ended and leaves started to appear on trees.
As the weather got “nicer” my XM radio got less and less useful so I started looking around for a “Clippy” for the Inno. Sadly Clippy only works on the Helix, and the reviews I read for the Belkin XM headphones were not very promising. But as the trees started getting thicker and thicker and my Inno because more and more of an MP3 player with a monthly service charge I had to do something.
Suggested Solutions
Since I am not the only person that had problem with reception and wanted the “Clippy”, several people had the suggestion of using the Belkin Headphones as an antenna and use your regular preferred headphones. With this suggestion in mind and a $25 gift certificate for Amazon.com from my Chase Card, it was time to go shopping.
RESULT
So far I do not have the complaint a lot of people had, I do not have any problem with these headphones falling off. They do not hurt my ears or my head and knock on wood, so far they haven’t broken.
The headphones are adjustable, the left and right ears extend and contract a lot (and are water proof), so if you find them falling off, tighten them.
Also I discovered then even under a “floppy” hat, I still get a great signal, and still will without a doubt kept them from falling off your head.
I do have one problem that was easily solved, I found them very quit, I had to have everything on my system maxed out just to hear anything and even quite road noise drowned out my ability to hear my XM Radio, this was later solved (3 days if memory serves me), by remembering that this unit had a volume control on the cord, and it was shipped from the factory muted.
After solving that problem and blowing my ears out when I took it off mute I was able to enjoy the quality of the headphones much better.
What they are?
XM radio works by receiving a transmission from 1 or 2 satellites in geosynchronous orbit, these satellites are very far away and facing south. In order to receive anything you need a direct view of the southern sky unless you live in a city that has terrestrial re-transmitters then you can get your XM anywhere.
The inherent problem with the portable XM radio is that is has a very small antenna picking up a very weak signal from very far away. This signal is blocked by everything from your body to a green tree, the headphones have a large antenna integrated into the “headband” of the headphones. This allows the unit to receive much more of the signal (so trees not longer able to block the signal.
Problems
This unit uses the docking port of the INNO, it looks like it uses 5 prongs in the connection and an antenna connection. This means it can only be used as an antenna no plugging it into your other MP3 player when and if the batteries run out.
The good news is I was afraid this would use more battery power than the MP3 player alone but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I listed to satellite radio for 5 ½ hours and still has a little charge left, and the best news for 5 ½ hours I only lost the signal once while waiting in line at Starbucks, latter I sat in a south facing chair and enjoyed my Cubs getting their buts whipped and a low fat Orange Mocha Latte.
Comfort
I myself do not find the headphones uncomfortable, others do, I am sure my mother would hate them since she can’t stand even the nicest softest headphones inside her ears. Since these aren’t earbuds, “ear cuff” headphones would have made sense but they got in the ear, with the headband on top.
Reception
The reception on these is amazing, inside my apartment I get a signal, I had to through my antenna across the building and land it on the vacant neighbors air conditioner to get a signal for my docking station. With these on I get a very weak signal through the roof of my building or maybe bouncing off the walls into my windows not sure which.
COST
The only thing that kept me from purchasing these sooner was the price. Let me say this right now, it is worth it.
If you don’t live in a city with terrestrial re-transmitters, and you own a portable XM radio that you job, hike, or walk with you will want this. PERIOD.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.