You probably just read the title and started wondering what “EarClick” is. I’ll get to that shortly. I had a chance to review the Flamingo Headphones from CellPoint recently and put it through its paces.
The Flamingo is a unique pair of audio headphones that employs a mechanism that CellPoint calls EarClick, which they also use in some of their other products, like their Bluetooth headsets.
EarClick is essentially a rubberized node (see photo) that in combination with the speaker in the headphone snaps or ‘clicks’ securely into your ear. I’ve not seen anything quite like this before and it works like a champ.
As long as you pick the right sized EarPads (and there are plenty to choose from – 6 sizes), these headphones are very comfortable even with a great deal of activity. I tested out the Flamingos quite a few times at the gym for over 30 minutes at a shot (including sessions on the elliptical and treadmill) and never found myself needing to adjust them. I have now found my new favorite pair of headphones for the gym as my other pairs needed constant adjustment for a snug fit that shut out as much of the horrible gym music as possible. Now while the Flamingos won’t do quite as good a job as in-ear headsets like Shure’s EC line, it is still a remarkably good fit.
While the EarClick technology is very cool and in my case, important, these headphones wouldn’t be usable if the sound quality was lacking. It wasn’t. Now these are essentially in-ear headphones, so you’re not going to get quite the bass or even as good a range as a set of over-the-ear cans (my favorite home and air travel pair is the Audio Technica ATH-ANC7). However, I was pleasantly surprised at how good these sounded. It does have a 9mm neodynmium driver, and I didn’t feel the need to mess around with the EQ in my MP3 player or even on my home system.
Overall, I highly recommend the Flamingos, particularly if you’re physically active and like some music while working out.
Update, Jun 08: The Flamingo Music Earphones are now known as the Flamingo Sport earphones.