Posts Tagged helmet speaker

When I’m “going green” and using pedal power for my travels, I still enjoy taking along some of my favorite tunes. But I’ve been leaving the music player behind because conventional earbuds and earphones block out too much traffic and other sounds I need to hear while biking.

The Tunebug Shake is an ingenious solution, turning a bike rider’s helmet into a speaker. And it still allows me to hear traffic and that dog that decides to give chase—a much safer solution than earphones or earbuds.

The Shake is a battery-powered puck that attaches to the helmet. Two different mounts are included. The Shake connects to a portable music player with an included cable. Or if you don’t want a cable getting in the way, it will also connect via Bluetooth.

It can be recharged through a computer USB port and a full charge lasts around five hours.

Tunebug calls this technology SurfaceSound and I was surprised how good it sounded. It’s not the same as a $500 set of earbuds, but I wouldn’t expect that. The Shake, as promised, delivers a very listenable sound through a helmet and doesn’t drown out other sounds I need to hear. It would work just as well on skateboard or snowboard helmets.

Weighing in at 2.4 ounces, the extra weight on the helmet isn’t even noticeable. Two touch-sensitive buttons turn the unit on or off and adjust the volume.

The Tunebug Shake retails for $119.95 and is available from the manufacturer’s website or Amazon.

A helmet may be a strange-looking speaker. But the Tunebug Shake makes it sing—with no worries about the sounds you’re missing.