Under Armor teams with JBL for heart rate-sensing wireless headphones
No need for a fitness band with the UA Headphones Wireless Heart Rate
Getting fit for New Year? Exercise gear specialists Under Armor and speaker gurus Harman have partnered up with the pair of headphones you need.
The name, UA Headphones Wireless Heart Rate – Engineered by JBL, doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but these tiny buds are packed with Bluetooth tech as well as JBL’s signature sound. Tapping a button will start built-in heart rate monitoring, with data sent to the Under Armor UA Record app on your smartphone for recording your progress.
Better yet, when you buy a pair you also get a 12-month subscription to MapMyFitness Premium, which can make tracking your workouts a lot easier.
The sweat-proof buds have a three-button mic for taking calls or changing music tracks when on the move, while the guaranteed-never-to-fall-out Twistlock design will keep them firmly in place when you’re going at full tilt. You should manage around five hours of music playback on a full charge, meaning there’s enough battery for long-distance athletes as well as gym bunnies.
Don’t grab your running shoes just yet
The bad news? The UA Headphones Wireless Heart Rate won’t be arriving until ‘later this year’ – and when they do they’ll cost £230.
In the meantime, JBL will be launching the UA Headphones Wireless, a near-identical pair of Bluetooth buds that ditch the pulse tracking. They have the same Twistlock fit, meaning they’re guaranteed not to fall out when you’re on a run, and still come with a 12-month MapMyFitness Premium membership, so there’s no reason not to use them for keeping fit.
Because there’s less tech inside, the battery should last an additional three hours too. You’ll be able to buy a pair at the end of February for £150.
We’ll hopefully be putting a pair to the test later this year.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
