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FreeWheelin helmet system delivers noise-resistant Bluetooth audio
Richard Solo's FreeWheelin audio system (US$150 street price) allows you to add stereo speakers to your bike helmet. As the picture to the right shows, it consists of three small boxes that use a high-powered variant of Velcro to mount to the helmet's back and sides. It's about as dorky looking a product as you could imagine but dang if it doesn't deliver really fabulous sound. I hooked up my test unit to USB power for a few hours before taking it all for a spin on my bike. Charging is really easy, but you either have to hook up your entire helmet or dismount/remount the speakers and control box from their attachment areas. It's not a big deal either way, I found. Pairing the Bluetooth was also super-easy. The speakers sit on the outside of your helmet, so they limit interference with your normal hearing. That's an important consideration when biking in traffic. You can hear your tunes and sense the motor of the idiot driver that's about to pass you and then turn to the right directly in front of you (This is entirely a theoretical example). Many cyclists avoid ear-based audio entirely or use one-eared speakers, but FreeWheelin delivers a full stereo experience. Moreover, the sound surrounds your ears instead of being directly aimed at your ear drum. I'm not an audiologist, but I'm guessing this is generally a safer prospect. I made sure to test the unit in reasonably heavy traffic. I picked a road with three lanes of traffic in each direction, going at 45 MPH (posted speed limit) at about 7:00 PM -- when rush hour has finished but road use remains high. I rode the adjacent bike path , which is essentially a city-purposed sidewalk. To make things really difficult, I put on an Audio Book, the best test of listening clarity. As expected, there were occasional times when I couldn't distinguish sounds mostly because there were a lot of loud, busy cars out there, but overall I had little trouble listening to my book. During a quarter hour of biking along that stretch, I could easily follow the story and missed very little audio. The sound quality was excellent. It's when I turned off the main road and started a quieter trip home that I encountered the flip side of my helmet sounds. It wasn't about the external noise I could hear through, it was about the noise my helmet itself was generating. In some ways, my helmet became the cycling equivalent of one of those cars blasting their speakers along the road. Although directed in towards the skull, the audio bounces off and is clearly audible a number of feet away (I tested this using a spare child). It's not a huge deal, exactly, because you tend to move away from other people rather quickly when you're on a bike, but the FreeWheelin system is a bit, well, noisy for others. The speakers were much lighter in use than I feared. I had expected them to weigh down my helmet a lot -- but after a few minutes, I really didn't notice them. There is the "dork" factor (as well as the broadcasting your audio factor) of having these boxes stuck to the side of your helmet. You'll need to decide if the benefits of the audio system outweigh the fashion faux pas. In the end, I found FreeWheelin a really exciting product to use. It nicely balanced safety against entertainment and offered well-built high-quality design.
RichardSolo promo gets you 1800 mAh iPhone backup batteries on the cheap
Richard Thalheimer's company RichardSolo was one of the pioneers of the iPhone backup battery business. Way back in 2008, the company came out with the RS001 1800 mAh backup battery, at a price of US$69.95. Well, if you live in the USA and use a special promo code while ordering, you can now get this battery pack for as little as $5.09. These are very useful backup batteries for the iPhone. They come with a built-in laser pointer, an LED flashlight, a dual voltage 110-240V AC wall charger, a USB/mini-USB retractable charge cable, a dual port USB car charger, and small support braces for most generations of the iPhone that can be used to hold the battery pack to the phone. The battery packs also work with all iPod models that use the Dock connector. If you buy one, the price is $5.98, but for two or more the price drops to $5.09. Once again, the deal is only valid for US customers, and it ends at midnight on July 31st, 2011 or when supplies are exhausted. To get the deal, enter the code word fireworks into the coupon code box while checking out. For more details and to order your backup batteries, visit the product page for the RS001.
RichardSolo show discounts still in effect
If you were wandering the halls of Macworld Expo last week, you might have seen a familiar face -- no, not the everpresent TUAW video crews, but the gadget-loving visage of Richard Thalheimer, founder of The Sharper Image and current head honcho of RichardSolo. The RS booth was a brief walk away from The Sharper Image's floor presence, but I believe maturity prevailed and no miniature helicopters or USB missile launchers were seen to buzz the competition's displays. The RichardSolo iPhone and iPod extended-life batteries were visible at the show on attendees' iPhones, and most people visiting the booth seemed to be satisfied customers or would-be customers (Steve reviewed the latest model in November). Buyers at the show were eligible for a $30 discount on the original and newer 1800 models, but if you missed that opportunity you can still save: through the end of January, use coupon code 'Macworld' at checkout and get $20 off either product (usually $50US for the lower-capacity model and $70US for the 1800 model). There's a good list of still-running Macworld Expo discounts at dealmac, but if you know of any that aren't on the list, shout them out. [via MacObserver]
