Review by Tyler Servoss
Achtune: Do you listen to head phones when you ride?
Ryan Dallon the creator of the Achtune system was tired of hearing stories about cyclists being hit by cars, including his own personal experiences, being injured in vehicle related crashes twice in the last few years. By now we have all heard the safety advice that we should not ride with headphones. And while we acknowledge the risk, the vast majority continues to do so. Enter Achtune. Achtune is a product that is designed to attach to your helmet and hold your earphones close enough to your ears that you can enjoy your music, but far enough away to be safely hear traffic noise around you.
Installing the Achtune clips on my helmet was simple. The adhesive plastic clips use special glue that will not adversely affect the materials of a helmet and are easy to install. Clips are also provided to keep you cords organized at the back of your helmet and keep the lines clean. The clips were a little tight for my earphone cords. I had to gently press the cords in to the clip with a flat screw driver.
I found in testing the product that the sound quality and sensation take a little getting used to. The sound is clearly not as good as if the earphone where directly in your ear, but as I rode with them I found that I became more accustom to the audio quality and was pleased. The music is loud enough to hear and the ambient and background noise of a car overtaking me is much easier to hear than otherwise.
If you like to listen to music as you ride, and would like to be safer, Achtune may be your answer. They are available in a variety of colors. The M.S.R.P is $11.95 and can be purchased at your local bike shop or at www.rememberdelaware.com
