So I got a pair of funky Logitech Wireless iPod Headphones (with remote on the ear), graciously given to me by a person at work (who knows someone from Logitech), and loved loved loved them. They felt good, they sounded great (and much lighter than my monstrous Koss UR30s).
Wore them during my daily commute to/from work (I walk for about 30min each way, which is just about right for the 2600 podcasts and the latest – or eldest – tunes in my library), and had them for about two weeks before I noticed that the fit didn’t seem quite as tight as when I got ’em. After wearing them for another day or two, I took a look at the neck band, and noticed a hairline crack on the inside of the band. This is what I saw:
Now, two weeks later, the crack has managed to migrate to the other side of the band, too, and now I’ve got headphones that would (if I were to wear them) literally be held on by the wires inside the neckband. Now, I’ve seen sport style headphones before, but the major difference seems to be that there’s no reinforcement on the back of the neck point, which would create the largest amount of stress on the plastic. I’m also guessing that these Logitech phones aren’t made with the most supple of plastic, which gives you a nice tight fit on the side of the head (for folks who are missing the top parts of their ears, I guess), but means that the majority of the stress in on a part of the headphones that has 1) no reinforcement and 2) no give.
I’ve been Googling some other folks to see what they think, and it looks like I’m really REALLY not alone in this.
I’ve also seen some interesting ways to work around the brittle plastic that makes the neckband of these things.
I’m thinking coat hanger, bent around to make the shape of the band, and then duct-tape/gluing them in place, or trying to disassemble them entirely, down to the earpoint, and essentially Frankensteining another (cheaper, more durable) neckband onto them.
Still, I LOVE the sound on them, but it’s just so sad to see them snap so easily after some fairly mundane use.
And besides, it was really fun to put ’em on Ripley and then use the iPod in my hand to essentially turn him into a remote-control dancin’ machine.
I have no wisdom to add about fixing yer phones. But I very dig the new theme. Very dig.
It’s based on the one I was using: Connections (I think) by Patricia Meuller. This one’s got the new Sidebar Widgets capability, which means I can drag/drop stuff into outta the sidebar.
Way coo’.
Just to be clear: We’re talking about cracked head-phones and not cracked-head phones, yes? Because if we’re talking about the second and not the first, I’m thinkin’ a coat-hanger is not the device of choice for fixing same.
M
Did I make one o’ them mod-placed misifier things?
Well, now that you mention it, maybe it makes more sense for me to just tape the headphones to my head.
Other options:
return and possibly get the same problem
your idea with the hangar and ducttape with some self sealing heat shrink to make it nice looking
find a plastic welder guy like Alisha dated and get them to weld on some more plastic that is also right for this application
use paper clips and pins, get a mohawk and giv’er
fall into a vat of radioactive waste, have them mold to your held and float to work (I’m down for this one)
road flares
find a pair of head phones that hold up better that someone cut the cord on and use the plastic from those to attach to the ear parts…nothing…I didn’t mean to cut the cord…
Dude, that’s just ass.
scotts idea is great n’ all but maybe start by sending an e-mail saying you love them and would make all your friends buy them if they weren’t so frail and ass. Maybe they’ll send you new ones for free and then you can duct-tape them before you use them.
Well… here’s the thing: I wouldn’t have bought them for $199US (the price on Logitech’s site), but someone I work with knows a representative at Logitech, so they got some sent out for me.
Reading some of the other comments and forum threads out there, I don’t think getting another pair would be any better, unless they change the plastic they’re using for the neck band. In the grand scheme of things, I see them as a sort of easy-come, easy-go kinda thing…
They were a gift, but boy-oh-boy does it suck that they broke so quickly after I got ’em. I’m thinking that I write a little letter with some of the suggestions I’ve seen on forums and stuff, and then see if I can get the information through to the right people to either do a recall, or a design change of some sort.
Failing that, I say we figure out a sure-fire way to repair and then reinforce them, and then put the process on here.
Unfotunately, there’s a lot of folks who were complaining that they didn’t work at all any more, not just one side, or just the neck clip.
Wow, my writing’s really bad at 8am on a Sunday.