Timbuk2 founder Rob Honeycutt has started another new venture- Elroy. Obvious references to The Jetsons aside, Elroy basically cuts out 2/3 the length of your current headphones, making it easier for you to run, ski, and do other active sports while listening to music.
With the design aim for Elroy of tangle-free communication, Mr. Honeycutt chopped of the majority of the single strand on your regular set of headphones and replaced it with a Bluetooth unit that clips to your clothing. The practicality of this new setup remains to be seen, and this also means no more running, riding, or climbing shirtless guys.
The Bluetooth unit will work up to 30 meters from your phone, so you can leave it safely in your pack, jersey pocket, or your ski jacket's internal media pocket. The rechargeable battery will last for 5 hours of talk time or 100 hours on standby.
When not in use, you can store your headphones on Elroy's magnetic docking points to keep them untangled. These docking points are electronically activated to perform useful functions such as removing your headphones to answer a call and simply replacing them to hang up. If you're listening to music, placing the headphones on the magnetic docks will pause your music. Once removed, your song will restart where it left off.
Elroy can connect with up to 7 devices at once, so you can be watching a video on your iPad and answer a call on your phone when it comes in. If for some reason you don't want to use the shortened headphones all the time, the Elroy Bluetooth unit can actually be used with any earbud or headset that uses a standard 3.5mm jack.
Appearing extremely popular, Elroy blew past its initial funding goal on Kickstarter in just 8 hours. You can pre-order your own Elroy Bluetooth headphones and magnetic docking station for a pledge of $89. The estimated delivery is August 2013.
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