Outdoor Tech Wired Chips Helmet Speakers

Product Description

Features

• Universal fit with almost any helmet that has an audio-ready liner.Connectivity Technology: Wired
• Oversized, two-button interface controls volume, track, play/pause, and telephone calls
• 40 mm drivers for outstanding sound and ear-crushing volume
• No battery means no charging and no worrying about going silent
• Sweat-resistant and designed for use in extreme cold (-20 Degree C/-4 Degree F)
• Connector type: 3.5mm Jack

Top Reviews

Horrible customer service and huge design flaw
by s.berry (1 out of 5 stars)
December 14, 2016

Overall good headphones for a helmet. It is sometimes difficult to press the in-ear button through the ear cushion with gloves on, but it gets the job done and sounds nice.

The part that worries me long term is that the audio jack which plugs into the speakers is rather long and needed to be shoved into the ear cushion. I am afraid it will break at some point. I would have rather it been L shaped instead.

UPDATE 2/2018

As I suspected, the cord did "break" and now frequently cuts out. Despite initially emailing the company 4 days after purchase to bring up this potential issue and them reassuring that they would take care of it if something happened, they are now standing ground with the fact that it has been 15 months from purchase and there is only a 1 year warranty. This is technically correct, but still bad customer service in my opinion considering i would have just returned them immediately if it wasn't for their reassurance, and even though it has been 15 months, they have only been used 6-7 times. Save your money.
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Would buy these again
by Jacqueline Beccari (4 out of 5 stars)
January 18, 2018

I bought the wired version because many of the wireless reviews stated poor connectivity (and for a difference in price of $100, I thought I'd give the $37 version a try). I used them while skiing in -15 degree temps for three days straight and had NO ISSUES with sound or connection. It is slightly inconvenient to have to feed the wire through my ski jacket every time I take my helmet off, but literally takes about 30 seconds to do. It would be a better design if there were a connection closer to the helmet, without having to take the speaker out of the helmet. But really, not a big deal at all IMO. Sound was great. I used the speaker control (vs the in-line control because that was inside my jacket and it was super cold out) where you push the ear cover to start/stop/change songs. I found that the double-tap for changing songs didn't really work (again, probably because it was so cold and I was using mittens), but was able to start/stop by pushing the ear cover without difficulty. I would definitely buy these again given the price point.
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Like the design, wish they were louder.
by Micah Wedemeyer (4 out of 5 stars)
January 4, 2016

My only complaint is that they're not loud enough. I was kind of hoping for ear-splitting heavy-bass power, but even with all the volume controls all the way up it's still just "pleasant", if that makes any sense. I'm used to in-ear earbuds (cheap ones, not the pricey stuff) that make me wince at the highest volume. With these Chips, I can hear the music clearly, but the bass is tinny and everything just seems muted.

Of course, it's playing through the cloth of the helmet earpiece, plus then through the cloth of my facemask. It's a lot to ask for the kind of power I want, but I just want anyone else buying these to be aware that you're not getting a powerhouse.

Honestly, I'd stick with my in-ear earbuds if they didn't hurt so much under the helmet.
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huge disapointment
by Karim (1 out of 5 stars)
March 1, 2017

huge disappointment here, I matched those with a smith aspect helmet and I thought that the boast of 40 mm drivers were going to deliver.

Pros
- packaging and presentation is great
- headphones have a nice premium feel
- easy to set up and install

Cons:
- volume was super low even by maxing phone and built in line control
- the moment you want them to become loud there's a horrible tinny sound
- can barely hear others when receiving phone calls

Very very disappointed as it did not serve it's initial purpose and I had to go seek other alternatives.

I'll be returning those
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Great sound
by JMD (5 out of 5 stars)
March 20, 2018

So far, so great! One day delivery to an Amazon Locker in time fro a ski trip, the speakers slip easily into the ear flaps on my helmet and the wire tucked in nicely behind the lining. I skied two days listening to tunes the whole time and sound was really good. The inline volume control clipped onto my jacket and was very easy to adjust, even with gloves on. The button for pause, next track etc., did not work with the little mp3 player I was using but that was not a big deal and I'll try while using my phone to see if that works. If these hold up for awhile, I will be very pleased; if not, I'll update the review.
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Good, but reliability issues.
by Josh (3 out of 5 stars)
April 12, 2017

First off, I'll say when it is working, it is fantastic -- good sound, easy to use, no complaints of its performance in that regard. My only issue is that it would seemingly stop responding to input at complete random. I would press to start the song (both on the earset button and on the handset) it wouldn't turn on, then, it would just start half an hour later and starts responding again. I tried multiple things to see if there was a rhyme or reason as to what was causing it to act up (loose connection, app not responding, pressure on a button, etc.) but I could never find a correlation.

I am using a helmet that is made for 3rd party speakers to be used in this way. I'll give them another later and hope for the best, otherwise, I'd say I'm a little disappointed in the reliability, if I can figure that problem out, then these would be closer to 5 stars. They pump great sound out.
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These are pretty awesome. I love the button in the.... UPDATED
by Zach (3 out of 5 stars)
February 19, 2016

These are pretty awesome. I love the button in the ear that allows you to pause/play and change songs. The volume could be a little louder though. And it was a little buggy with my phone, where if I paused it for a long period of time, my music wouldn't start playing again just by using the button on the speakers. So far, I've taken them on one 3-day ski trip and they have held up. .

UPDATE FROM THE FUTURE 1/31/2019

They broke. The connection between the wire and the earpiece is a definite weak spot and now has a very intermittent connection making them unusable. I don't think I can exactly blame the product because it did last me a few years, but it was definitely a design flaw. Also, the control buttons don't work quite as well anymore. And the volume level being an issue never got any better; it was always just not quite loud enough for me. Once you start moving down the mountain, wind noise could almost completely block out the music.

I'm moving on to a bluetooth set (NOT made by outdoor tech) because aux ports are becoming a thing of the past on new phones. See you guys on the other side.
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The speaker quality is nice and the volume can get decently high if for ...
by fao (5 out of 5 stars)
February 16, 2018

The speaker quality is nice and the volume can get decently high if for some reason you need it to. The only issue I have is that the remote control is too annoying. Having a scroll wheel as the volume control makes it conducive to being adjusted through abrasion fairly easily. I've tried clipping it to different locations but it's either too annoying or it'll just come off. I ended up just using a different cable.

This does not take away from the quality of the speaker though, which is very good for what it is.
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Wiring is painfully fragile, easily broken
by Thomas-James C. (2 out of 5 stars)
February 9, 2019

I've had two sets of Chips in the last ~4 years and each time they've failed due to the wiring entering the "main" channel getting crimped off and breaking inside the shielding. I honestly CANNOT recommend this brand or its chips anymore due to this issue.

Outdoor Tech, if you're reading any of these reviews, do yourselves a favor: reinforce the wiring and shielding so that it's harder to crimp off the wiring and damage it due to more "compact" installations (for example in the '12-'13 Bern Winter Liner for their EPS helmets). This could probably be done by adding a bit more molded plastic to the places where the wires that connect each chip to the other a bit more beefy. OR, better yet, make it modular so that if a wire fails, customers can order a replacement wire and not have to buy a whole new set each time.

Food for thought.
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Convenient Speakers for Smith Helmets with a Few Drawbacks
by Bbmertz (4 out of 5 stars)
April 8, 2018

Fits well in Smith Variance ski helmet. Decent sound quality and very convenient large button control on outside of right speaker.

On the downside, volume and microphone very difficult to use while skiing since controls are on cable tucked inside ski jacket. Speakers make ear pads on helmet tight and uncomfortable after wearing a few hours, so recommend adding additional foam padding. Also a bit difficult to insert cable after speakers inserted in helmet, so suggest purchasing 1-2" extension adapter to make it easier to reattach cable.

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