Smart Products Spot 2 for Earphones First Look

While any true Audioholic worth their salt wouldn't be caught dead using the earbuds included with their MP3 player, there are many consumers that do. In all honesty, their are plenty of higher quality earbuds out there. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a pair that didn't give me a headache within a few minutes of use. It isn't the volume, it's the fit. While I've gotten a few suggestions of products that might be more comfortable, I'm unwilling to take the financial risk especially considering how attached I am to my over-the-ear headphones.

Regardless of your earphone affinity, cords are always the problem. You need enough length to make them manageable but not so much that they are unwieldy. Inevitably, however, you're going to have to shove earbuds into your pocket or into a bag and deal with a tangled mess of wires later. If you use your iPod to work out, this may happen on a daily basis. Smart Products might have the solution to your problem.

When you visit the Spot website, you're probably going to be a little confused. Most of the text on the page reads "Spot for Earphones" but the video refers to the same product as Spot 2. Whatever you call it, it is an earbud management system. There are two rubber holders from your earbuds with a bit of a separation between them. This is a perfect channel to wrap your earbud cables. On the back of the unit is a clip. The clip serves a dual purpose to secure the end of the cable and to attach the Spot 2 to your clothes or anything else. The clip has a locking mechanism that will help hold it closed. This is a very welcome feature for those that are active, accident prone, or have kids that tend to grab as such things. The Spot for Earphones provides a very compact package for your earbuds.

Based on the clip on the website, Smart Products sees a number of applications for their Spot 2. The clip can be left on your clothes so that you can quickly store your buds for a short time (interrupted during a run perhaps) without wrapping up the wires. Unwrapping the wires can be accomplished (as demonstrated on the video) by holding on to the plug and letting gravity do the work. They even guarantee you'll never have tangled wires again (a claim that we're sure has some fine print somewhere). It can also be used for long term storage or in your car. Included with the Spot for Earphones are a microfiber bag and a car clip. The bag can be used for both cleaning the Spot 2 and for storage and transportation.

The car clip is a completely different animal. While I'm all for recycling, I had to chuckle at the car clip. A quick glance will reveal that it is essentially a binder clip with a Spot logo (a part of me wants to think they painted it on with white out but probably not). Basically, you clip it onto your vents in your car and clip the Spot 2 to the handles. This is a fairly ingenious use of the clip and we're glad that they are including it in the packaging. If they had tried to charge extra for it, we would have laughed them out of the building.

The pricing on the Spot for Earphones is a fairly reasonable $12.99. While some would argue that this is probably more than double the cost of the manufacturing cost of the earbuds that came with their iPod, it is a fairly reasonable asking price for a convenience item. We know that there are plenty of people out there that wouldn't mind spending $13 on a way of keeping their earbuds organized. 

Conclusion

While we're not big users of earbuds, we do feel the pain of tangled wires. When you just want to get up and go (or get out and exercise), untangling your earbud wires can be an aggravation that you'd pay to avoid. The Spot 2 for Earphones offers a solution that requires very little input on your part and is guaranteed to keep you tangle free. Is that worth $13? We're betting a lot of you will say 'yes'.

For more information, please visit www.getaspot.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.