iMuffs – Review

iMuffs
Company: Wi-Gear
Price: $149.99
wi-gear.com

iMuffs from Wi-Gear include a number of features to meet the ever growing wireless demands of the technology minded among the citizenry. With such features as: stereo bluetooth connectivity, controls for your iPhone/iPod, and a noise canceling microphone, iMuffs, on paper, seem to be ready for prime time. For more information on the features of iMuffs, jump to the product page.

DESIGN
iMuffs have a very sensible and practical design.

While the design of iMuffs is not likely to find its way into the Apple design Zeitgeist, it serves the purpose to which it was intended. In terms functionally, Wi-Gear has built in the required specs to deliver the promise of stereo bluetooth to the masses. However, comfort is another issue altogether (more on this later).

USABILITY
I found iMuffs to perform all of the listed functions as advertised. I used iMuffs with a 3G iPod Nano, 2G iPod Touch, and an iPhone 3G. Once the included dongle was attached to the thirty pin connector, everything worked seamlessly.

All of the controls (play/pause, next track etc.) worked as labeled. Once paired to the iPhone, the iMuffs would pause my music and allow me to answer an incoming call etc. Nice feature to have sans cumbersome wire. As with the current state of stereo bluetooth, the audio quality is good but not great. The newer bluetooth standard promises to solve some of the current limitations. If you are an audiophile, iMuffs are not for you.

Everything is great with iMuffs as long as you don’t have to wear them very long. Sadly, the engineers, in my opinion, skimped on the padding which covers the earpieces. When you place your fingers on the earpiece, you can feel the thinness of the cover.

In the above picture of the earpiece, my fingers are actually pressing against the cover. As you can see, they are not depressing the cover. This is due to the fact that there is very little material there, subsequently, I am pressing up against the hard plastic earpiece.

Once one has worn a pair of iMuffs for a while (my limit was about 1.5 hours) the hard plastic begins to press against the ears. I let my son use the review unit to get a second opinion. He could only manage 2 hours.

MAKING A GOOD THING BETTER
iMuffs by Wi-Gear have great functionality but suffer from a lack of comfort when worn for any length of time. A slight redesign of the earpiece cover could rectify this deficiency and improve the overall usability of the product.

MyMac.com Rating:
Overall, this is a good product. It performs as advertised. As an Apple enthusiast, I tend to prefer a little more in terms of industrial design. Additionally, Wi-Gear definitely needs to redesign the earpiece covers from a comfort perspective. That said, I am awarding this good product from Wi-Gear a 4 out of 5 on our MyMac.com rating system.