Aftershokz Trekz Air Review: Every Runner Needs These!

I started writing this Aftershokz Trekz Air review and had difficulty coming up with anything negative. Seriously, I’m supposed to come up with something I don’t like, right? But honestly, I can’t. At all. And y’all know me, right? I can find something wrong with almost anything, even tacos.

Aftershokz provided me with a pair of Trekz Air to review in exchange for my honest opinion. No other compensation was received. However, this post does contain affiliate links.

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll notice that on overcast days, I wear my Aftershokz Trekz Titanium. I won these from a fellow blogger, and they quickly became my favorite pair of headphones. But – and this is a big but – wearing sunglasses with them was incredibly uncomfortable. I had to save them for cloudy day runs. So when Aftershokz offered me the opportunity to write an Aftershokz Trekz Air review after meeting with them at
The Running Event, I jumped at the chance.

Aftershokz Trekz Air Review

The Aftershokz Trekz Air use the same bone conduction technology as the Trekz Titanium, meaning that sound is conducted through your cheekbones. Your ears are completely open so you can hear what’s going on around you – something that I value as a female runner. However, the Trekz Air headphones are 20 percent lighter and have a thinner piece that goes over the top of your ear, leaving room for sunglasses. Here are the specifications from the Aftershokz website:

• Speaker type: bone conduction transducers
• Frequency response: 20Hz~20KHz
• Sensitivity: 100 ± 3dB
• Microphone: -40dB ± 3dB
• Bluetooth version: v4.2
• Compatible profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, HSP, HFP
• Wireless range: 33 ft (10m)
• Battery: rechargeable lithium ion
• Continuous play: 6 hours
• Standby time: 20 days
• Charge in: 2 hours
• Weight: 1.06 oz (30g)

I took these on a four-mile run on a sunny day, wearing my favorite running sunglasses. As with my Trekz Titanium, the Trekz Air allowed me to hear all the ambient noise: animals rustling in the bushes, cars driving down the street, the footsteps of a fellow runner, and a loud “on your left!” from a cyclist.

But even better, the Trekz Air were lighter than my Trekz Titanium. I barely felt them around my ears and the back of my head. (I did feel them sitting on my cheekbones, which if you’re not used to it is a little weird.) Wearing my sunglasses was not a problem; my ears felt fine, which was shocking. And they don’t interfere with my ear piercings. I usually wear my hair in a braid, but if you wear a ponytail, make sure you pull the tail out so it swings free instead of bonking around inside the piece that goes around the back of your head.

One thing I absolutely LOVE about the Trekz Air is that I don’t have to worry about earbuds slipping out during my run, which is a constant problem, even with over-the-ear hooks. Plus keeping my ears free means I can hear what’s going on around me for safety reasons, talk to other runners while listening to my music, and even wear them safely during races. If you run Revel races, there are portions of the courses where you’re not allowed to wear in-ear headphones, and Aftershokz are ideal for those types of courses.

But if you do want to block out noise (like on an airplane, at the Globo Gym, or studying), Aftershokz includes a pair of earplugs with the Trekz Air (and Trekz Titanium). This combination is fantastic; if you have to shut off your headphones during takeoff and landing on a plane, you still have the earplugs to drown out a chatty seatmate. 

The Verdict

Buy them! If you don’t have a pair of Aftershokz Trekz Air, you need them: for comfort, for safety, for convenience… And if you’re shopping for a runner this holiday season, these make an amazing gift!