Unlock Running Potential: Custom AI Training for Better Health [fcfe]

First of all, I would like to thank Codoon for providing the evaluation trial opportunity, and also thank Pioneer for giving me a new understanding and knowledge of heart rate headphones. Previously, there was an interactive topic in the sports circle: What essential equipment do runners need when running? The answers varied widely: mobile phones, watches, waist packs, headphones... I think most runners would have such doubts and dilemmas. As a beginner runner with two and a half years of running experience and over 5000 kilometers of accumulated mileage, my choice is to have a mobile phone and waist pack as essentials, with a watch and headphones as supplementary. The main function of the watch is to measure heart rate, and the headphones can provide music or accompaniment from Himalaya when running alone, to adjust mood and improve oneself, making running less monotonous and hard. For serious runners, heart rate data is very important. How can you have both heart rate monitoring and music? Heart rate headphones emerged as a solution.

This evaluation object: Pioneer SEC-S801BT

JD.com price: ¥1399.00

The packaging is solid and feels heavy in hand. The outer packaging uses Simplified/Traditional Chinese and English to label product descriptions, parameters, and packaging list. After pulling it out, the inner layer is all black, showing only the brand and model. Opening it reveals the main item. The headphones are firmly fixed in a plastic mold. Removing the top layer reveals the accessories below.

Packaging list:
Headphones x1, ear wings x3 pairs, earplugs x3 pairs, storage case x1, charging cable x1, user manual x1, APP download instructions, D-type carabiner x1
Main parameters of the headphones:
Headphone weight: 49g
Connection: Bluetooth 4.1, NFC tag
Battery capacity: 200 mAh
Protection performance: IXP5 (sweat-proof and waterproof, effectively blocking accidental splashes and sweat erosion)
The main body of the headphones uses an orange and black color scheme. The ends of the neckband are made of black plastic with a matte finish, while other parts have a silicone coating, making it skin-friendly. The headphone cable is in an orange flat noodle style, which is lively and not easy to tangle.

The right side of the neckband is the control area, with a microphone hole, special silicone-protected buttons for volume/music adjustment, pause/call answer/hang up button, multifunction/heart rate monitoring button. The left side has an NFC mark for quick Bluetooth connection via touch. The overall build is solid and feels lightweight. The neckband has considerable elasticity, tested to stretch nearly 180 degrees with good rebound. It should be suitable for people with different neck sizes.

Next is the key part—the earplugs. The sound quality performance and heart rate monitoring, including wearing comfort, are all concentrated here. The earplugs consist of triangular ear wings and in-ear parts, with adjustable sizes. The triangular ear wings are something I encountered for the first time, as previous sports headphones generally used shark fin styles, which are more mature and widely adopted. The stability of the triangular ear wings during movement needs further testing. Additionally, after removing the in-ear sleeves, I finally found the core of this high-tech headphone: the heart rate monitoring module integrated into the right earplug!
The official claim is in-ear heart rate monitoring. I did not find out which manufacturer produced this heart rate monitoring module. However, it is different from the common PPG heart rate sensors we usually see, as it does not emit green light when measuring heart rate. Could it be that the thin ear canal wall allows it to detect blood flow without light? It's unknown.

For a high-tech heart rate headphone, I think most sports enthusiasts are attracted by its functionality. So next, I will take you through a hands-on trial.

Long press the heart rate button to turn on the device, find the headphones (SEC-S801BTSmart) in the phone's Bluetooth settings, and pair them directly. For those who have used Bluetooth headphones before, there is no difficulty in getting started. The first connection may be a bit slow, but subsequent connections are almost instant as long as the headphones are turned on. In fact, as long as the headphones are turned on, after a short wait, you will hear the prompt 'Heart rate detected.' Press the heart rate button to hear the current heart rate broadcast, which is in English. The broadcast content is 'Current heart rate ** beats per minute.'

Of course, to see your heart rate data, you need to download the Pioneer Sport APP, which can be directly downloaded by scanning the code on the attached instructions.

The APP is very simple, with the main interface showing only history records, exercise types (heart rate levels), exercise goals (distance, time), exercise mode selection (running, jogging, indoor cycling, outdoor), maximum oxygen consumption test in the lower left corner, and settings in the lower left corner, where you can pair the headphones and set the audio playback frequency. The language switches between Chinese and English automatically based on the phone's language.

I wore the headphones and connected to the Pioneer Sport APP for multiple running tests, with the longest being a half marathon and the shortest around one kilometer. I found the app to be unstable, with many bugs. Sometimes it would crash, sometimes the heart rate data would remain constant, and sometimes it wouldn't detect the heart rate at all. Additionally, since the app doesn't require registration, deleting and reinstalling it means losing all exercise records, which is quite frustrating.

Fortunately, the SEC-S801BT supports connection to more common mainstream third-party apps, such as Codoon, Joyrun, and Nike+. As a loyal fan of Codoon, I find the Codoon app experience to be very good, with support for many external devices.
Connecting to Codoon is very simple: Path: Equipment -> Add Smart Equipment -> Search -> Auto Search and Add

After a successful connection, reopening the Codoon APP will first search for the heart rate device. Once found and located successfully, you can start exercising!
The following image shows the heart rate changes during running and walking to and from work. The data is very accurate, with little difference compared to a watch, but with better stability.

Regarding sound quality, Pioneer's founding philosophy is 'to let more people hear more moving sounds.' The headphone hardware uses graphene units, which make the mid and low frequencies more solid, the high-frequency extension performance better, and the detail performance richer. The sound is clear and natural, with fast transmission speed. The high-strength characteristics better restore sound quality, so the sound quality performance can be assured, meeting the standards of this price range. As long as the audio source quality is good, the SEC-S801BT will provide a pleasant listening experience. During this period, I connected it to a computer to watch 'The Thousand Faces of Dunjia,' and the sound effects were shocking!

During the trial period, I charged and discharged the headphones multiple times. Now the battery is in a relatively stable state. The longest time I used it was to run a half marathon with the APP measuring heart rate and listening to music on my phone, which took about 2 hours and consumed one-third of the battery (as shown on the phone's top right corner). Based on this, it is estimated that running a full marathon for 4 to 5 hours should be no problem under normal circumstances. The official claim is 8 hours of battery life, which should be reliable in specific environments. The headphones come with a micro-USB charging port, and I used a 5V1.5A power bank to fully charge it in about an hour. Additionally, it has a power-saving mode, where the headphones will automatically turn off if no audio input is detected for 5 minutes.

After half a month of use, I have a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the Pioneer SEC-S801BT. Firstly, the advantages are quite obvious: stylish appearance, comfortable and lightweight to wear, accurate heart rate monitoring, high monitoring frequency (once per second), excellent sound quality, outstanding battery life, and the ability to connect to mainstream sports apps as a heart rate monitoring device. The basic functions of heart rate and sound quality are quite solid. However, as a relatively new electronic product, there are still many issues with the software that need further optimization, such as app crashes, inaccurate broadcasts after connection, unstable heart rate monitoring, sometimes failing to detect data during exercise, and detecting it after finishing. There are also interference factors for heart rate monitoring, such as temperature and whether the ear canal is clean, which are not mentioned in the manual and need to be explored and summarized by oneself. Additionally, since the app can play in Chinese, why can't the headphone broadcasts be set to Chinese? I hope the manufacturer can further optimize these issues in both software and hardware to provide runners with a better user experience!