ThinkGeek :: headphone beanie hat - reviewed

got the hat today, overnight shipping, right on time.  ThinkGeek is always good for that.  Hat came packaged as such:

before i go on about the specifics of the phones not playing right away, let me first emphasize that it appears to be an issue with my player (phone), and not the headphones themselves, as far as i can tell.  they work fine straight away with multiple other devices, and the sound and fit are great.   in fact, i liked the hat so much i wound up getting one for my nephew for Christmas.

so i assembled the earpieces in the hat, put in on, plugged it into my blackberry curve 8900, and prepared to rock.  except that i didn’t.  there was no sound.  here’s where it gets weird, and the only way i know how to explain it is with excerpts taken from the various product pages (blackberry curve 8900 and ThinkGeek’s page for the headphones, which, btw, has the same info as the manufacturer’s site), and pics to illustrate the weirdness.  basically, it’s a jack issue.  except that it isn’t.  what???  yeah.

EDIT (01/10/10):  i recently replaced my blackberry and the headphones worked straight away when plugged in.  the ramblings that follow relate to my attempt to use the headphones with my previous phone, and the problem is clearly now revealed as belonging to the jack in my music device - and NOT the headphones.

the blackberry site i linked to above doesn’t even say anything about what kind of jack the phone has.  this page does, and i quote:  “Audio output through the included 3.5mm stereo headset is good and likewise very good with A2DP stereo headphones like the Motorola S9-HD.”  (except, don’t even get me started on that motorola piece of crap.)

so, the hat also comes with a 3.5mm jack headset (as stated on both TG and the manuf.’s sites).  the blackberry has a 3.5mm jack (plug?).  for some reason, my hat and my blackberry boy and girl parts don’t like each other.  go figure.

the picture below shows three jacks, the one on the left being the one that belongs to my new headphones, and the two on the right being some adapters i had from previous jack escapades with my iPhone.  i forgot to include the jack that came with the blackberry, but trust me, it looks like the one that came with the hat, but it is different.  it has three ring thingys on it, like the jack on the right in the pic below.

so, i’m not sure if the jack that came with the phones is jacked, or if my bb is on crack, but a simple adapter solved the problem.

i got a different adapter than the one i already had because it was shorter and i don’t want 10 ft of wire in my pocket.  whatever the problem is, it should be noted that the hat is not a ThinkGeek! original product.  i can assure you if it were a TG! original, it would have come with a gazillion songs already programmed into the headphones even though that is totally impossible (and probably illegal).  and also that that would not actually happen.  probably.

in the end, the hat fits fine, and with some minor finagling to position the headphones over my ears, i am rocking out.  the sound is good.  i can’t begin to go into herzes or wavelengths or what have you - they sound good and fit well, and i would imagine that most people who buy these are more into being active, outdoors, warm, and having their music in their heads than having the absolute best sounding headphones out there.  besides, they are just way cool -  aaaaand, my noggin’ is warm and toasty.

if anyone has any suggestions as to why my headphone/bb privates don’t fit work with each other, i’d be thrilled to hear them.

(i’m also game if anyone knows how to get my curve 8900 to stop rebooting spontaneously.  i re-formatted the media card so it ain’t that…)

so, yeah, ThinkGeek’s Headphone Beanie Hat gets a thumbs up from me (as i am clearly the headphone beanie hat whisperer).  it feels and sounds good, and yes - yes i do look as cool as this guy.

also, just because it seems like the right thing to do, Tooks makes the headphone hats, and they have a lot more styles and parts on their site.  but you should really buy from ThinkGeek because they are some righteous dudes/chicks and give you GeekPoints so you can get free stuff.