Fitbit Flyer Wireless Headphones Review

The Fitbit Flyer have a simple and straightforward design that looks good and feels high-end. They feel a lot more premium than the Plantronics BackBeat Fit but do not benefit from the extra stability of an ear-hook design. They look somewhat like the Jaybird X3 but with slightly bigger earbuds, and fortunately, they do not stick out of your ears like the Bose SoundSport Wireless. They come in two color schemes, Nightfall Blue and Lunar Gray. The latter is a bit more flashy but still looks great for outdoor use. The special stability wings make them stand out from the other similarly designed wireless in-ears, but overall they do not feel very different from those models, especially when using the normal stability fins.

The Fitbit Flyer have a typical in-ear fit that's decently comfortable but won't be for everyone. They come with 3 sets of gel tips of varying sizes and a couple of different stability wings and fins. The fit isn't altered much by the additional stability accessories though, so if you're not a big fan of in-ear designs you will have some of the same issues with these headphones.

These headphones have a decent control scheme that's easy to use but not as responsive. They provide call/music, track skipping, and volume controls. The buttons are well spaced out and intuitive but feel a bit mushy. On the upside, they give you a lot of auditory feedback and you can even change the language or switch to just tones. They also have a special EQ mode called power boost that you can enable by pressing the volume up and down buttons at the same time.

The Fitbit Flyer are very breathable headphones. They do not cover the ears so they won't make you sweat more than usual. The stability wings cause a slightly higher temperature difference since they have more points of contact with the notch of your ear than the fins but it's a very noticeable difference and shouldn't change much to your work out routine.

Like most wireless in-ears, these headphones are very portable. They're compact and will easily fit into your pockets or bags. The carrying pouch also doesn't add much bulk, so they won't be much of a hassle to have on you at all times.

The Fitbit Flyer come with a carrying pouch that will protect the headphones from scratches and minor water exposure. It's also fairly easy to carry on you at all times and will store all the accessories that come in the box. The pouch is very similar to the Jaybird X3 but its a bit easier to open without all the accessories tumbling out.

The Fitbit Flyer have a good build quality that feels decently high-end. The cable is flat and rubberized and feels durable enough to last you a while. The earbuds and the in-line remote also look well-made with a polished design and dense plastic that won't get damaged if you accidentally drop the headphones once or twice. They're also sweat proof and which makes them decently durable headphones, however, since the earbuds are not detachable if the cable snaps or the remote breaks you will have to get a new pair.

The Fitbit Flyer are stable sports headphones. They come with both stability fins and a wing design that some may prefer. In our test, the fins were a bit more stable than the wings but as long as you can get a secure fit they will be stable enough for exercising and working out.

• Fitbit Flyer Headphones
• Earbud tips (x3 sizes)
• Stability fins  (x2 sizes)
• Stability wings (x2 sizes)
• USB charging cable
• Carrying pouch

The frequency response consistency of the Fitbit Flyer is excellent. If the user is able to achieve a proper fit and an air-tight seal using the assortment of tips that come with the headphones, then they should be able to get consistent bass and treble delivery every time they use the headphones.

The Fitfit Flyer have an average bass. Their LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 17Hz, which is excellent. Accordingly, low-bass is within 0.1dB of our target, which ensures a deep and thumpy bass, which is important for bass-heavy genres such as EDM, Hip-hop and film scores. However, the 6dB dip around 40Hz has a negative effect on the punch of low/sub-kick drums. The wide 10dB peak that covers mid-bass, adds excess body to bass guitars and kick drums at the expense of overpowering vocals and other lead instruments. Overall, their bass has just the right amount of thump and too much body, but without sounding too boomy.

The mid-range performance of the Flyer is great. The response is quite even and consistent, with the only remark being the 5dB dip centered around 700Hz. This nudges vocals and lead instruments towards the back of the mix, making it a bit recessed.

Average treble range performance. The asymmetrical dip between 3KHz and 9KHz, negatively affects the detail and presence of vocals and lead instruments. However, since the bigger part of the dip is around 9KHz, most of the negative effect will be perceived as a lack in sharpness (S and T sounds).

The imaging performance of the Flyer is about average. The weighted group delay is 1.37, which is quite high, and among the worst we have measured so far. The GD graph shows that the problem area is in the lower bass, especially around 40Hz, which corresponds to the 40Hz dip in the frequency response. This suggests that the bass of the Flyer won't be very fast and tight, which will negatively affect its punchiness. On the plus side, the L/R drivers of our test unit were decently matched, which helps with the accurate placement and localization of objects (voice, instruments, footsteps) in the stereo image. The phase mismatch in the treble range although audible, won't have a significant negative effect on localization.

The soundstage of the Fitbit Flyer, like most other in-ears, is poor. This is because creating an out-of-head and speaker-like soundstage is largely dependent on activating the resonances of the pinna (outer ear). The design of in-ears and earbuds is in such a way that fully bypasses the pinna and doesn't interact with it. Also, because these headphones have a closed-back enclosure, their soundstage won't be perceived to be as open as that of open-back earbuds like the Apple AirPods (1st generation) Truly Wireless or the Bose SoundSport Free Truly Wireless.

The isolation performance of the Flyer is decent. In the bass range, where the rumble of airplane and bus engines sit, they achieve 4dB of isolation, which is inadequate. In the mid-range, important for blocking out speech, they reduce outside noise by almost 20dB, which is great. They also have a a very good performance in the treble range, which is important for cutting out sharp sounds such as S and Ts.

The leakage performance of the Flyer is excellent. These in-ears do not leak in the bass and mid ranges at all, and the entirety of the leakage is in the treble range. The overall level of the leakage is also extremely low, making the leakage of these headphones practically non-existent.

The in-line microphone of the Fitbit Fliyer is mediocre. In quiet environments, speech recorded/transmitted with it would sound relatively full, but noticeably muffled and lacking in detail, which could make speech a tad difficult to understand at times. In noisy environments, they will struggle to separate speech from ambient noise in even in moderately loud situations like a busy street.

The recording quality of the Fitbit Flyer's mic is about average. The LFE (low-frequency extension) of 226Hz, is decent, indicating that speech recorded or transmitted with it would sound relatively full. The HFE (high-frequency extension) of 2.6KHz however, is mediocre and results in a speech that lacks detail and presence. This would have a small but noticeable negative effect on the intelligibility of speech.

Below-average noise handling. In our SpNR test, the in-line microphone of the Fitbit Flyer achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 15dB, suggesting their microphone is best suited for quiet environments, and may struggle to separate speech from background noise in moderate and loud situations.

These headphones have a mediocre-at-best battery performance. They lasted about 6.5 hours of continuous playtime at moderate volume, which should be okay for most listeners as long as you remember to turn them off. Unfortunately, they do not have an auto-off timer when inactive (unless you disconnect your Bluetooth source) and you can't use them while they are charging. On the upside, a quick 15-minute charge gives you an hours worth of playback.

They are not compatible with the Fitibit app as they have no sensors or trackers, and the app does not offer customization options like an equalizer.

These headphones have multi-device pairing but no NFC support. On the upside, their hold-to-pair procedure is fairly easy to use and pairs easily with most Bluetooth devices.

These headphones have quite a bit of latency at 220ms. This makes them poorly suited for watching videos and gaming and is a bit on the higher side for Bluetooth headphones.

They have no wired option. If you want a good sounding wired in-ear, check the 1More Triple Driver In-Ear.

The Fitbit Flyer do not have a dock. If you want a headphone that's versatile and has a dock, try the SteelSeries Arctis 7. However, it won't be as compact or as portable as the Fitbit Flyer.