Shortly after releasing their Jaybird Tarah Pro, which I feel are currently the best wireless earbuds Jaybird has to offer… Jaybird has now updated their truly wireless earbuds with their new Jaybird RUN XT. And even though they might not be all that different from the original Jaybird RUN… The RUN XT do have one major improvement over the original. 

Jaybird’s wireless earbuds line up for 2019 currently consists of the Entry level Tarah which retail for $99.99, the classic Jaybird X4 which retail for $129.99, the super impressive and highly recommended Jaybird Tarah Pro which retail $159.99 and the truly wireless Jaybird RUN XT which retail for $179.99. If you want to pick any of these earbuds up I’ll have them linked down below. 

On the outside, the Jaybird RUN XT is virtually unchanged from the original Jaybird RUN. They have the exact same charging case and they’re still using micro USB for charging. And when it comes to the earbuds themselves… again they’re exactly the same. They’re not any smaller and they’re still using the same ear tip and ear fin fitting system just like before. The only physical difference between the Jaybird Run and RUN XT is that the RUN XT are now both sweat proof and IPX7 rated water proof. Cause with the original Jaybird RUN they were only sweat resistant. So theoretically you could swim with the Run XT if you wanted to. 

But unfortunately when it comes to tech specs, the RUN XT remain virtually unchanged. They have the same 12 hours of total playback time as the original Jaybird RUN and they have the same fast charging where 5 minutes in the case will only get you 1 hour of playback time. 

But the biggest let down is that the RUN XT are still suffering from intermittent connection issues just like the original Jaybird RUN. Now the connection issue isn’t as bad as it used to be when the Jaybird RUN were first released but you will notice the left ear bud will cut in and out on occasion. And if you’re someone that likes to watch videos while running on the treadmill then these earbuds are a hard pass cause they have a lot of latency when watching youtube videos on an iPhone. 

So im just going to cut to the chase, if you’re looking to get a pair of Jaybird Earbuds I highly recommend you get the Jaybird Tarah Pro over the Jaybird RUN XT. You can watch that full review by tapping on the I icon above. Its just hard to recommend the Jaybird RUN XT over the Tarah Pro after Jaybird truly outdid themselves with the Tarah Pro. The Tarah Pro has some of the best battery life and fast charging on the market right now, they’re super durable, you can wear them in two different ways, and they don’t suffer from a high amount of latency like the Run XT do. And to be as transparent as possible, I still prefer to use wired bluetooth earbuds at the gym like the Tarah Pro versus truly wireless earbuds, cause you don’t have to compromise as much. Wired ear buds typically have longer battery lives, better fast charging, cost less, and have that all important inline controller. And from a marketing standpoint, I think its wise Jaybird didn’t name their new earbuds the Jaybird RUN 2… but heres my wish list for the future Jaybird RUN 2 that I think is pretty reasonable. 

First off starting with the case, I would like to see Jaybird incorporate magnets so that when you drop your earbuds in they automatically align themselves… and with the magnets you lower your chances of dropping your earbuds on the dirty gym floor when you’re putting them in or taking them out of their case. And besides, magnetically aligning earbuds is pretty common with a lot of other truly wireless ear buds out there. I would also like to see Jaybird swap out the Mirco USB port on their case for a USB C port instead. And when it comes to battery life I would like to see Jaybird RUN 2 to have a total playback time of 24 hours like the AirPods. I think a 4 hour charge on the earbuds is decent, so that means we’ll have to see a denser battery in the charging case it self. Now when it comes to the earbuds, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jaybird did away with the two piece ear tip and ear fin system and instead decided to use the one piece EarGel system found on their new Tarah Models, and personally I wouldn’t mind it. But most importantly Jaybird has to improve the connection stability on their truly wireless earbuds cause its the biggest thing preventing me from recommending them. And I know that its harder said than done. They probably have to redesign the whole thing. But from a software stand point I would also like to see the Jaybird RUN 2 to have an ambient aware feature where theyll pump in the ambient sound around you so you can still hear whats going on if you’re running through the park or in the city. This is a very important feature thats starting to become pretty standard on a lot of other sports wireless ear buds as well. And since Jaybird has always outdone themselves with their Jaybird App, I would be amiss if the Jaybird RUN 2 didn’t have this feature. 

But over all, both the Jaybird RUN and Jaybird RUN XT get a few things right. They both fit well, they both sound good, their charging cases aren’t huge, and their total battery lives are decent but still have room for improvement. But unfortunately at $180, intermittent connection issues is just very hard to ignore and forgive. So like I mentioned earlier in the video if you’re looking into getting a pair Jaybird ear buds do yourself a favor and pick up the Jaybird Tarah Pro cause in general those are one of the best sports wireless earbuds on the market right now.