Sturdiest mic-equipped earphones?

[Zephyr!]

Hi,

I usually have two pairs of earphones:
1. The higher quality ones I use for listening to music.
2. The cheaper, mic-equipped ones I use for business calls on my Blackberry.

I've never wanted to splurge on the second type because I'm not interested in perfect sound for calls....all I care is that they can hear me well, which is not a tall order at all. However, I've spent oodles of money replacing cheapo ones because I go through them very quickly. The wires get frayed and/or they stop working, so I realized I do need something that isn't uber-expensive but very sturdy.

I would be grateful if you have any suggestions on strongly built, sturdy, mic integrated, in-ear headphones. The ones with the super-thin cables get destroyed in a relatively short period.

The other issue is that many brands seem to be geared for iPhone only, which means they will not work with the Blackberry (a sales guy at a store says they come with a chip that shuts out other brands?).

Any suggestions will be much appreciated...thanks guys.

[tienbasse]

The only ones I know with a mic and sturdy build are the Atomic Flyod Minidarts with mic:
http://www.atomicfloyd.com/minidartsmic

They are really well built, but I have yet to see a decent review of those, soundwise.
They have good trebles but relatively muddy bass, from what I could read...

I'm afraid that high quality and mic don't come together.

[cnhardwick]

Maybe the Maximo iP-HS5? I own the iM-590 (non-mic version) and it is well built, so I would hope the mic version it too.

As far as the compatibility, checkout MEElectronics' chart. Most other brands should be the same. They also sell an adapter for phones that do not work.

While I wish I could recommend MEElec's headsets, honestly the in-line mic they use is the weak link in their otherwise strong cables. That said, I have not tried the new in-line mic they use on the SP51 and CC51. It might be better.

[Zephyr!]

Hi,

I checked out two of the MeElectronics ones, but people were complaining about durability, which is a major issue for me.

After some searching, I've narrowed it down to 2 candidates. All of the mic ones have complaints about durability in the reviews, but these seemed to have less. Not really very interested in super sound quality on these; more about the solid build:

1. JBuds J4M. Seem to have a rugged build, and a tangle free, kevlar reinforced cable.

http://www.amazon.com/Rugged-Earbuds.../dp/B001939H4C

2. VMODA-R, also seems to have a decent build.
http://www.amazon.com/V-MODA-R-GUNBL...pr_product_top

Opinions?

Thanks!