Best Shokz headphones: which model to buy, and why the names are confusing

Three families, not one line-up

Shokz confuses people because every product name starts with Open and none of them says what the product is. There are three distinct designs and two specialists:

• OpenRun (Pro 2, Air 2, OpenRun, OpenMove) — bone conduction. A titanium band behind your head, transducers on your cheekbones, nothing in or on your ear. Cannot fall out.
• OpenFit (2, Pro, Air 2, 2+) — air conduction ear-hooks. A silicone hook over your ear with a speaker sitting just in front of the canal. Normal earbud sound, no seal.
• OpenDots (2, One) — clip-on cuffs that pinch the rim of your ear. The lightest and least visible of the three.
• OpenSwim Pro — bone conduction plus 32 GB of onboard storage and an IP68 rating, for the pool.
• OpenComm2 UC — bone conduction plus a boom microphone and a USB dongle, for work.

Within a family the models differ by battery, rating and driver generation, and the newest is usually the one to buy. Across families they are not comparable at all, which is why a straight “best Shokz” ranking is less useful than the question below.

Which Shokz for your use case

If you already know what you want it for, this is the short version. Each answer is argued in full further down, and every model links to Shokz's own product page for the current list price.

• Running and most sport: the OpenRun Pro 2. A band behind the head is the only fit here that cannot be shaken loose, and the Pro 2 adds the air-conduction driver that gives bone conduction actual low end. If you want to rinse it under a tap instead, the IP67 OpenRun Air 2 trades that driver for the better water rating.
• Swimming: the OpenSwim Pro. It is the only current Shokz rated for the pool, and the reason is not just the rating: Bluetooth runs at 2.4 GHz and water absorbs it, so a swim headphone needs onboard storage to be usable at all. The OpenSwim Pro carries 32 GB and plays in MP3 mode underwater.
• Office calls: the OpenComm2 UC. It is the only Shokz with a boom microphone, and a boom arm is the one piece of hardware that puts the capsule out of the airflow instead of filtering wind after the fact. It ships with a USB dongle for a desk setup.
• Small heads: buy the Mini size, not a different model. Shokz draws the line at 9.25 inches measured between the midpoints behind your ears, and the OpenRun family offers both sizes. Measuring before you order is covered in Shokz Standard vs Mini sizing.

The two-question decision

One: does it need to be impossible to lose? If you sprint, box, do burpees or ride hard, a band that wraps your head is a different category of secure from anything that rests on one ear. Buy an OpenRun. If you want to take one side out to talk to someone, or you wear a hood or a hat constantly, buy an earbud instead.

Two: how much do you sweat? Shokz's ratings are not uniform and they do not follow the price. The OpenRun and OpenRun Air 2 are IP67, the OpenSwim Pro is IP68, the OpenDots 2 is IP57, the OpenFit 2 and OpenFit Pro and OpenMove are IP55, and the OpenFit Air is IP54. The flagship OpenFit Pro is therefore rated below the cheaper OpenRun. If you soak a shirt every session, that column should outrank the feature list.

The OpenRun neckbands

The OpenRun Pro 2 is the one to buy. Its DualPitch driver adds an air-conduction unit alongside the bone transducers, which is the only meaningful answer Shokz has to the category's thin bass, and it runs 12 hours. The catch is IP55 rather than IP67.

The OpenRun Air 2 is the heavy sweater's pick: IP67, 26.4 g, Bluetooth 6.0, 10 hours, and you can rinse it under a tap. You trade the DualPitch driver for the rating. The older OpenRun matches the IP67 and loses two hours and USB-C on most colors, so buy it only on a deal. The OpenMove is the cheapest entry and the one we would talk you out of: 6 hours, no quick charge and a seventh-generation driver.

The OpenFit ear-hooks

The OpenFit 2 is the default: 9.4 g, IP55, 11 hours, DualBoost dual drivers and a physical button, which matters more than it sounds when your fingers are wet. The OpenFit Pro adds an open-ear noise reduction mode, a third microphone and Dolby Atmos optimization, and costs the most of any Shokz; it is 12.3 g and its battery halves with the noise reduction on. The OpenFit Air 2 is the lightweight at 7.2 g with a rated case, at the cost of three hours of battery.

The head-to-heads are already written: OpenFit 2 vs OpenFit Pro and AeroFit 2 vs OpenFit 2 if you want to know what the money buys outside the brand.

The OpenDots clip-ons

The OpenDots 2 is the most improved Shokz of the last two years. It is 6.4 g, it runs 10 hours, it has a bone-conduction microphone that reads your voice through your jaw for calls in wind, and it is rated IP57, which no Bose clip-on comes close to. The first-generation OpenDots One is the same shape at IP54 and is worth buying only if it is substantially cheaper, which it usually is not.

A clip-on is the least secure of the three Shokz designs under impact and the most comfortable for all-day wear. If you are choosing between a cuff and a hook, we compared them at ear-hook vs clip-on.

OpenSwim and OpenComm

The OpenSwim Pro exists because Bluetooth does not travel through water. It carries 32 GB of onboard storage and accepts MP3, FLAC, WAV, AAC, M4A, APE and WMA files, is rated IP68 and swimproof to 2 m, and doubles as a normal Bluetooth 5.4 headset on land. If you swim once a week it is worth the premium; if you never do, the OpenRun Pro 2 sounds better for less. Full writeup, including what MP3 mode costs you in convenience, in the Shokz OpenSwim Pro review.

The OpenComm2 UC is a work headset: boom mic, 16 hours of talk time, a mute button and a USB adapter for a locked-down laptop. Its music driver is the old seventh-generation unit, so it is a poor choice as an only pair. The full work ranking is at best open-ear earbuds for work.

Two pages for narrowing it down

If you have got as far as the two current neckbands, the straight head-to-head is at OpenRun Air 2 vs OpenRun Pro 2. And if a cheaper brand is tempting you away from Shokz entirely, we put the spec sheets side by side in Shokz vs Raycon bone conduction.

And then pick the size

Every neckband in this line comes in Standard and Mini at the same price, and getting that wrong is the most common reason a Shokz goes back. The measurement Shokz asks for, and the symptoms of each wrong size, are in Shokz Standard vs Mini sizing.

Two comparisons from inside this line-up, if you have it down to a pair. OpenRun Pro 2 vs OpenSwim Pro settles whether the swim model is worth it, and OpenFit 2 vs OpenDots 2 settles the hook against the clip.

Buyer's guide: not overpaying for a Shokz

Newer beats pricier within a family

The OpenRun Air 2 out-specs the older OpenRun at the same list price, and the OpenDots 2 out-rates the OpenDots One. Check the generation before the discount.

The IP rating does not follow the price

The most expensive Shokz earbud, the OpenFit Pro, is IP55. The mid-priced OpenRun Air 2 is IP67. Decide which number matters to you first.

Buttons versus touch is a real difference

Every OpenRun has physical buttons. The OpenFit 2 and OpenFit Pro have buttons, the OpenFit Air 2 has pressure buttons, the OpenDots are touch. Sweat triggers touch panels.

Shokz is not automatically the answer

The Baseus Bowie MC2 out-rates every Shokz clip-on at IP67 for less, and the Soundcore AeroFit 2's adjustable hook fits ears the fixed OpenFit hook does not. Our unbranded rankings are at best open-ear earbuds and best bone conduction headphones.