These are very nice handy earbuds, achieving the dreams I had years ago for Bluetooth ear pieces suitable for working out. You can probably still find my reviews from 15 years ago blasting massive, poorly-built, LED-blazing Bluetooth earphones. For years I've been using the earlier Powerbeats wireless (the buds connected by a cord). These Pros do fit a bit differently than the Powerbeats, but for me they fit fine and stay secure -- I prefer buds with the over-the-ear arch. And unlike Jabra sport buds I also have, they do not seal off my ears SO snugly that I'm overwhelmed with the sound of blood rushing around my head and my own pulse.
The audio sounds fine. I don't pretend to be an audiophile and I don't listen to music much anymore -- mostly audiobooks, podcasts, and YouTube -- so I won't attempt to judge the full audio range of it. Also I pretty much never make voice calls on my iPhone so I don't know how well the mic would work.
Tricky to measure the battery life, since there is no way to turn these buds off except to insert them into their case, at which point they start to recharge. If you just disconnect them and set them on the counter outside of their case, they remain "on" and the battery may be drained next time you go to use them, so don't do that. But once I drained the battery of the case itself, I could commence tracking battery life, as at that point the buds are turned off when in the case, and cannot recharge in a depleted case. When the case drains to 4% battery, it will slow down how much it charges the buds, but does gradually deplete to zero. But close enough to say that when the case gets to 4% it stops effectively charging the buds.
On iOS, upon opening the case, you get a nice window that automatically pops on the iPhone or iPad giving the exact battery levels of case and buds (this however does not happen when the case is truly drained, though you can plug it into the charger for just a moment to power up the case and activate the battery window). One annoyance here: that automatic popup window only pops up about 60-70% of the time. Often it just doesn't appear, even though the buds are automatically connecting. And if the window does not automatically appear, there is no way to manually force it to appear -- aside from just shutting and then opening the case until it works (Maybe a software update will fix that someday.)
So at that point of draining the case to turn OFF recharging, how long do the buds last on just their own batteries? I tracked this and my observation is about 8.5 hours (far better than my earlier Powerbeats ever performed).
But unless you plan to wear the buds for a single extended session that doesn't much matter. I use mine for walking and working out, so I'm not often going to need them for more than 2 hours at a shot. What matters for me is the life of fully charged buds AND case together, using the case to charge the buds as needed til they both expend their batteries. I tracked this accumulated usage also, and found I got 26.0 hours of usage by the time both case and buds were depleted. Note -- the battery meter gets wonky at low charge. When I did finally get the buds down to 25% and stored them in drained case, the next day the buds were dead.
Of course how I'm REALLY going to use the case is to plug it into the charger long before any battery gets low, so effectively battery life is just not going to be a concern with these buds, whereas my earlier Powerbeats required some attention: I had to be very careful to plug in those buds after every second walk or workout, and often did have the battery die mid-activity. These new Powerbeats Pros are just infinitely better in that regard and really no complaints.
I'll come back and add one complaint: the case is pretty but is as slick as a wet bar of bath soap. It's even SHAPED like a bar of bath soap. I've dropped it multiple times, and I'm afraid I'll break it. So, I'll uglify this pretty case by slapping on some masking tape for a bit of friction. As with Apple's history of atrocious Apple TV remotes, sometimes Apple lets pretty design trump practicality.
Compare Beats products
| Price | From: $149.95 | From: $179.95 | From: $169.95 | From: $159.95 |
| Ratings | (12) | (7,308) | (2,722) | (37,199) |
| Form-Factor | On-ear Headphones | Over-ear Headphones | Wireless earbuds | Wireless earbuds |
| Fit | UltraPlush on-ear cushions | UltraPlush over-ear cushions | 4 ear tip sizes (XS, S, M, L) | 3 ear tip sizes (S, M, L) |
| Battery Life (listening time on one charge) | Up to 50 hours of listening time | Up to 40 hours of listening time | Up to 9 hours of listening time | Up to 7 hours of listening time |
| Battery Life (listening time with charging case) | Up to 36 Hours | Up to 36 Hours | ||
| Fast Fuel Charging | 10-min charge = 5-hour playback | 10-min charge = 4-hour playback | 5-min charge = 1-hour playback | 5-min charge = 1-hour playback |
| On-Device Controls |
|
|
|
|
| Calling Capability |
|
|
|
|
| Active Noise Cancelling and Transparency Mode |
|
|
|
|
| Personalized Spatial Audio with Dynamic Head Tracking |
|
|
|
|
| Lossless Audio |
|
|
||
| Sweat & Water Resistant |
|
|
||
| In-Ear Detection |
|
|||
| Chip Platform | Beats Proprietary Platform | Beats Proprietary Platform | Beats Proprietary Platform | Apple H1 Platform |
| Charging Port | USB-C | USB-C | USB-C with charging case | USB-C with charging case |
Reviews with images
Same Apple Experience as Airpod Pros but More Benefits
These are great. Before these I owned jaybirds. I also ordered a set of airpod pros to compare with. First, the sound quality of the beats are superior to both the jaybirds and the airpod pros. The beats have a deeper and richer sound even though the beats don't have noise cancellation. Secondly, the isolation of the beats more than compensate for the lack of active noise canceling. Thirdly, I love the fact that they have ear-loops built-in. This allows you to charge them in the case with the loops of course and you don't have to keep up with extra parts. Fourthly, they also have the H1 chip from Apple and so the user experience is identical with an apple device. After all, beats are now an apple product. Fifthly, having volume controls on both sides is handy. Its also an actual button. Finally, the case is a nice size. I can easily put it in my pocket but its also substantial enough to make it less likely you will lose the case. Finally, I run and do other workouts and these beats hold in place and are snug and comfortable even with my glasses.**update <1.5 years later**The sound is still great with them. And I love them for working out. But the microphone is now crap. It sounds like I’m at the end of a tunnel now. Resetting them does not fix the issue. So as long as I don’t try to answer calls with them, they are great. I think they should last longer for $200.
Top reviews from other countries
alex
Battery issues. Charging. Battery life.
Reviewed in Canada on December 25, 2021