Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsA big step down from the previous Bose SoundSport -updated after 1 year
Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2023
1-YEAR UPDATE AT BOTTOM...
I've used the Bose SoundSport Bluetooth headphones for years (three different purchases) and loved them! I lost my last pair and had to buy another set, but they're no longer available new (only used), so I had to go with this option of the Bose Sport Earbuds.
I was skeptical about the purchase, just on the fact that there's no wire, so it would be easy for one to fall out and lose it in the grass or snow, or set it down somewhere and lose one, but I came to find out the problems are actually far more numerous than that.
A list of problems I've discovered:
1. there is no way to fast forward or reverse any song or podcast you're listening too: you just have to listen to it as it's streamed to you. If you need to re-hear something, you have to go back to the beginning, or unlock and open up your phone just to scroll back to where you wanted to re-hear something. With the previous SoundSport headphones, you could hold down the button to fast-forward, but not with these.
2. There is an option in the left earbud to either skip forward a track, or back a track, but not both. With the previous SoundSport headphones, you could double-click to skip forward a track, and triple-click to go back a track; but they won't let you do that with taps on these earbuds: you have to pre-define what you want a double-tap on the left earbud to do, and then that's what you're stuck with, and no option for triple-tapping anything.
3. The auto-play / auto-pause feature seemed like it worked great at first, until I realized that when I take them out and set them down somewhere, they sense the table-top and start playing again, even though it's not in your ear. So I just had to disable that feature anyway. So it's pointless / useless.
4. It says it goes into standby mode when you take it out of your ear, to conserve battery power; however, when I disabled the auto-play / auto-pause feature, and ensured it was not playing when I took it out of my ear, it still drained the batter every bit as fast as if it were actively playing in my ear, and so the battery drained long before I was ready for it. So the standby feature does not work.
5. There is no off switch. As an addendum to point number 4 above, the only way to get these to turn off is to first put them inside their designated charging case, and also to close the lid on that case. Then they will power off. On the previous Bose SoundSport headphones, you could hold the powerbutton for 4 seconds and it would power down (with an audible tone to let you know it did that), or else they would auto-power off after 20 minutes of not actively playing anything. That power button and auto-off feature worked on those SoundSport headphones; but without a power button on these, and the standby mode not working correctly, these batteries drain way too quickly as a result.
With all of the above said, I'll circle back and repeat that these are not wired together like the Bose SoundSport headphones were, so it's going to be much easier for them to fall out and get lost. Or it's just annoying to have to hold onto it if you take it out of your ear to start talking to someone; whereas, with the SoundSports, you could just let go of it, and it would rest hanging over your shoulder on the attached wire.
Other than that wire, speaking in terms of software programming, there is zero reason why they can't incorporate all the tap / control features with these to match how it was with the Bose SoundSport headphones, but apparently the newer team designing these didn't want to talk to more experienced people on the proven SoundSports, and so they made an inferior and problematic product.
As typical with Bose, the sound quality itself is awesome! But, aside from that, I'm very dissatisfied with this purchase: it's grossly overpriced for what I've gotten, and all I want is my Bose SoundSport headphones back! Why did they have to discontinue such a great product and replace it with a crappy one?
I definitely would NOT purchase these Sport Earbuds again, as they exist today.
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UPDATE AFTER USING THEM FOR ONE YEAR:
The left earbud battery no longer works. And I haven't even used these that much. The battery in that one won't hold a charge. So I only have sound in my right ear now. Not to mention, if you don't use them for a couple weeks, the battery gets completely drained, to zero percent. The old SoundSport ones never did that. You could leave them for several months, and they'd usually still have 70-80 percent battery left.
These newer "Sport Earbuds" are junk compared to the old model, SoundSport. And, after using them for a year, I would again highly recommend you do NOT buy these. Find a different brand that actuallys still makes quality products, so you don't waste your money.
