I would get the AirPods Pro as soon as Apple makes the battery truly replaceable and at a reasonable price. I think Apple does a lot of things right but $250 for a product that lasts only about 2 years isn't something I would buy.
My understanding is AppleCare gets your a battery service. Seems worth it.
That only covers you for two years and only if the battery is deemed unacceptable AFAIK. If purely for battery life reasons you'd be better off just planning to spend a hundred dollars out-of-pocket when the time comes to have Apple replace the batteries (another $50 if you want the charging case battery replaced too)
But agreed there's reasons having nothing to do with battery to buy AppleCare when you buy your AirPod Pros, any of the extended product warranties for that matter. $30 is a reasonable fee for the AirPod's IMO altho a now-industry standard deductible applies to each incident which kinda sucks but necessary to keep the insurance cheap, and losing one isn't covered of course. One going missing is probably far more likely than any damage happening to them.
I would get the AirPods Pro as soon as Apple makes the battery truly replaceable and at a reasonable price. I think Apple does a lot of things right but $250 for a product that lasts only about 2 years isn't something I would buy.
My understanding is AppleCare gets your a battery service. Seems worth it.
That's a band aid at best though, the battery will still fail eventually and still won't be replaceable.
Apple needs a low cost AirPods they can bundle with iPhone when they remove the Lightning port in 2021 or 2022.
Why bundle cheap headphones at all? I wish they'd remove them and the PSUs altogether. Those are just E-waste in my house, usually never coming out of the boxes.
I would get the AirPods Pro as soon as Apple makes the battery truly replaceable and at a reasonable price. I think Apple does a lot of things right but $250 for a product that lasts only about 2 years isn't something I would buy.
My understanding is AppleCare gets your a battery service. Seems worth it.
That only covers you for two years and only if the battery is deemed unacceptable AFAIK. If purely for battery life reasons you'd be better off just planning to spend a hundred dollars out-of-pocket when the time comes to have Apple replace the batteries (another $50 if you want the charging case battery replaced too)
But agreed there's reasons having nothing to do with battery to buy AppleCare when you buy your AirPod Pros, any of the extended product warranties for that matter. $30 is a reasonable fee for the AirPod's IMO altho a now-industry standard deductible applies to each incident which kinda sucks but necessary to keep the insurance cheap, and losing one isn't covered of course. One going missing is probably far more likely than any damage happening to them.
If at the end of your two-year term the battery is below 80%, you can activate it. If it’s estimated that the batteries only have a couple years with daily use, then that’s an additional two years for 30 bucks.
I have yet to lose a bud from either my original pair (which I sold for 100 bucks with clear listing of worn battery) or my second pair. SO hasn’t lost one in two pairs either.
I would get the AirPods Pro as soon as Apple makes the battery truly replaceable and at a reasonable price. I think Apple does a lot of things right but $250 for a product that lasts only about 2 years isn't something I would buy.
My understanding is AppleCare gets your a battery service. Seems worth it.
That's a band aid at best though, the battery will still fail eventually and still won't be replaceable.
It isn’t a bandaid, it’s a fact - batteries are consumable and get used up. $30 is quite reasonable to replace them.
I finally bit the bullet and I just ordered a pair of AirPods Pro tonight. I got them engraved and I wont get them until next month, but that's ok. Good things come to those who wait.
I have never even tried the regular AirPods, so I am looking forward to getting the Pros.
As far as digitimes is concerned, they can go suck on a banana. I remember so many of their so-called reports and predictions throughout the years. What a bunch of clowns.
Enjoy!
It struck me yesterday while I was out running (I don't use ear buds when running): When I saw other runners with Airpods I was envious thinking "I gotta start wearing those". When I saw those with wires dangling down from their ears I thought: "It looks like they should be wearing bell bottoms or a leisure suit -- so dated".
Running with any type of head phone, of course is a personal choice. As a dedicated runner, I tried them once and that was it. I found that I get into a nice rhythm and cadence and all genres of music would through it off. Plus I enjoy hearing my surroundings.
Now, could be a generational thing: my son (19) runs and hikes with them. I don’t understand hiking with ear buds or phones. I like hearing birds, a breeze, and ambient nature sound. To each his own.
I would get the AirPods Pro as soon as Apple makes the battery truly replaceable and at a reasonable price. I think Apple does a lot of things right but $250 for a product that lasts only about 2 years isn't something I would buy.
My understanding is AppleCare gets your a battery service. Seems worth it.
That only covers you for two years and only if the battery is deemed unacceptable AFAIK. If purely for battery life reasons you'd be better off just planning to spend a hundred dollars out-of-pocket when the time comes to have Apple replace the batteries (another $50 if you want the charging case battery replaced too)
But agreed there's reasons having nothing to do with battery to buy AppleCare when you buy your AirPod Pros, any of the extended product warranties for that matter. $30 is a reasonable fee for the AirPod's IMO altho a now-industry standard deductible applies to each incident which kinda sucks but necessary to keep the insurance cheap, and losing one isn't covered of course. One going missing is probably far more likely than any damage happening to them.
If at the end of your two-year term the battery is below 80%, you can activate it. If it’s estimated that the batteries only have a couple years with daily use, then that’s an additional two years for 30 bucks.
I have yet to lose a bud from either my original pair (which I sold for 100 bucks with clear listing of worn battery) or my second pair. SO hasn’t lost one in two pairs either.
You can buy another two years AppleCare after the initial policy expires, so four years for $60? I did not know that. Thanks for the mention, and that sounds like a very good deal.
This is the second piece I’ve noticed that AI has published in the last couple weeks with a last line disclaimer that the source is pretty much BS. In this case: “. . . it is largely unsuccessful in forecasting future products.“
I would like to better understand AI’s editorial policy in publishing articles from beyond dubious sources. Why not just don’t publish them?
If they did do an alternate design of the Pros they'd probably keep the physical design/fit but skimp on things like the noise cancelling microphone or something like that, or maybe put a smaller/cheaper battery in the charging case. The thing is the Pros and the normal ones probably fit in the ear differently and thus appeal to different customers. If you think about it Apple sells almost as many different lines of headphones as they sell different lines of computers.
I would get the AirPods Pro as soon as Apple makes the battery truly replaceable and at a reasonable price. I think Apple does a lot of things right but $250 for a product that lasts only about 2 years isn't something I would buy.
Yes, of course, and I’ll get a Tesla when they cost 27 USD and can be completely serviced with nothing but a screwdriver.
I would get the AirPods Pro as soon as Apple makes the battery truly replaceable and at a reasonable price. I think Apple does a lot of things right but $250 for a product that lasts only about 2 years isn't something I would buy.
My GF has been using the original Airpods since I bought them for her back in March 2017 with no real complaints of the battery degrading. Actually She was starting to get a bit less battery life ( 4 - 4.5 hrs of use ) when I grabbed the wireless charging case ( April 2019 ) for her ...her Airpods went back to getting the full 5 hrs of battery life wiyth the new charger.. . So at 2 years she was seeing a little bit of a dip. but nothing that I would call excessive or needing to be discarded.
As StrangeDays mentioned Applecare offers battery service. It only costs 29.00 and will guarantee you get more then a couple of years of use.. Honestly though it just sounds like you aren't the right fit for these buds.. as no truly wireless brand has a user replaceable battery, or offers the features of the APP at a much lower price.
I am holding one of my Pro's as I am writing this and honestly can't see how you would go about taking these apart and replacing a battery this small without damage?
Oh, for Pete's sake, Apple. Give up trying to flog we Apple customers audio products you are psychologically incapable of designing. The iPod Classic, the best audio product you ever produced, was not long after scrapped simply because you wanted to sell to the lowest common denominator buying into your marque for all the wrong reasons.
You need to design and produce superior digital audio circuitry for yourself or buy the best quality DAC's / ADC converters available on the market.
The most unforgivable action Apple took when it farted around with my iTunes Music Library was when I tried a Free Trial Period of Apple Music only to discover every one of my years and years of importing hundreds and hundreds of Lossless CD imports were wiped out when I discovered every single "Apple Matched" CD in my collection was replaced with a low-quality copy of the CD with 320k files (tracks), erasing all my lossless, AIFF files rendering them totally unrecoverable.
Please, leave this stuff alone, Apple. As with gaming on Apple computers, your rummaging around in sawdust filled Luck-dip barrels hoping you'll strike another golden nugget in your product line-up is not the right way to go about designing and manufacturing Pro-Quality audio peripherals.
I almost forgot, my original Airpods would last no more than 40 minutes from when they were removed fully charged from the wired charger case. My Local Apple Store "Genius" argued that it wasn't a design fault as some users got 1+ hrs of use from their iPods...seemed I was one of those rare unlucky customers.
I would get the AirPods Pro as soon as Apple makes the battery truly replaceable and at a reasonable price. I think Apple does a lot of things right but $250 for a product that lasts only about 2 years isn't something I would buy.
My understanding is AppleCare gets your a battery service. Seems worth it.
That only covers you for two years and only if the battery is deemed unacceptable AFAIK. If purely for battery life reasons you'd be better off just planning to spend a hundred dollars out-of-pocket when the time comes to have Apple replace the batteries (another $50 if you want the charging case battery replaced too)
But agreed there's reasons having nothing to do with battery to buy AppleCare when you buy your AirPod Pros, any of the extended product warranties for that matter. $30 is a reasonable fee for the AirPod's IMO altho a now-industry standard deductible applies to each incident which kinda sucks but necessary to keep the insurance cheap, and losing one isn't covered of course. One going missing is probably far more likely than any damage happening to them.
If at the end of your two-year term the battery is below 80%, you can activate it. If it’s estimated that the batteries only have a couple years with daily use, then that’s an additional two years for 30 bucks.
I have yet to lose a bud from either my original pair (which I sold for 100 bucks with clear listing of worn battery) or my second pair. SO hasn’t lost one in two pairs either.
You can buy another two years AppleCare after the initial policy expires, so four years for $60? I did not know that. Thanks for the mention, and that sounds like a very good deal.
I've never heard of this and don't think it's true, you can't add additional AppleCare when AppleCare expires. So you only get one-time replacement for $30 (per bud), so your AirPods Pro are $310, and after four or thereabout years you're likely left with a pair of expensive ear plugs. Pretty shitty.
[…] The thing is the Pros and the normal ones probably fit in the ear differently and thus appeal to different customers.
Bingo. I want a relatively inexpensive pair of buds for casual, non-critical listening and don’t need the advanced features of the Pro AirPods. The alternative — the non-“Pro” AirPods — don’t have the shape or silicone tip of the Pros and fall out of my ears. I am a good candidate for a more basic AirPod that has the same form factor as the Pro.
I would get the AirPods Pro as soon as Apple makes the battery truly replaceable and at a reasonable price. I think Apple does a lot of things right but $250 for a product that lasts only about 2 years isn't something I would buy.
My understanding is AppleCare gets your a battery service. Seems worth it.
That only covers you for two years and only if the battery is deemed unacceptable AFAIK. If purely for battery life reasons you'd be better off just planning to spend a hundred dollars out-of-pocket when the time comes to have Apple replace the batteries (another $50 if you want the charging case battery replaced too)
But agreed there's reasons having nothing to do with battery to buy AppleCare when you buy your AirPod Pros, any of the extended product warranties for that matter. $30 is a reasonable fee for the AirPod's IMO altho a now-industry standard deductible applies to each incident which kinda sucks but necessary to keep the insurance cheap, and losing one isn't covered of course. One going missing is probably far more likely than any damage happening to them.
If at the end of your two-year term the battery is below 80%, you can activate it. If it’s estimated that the batteries only have a couple years with daily use, then that’s an additional two years for 30 bucks.
I have yet to lose a bud from either my original pair (which I sold for 100 bucks with clear listing of worn battery) or my second pair. SO hasn’t lost one in two pairs either.
You can buy another two years AppleCare after the initial policy expires, so four years for $60? I did not know that. Thanks for the mention, and that sounds like a very good deal.
I've never heard of this and don't think it's true, you can't add additional AppleCare when AppleCare expires. So you only get one-time replacement for $30 (per bud), so your AirPods Pro are $310, and after four or thereabout years you're likely left with a pair of expensive ear plugs. Pretty shitty.
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Comments
Nah.
But agreed there's reasons having nothing to do with battery to buy AppleCare when you buy your AirPod Pros, any of the extended product warranties for that matter. $30 is a reasonable fee for the AirPod's IMO altho a now-industry standard deductible applies to each incident which kinda sucks but necessary to keep the insurance cheap, and losing one isn't covered of course. One going missing is probably far more likely than any damage happening to them.
I have yet to lose a bud from either my original pair (which I sold for 100 bucks with clear listing of worn battery) or my second pair. SO hasn’t lost one in two pairs either.
It isn’t a bandaid, it’s a fact - batteries are consumable and get used up. $30 is quite reasonable to replace them.
You need to design and produce superior digital audio circuitry for yourself or buy the best quality DAC's / ADC converters available on the market.
The most unforgivable action Apple took when it farted around with my iTunes Music Library was when I tried a Free Trial Period of Apple Music only to discover every one of my years and years of importing hundreds and hundreds of Lossless CD imports were wiped out when I discovered every single "Apple Matched" CD in my collection was replaced with a low-quality copy of the CD with 320k files (tracks), erasing all my lossless, AIFF files rendering them totally unrecoverable.
Please, leave this stuff alone, Apple. As with gaming on Apple computers, your rummaging around in sawdust filled Luck-dip barrels hoping you'll strike another golden nugget in your product line-up is not the right way to go about designing and manufacturing Pro-Quality audio peripherals.
I almost forgot, my original Airpods would last no more than 40 minutes from when they were removed fully charged from the wired charger case. My Local Apple Store "Genius" argued that it wasn't a design fault as some users got 1+ hrs of use from their iPods...seemed I was one of those rare unlucky customers.
About continuing your AppleCare+ coverage
for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch...