I'll never buy these and this is coming from a guy who owns two sets of bluetooth headphones and uses them daily.
These are simply not worth $200. The Apple or Beats premium isn't worth that in my view. Perhaps the predecessors were priced at that but like many things Apple related lately, Apple stands still and the world moves on.
The high end for bluetooth headphones is around $100 right now and there are loads of great sounding headphones in the $20-40 range.
These are items that are sweated on. The earbuds can get pulled off. They can simply get misplaced or lost. In the past you sucked it up perhaps and gave Apple $30 for a new pair of wired headphones when everyone else was charging half that. Now not so much.
Beats were so hot a few years ago. I don't think I've seen a kid wearing a pair in the last year though.
Where do you live that you don't see Beats on a regular basis? And please point me to a review of a great pair of bluetooth earbuds for $100 or $40. I know for a fact that there are a lot of crap products out there at every price point, so please contribute any wisdom you have.
I live in Southern California. First a couple of points. We aren't just talking bluetooth headphones. We are talking in-ear, bluetooth headphones meant for exercising. I'm not saying you can't and shouldn't drop $200 on a pair of headphones for listening. I'm simply saying there are great alternatives and lots of them for half the price for something you are going to toss in the gym bag, sweat all over and possibly lose.
As for non-crap products out there in the $100 range. I'd look at Jaybird X3 and X2. I'd also look at Bose Sound Sport if you have to have a name brand. They are around $129, $89 and $150 respectively.
I've been using headphones like these Soundpeats though for my rides. I'm a decent enough cyclist but if we get above 2,000 ft of climbing in 30 or say 2500 in 40 miles, there are parts where I just am not lean enough to hang. (Got the power, just too many kilograms.) I'll leave those slung around my neck on the magnets and stick one side in for some alone pedaling if I've been dropped for a bit. Both sides if it is a trail or road where there won't be cars.
The first pair I played around with were Mpow Swift which was a very safe $18 bet when I bought them. I still love using them all the time. At that price they are guilt-free and no worry for exercising. If someone stepped on them or whatever I'd slap another $20 down in a second. I've had them for well over a year though with no problems. The only reason I bought the others were because I thought the magnets would be a nice feature for when they are loose around my neck.
Can you tell us why some Jaybird X2 cost $79 on Amazon and some cost $179? What are the major difference making such big price swings?
I'll never buy these and this is coming from a guy who owns two sets of bluetooth headphones and uses them daily.
These are simply not worth $200. The Apple or Beats premium isn't worth that in my view. Perhaps the predecessors were priced at that but like many things Apple related lately, Apple stands still and the world moves on.
The high end for bluetooth headphones is around $100 right now and there are loads of great sounding headphones in the $20-40 range.
These are items that are sweated on. The earbuds can get pulled off. They can simply get misplaced or lost. In the past you sucked it up perhaps and gave Apple $30 for a new pair of wired headphones when everyone else was charging half that. Now not so much.
Beats were so hot a few years ago. I don't think I've seen a kid wearing a pair in the last year though.
Where do you live that you don't see Beats on a regular basis? And please point me to a review of a great pair of bluetooth earbuds for $100 or $40. I know for a fact that there are a lot of crap products out there at every price point, so please contribute any wisdom you have.
I live in Southern California. First a couple of points. We aren't just talking bluetooth headphones. We are talking in-ear, bluetooth headphones meant for exercising. I'm not saying you can't and shouldn't drop $200 on a pair of headphones for listening. I'm simply saying there are great alternatives and lots of them for half the price for something you are going to toss in the gym bag, sweat all over and possibly lose.
As for non-crap products out there in the $100 range. I'd look at Jaybird X3 and X2. I'd also look at Bose Sound Sport if you have to have a name brand. They are around $129, $89 and $150 respectively.
I've been using headphones like these Soundpeats though for my rides. I'm a decent enough cyclist but if we get above 2,000 ft of climbing in 30 or say 2500 in 40 miles, there are parts where I just am not lean enough to hang. (Got the power, just too many kilograms.) I'll leave those slung around my neck on the magnets and stick one side in for some alone pedaling if I've been dropped for a bit. Both sides if it is a trail or road where there won't be cars.
The first pair I played around with were Mpow Swift which was a very safe $18 bet when I bought them. I still love using them all the time. At that price they are guilt-free and no worry for exercising. If someone stepped on them or whatever I'd slap another $20 down in a second. I've had them for well over a year though with no problems. The only reason I bought the others were because I thought the magnets would be a nice feature for when they are loose around my neck.
Can you tell us why some Jaybird X2 cost $79 on Amazon and some cost $179? What are the major difference making such big price swings?
No you can handle that yourself.
This is no different than Apple on the Macbook Pro upgrade. Tiny spec bumps and big price jumps while the rest of the market has caught up and at times surpassed what Apple is offering while having offered it for months.
I'll never buy these and this is coming from a guy who owns two sets of bluetooth headphones and uses them daily.
These are simply not worth $200. The Apple or Beats premium isn't worth that in my view. Perhaps the predecessors were priced at that but like many things Apple related lately, Apple stands still and the world moves on.
The high end for bluetooth headphones is around $100 right now and there are loads of great sounding headphones in the $20-40 range.
These are items that are sweated on. The earbuds can get pulled off. They can simply get misplaced or lost. In the past you sucked it up perhaps and gave Apple $30 for a new pair of wired headphones when everyone else was charging half that. Now not so much.
Beats were so hot a few years ago. I don't think I've seen a kid wearing a pair in the last year though.
Where do you live that you don't see Beats on a regular basis? And please point me to a review of a great pair of bluetooth earbuds for $100 or $40. I know for a fact that there are a lot of crap products out there at every price point, so please contribute any wisdom you have.
I live in Southern California. First a couple of points. We aren't just talking bluetooth headphones. We are talking in-ear, bluetooth headphones meant for exercising. I'm not saying you can't and shouldn't drop $200 on a pair of headphones for listening. I'm simply saying there are great alternatives and lots of them for half the price for something you are going to toss in the gym bag, sweat all over and possibly lose.
As for non-crap products out there in the $100 range. I'd look at Jaybird X3 and X2. I'd also look at Bose Sound Sport if you have to have a name brand. They are around $129, $89 and $150 respectively.
I've been using headphones like these Soundpeats though for my rides. I'm a decent enough cyclist but if we get above 2,000 ft of climbing in 30 or say 2500 in 40 miles, there are parts where I just am not lean enough to hang. (Got the power, just too many kilograms.) I'll leave those slung around my neck on the magnets and stick one side in for some alone pedaling if I've been dropped for a bit. Both sides if it is a trail or road where there won't be cars.
The first pair I played around with were Mpow Swift which was a very safe $18 bet when I bought them. I still love using them all the time. At that price they are guilt-free and no worry for exercising. If someone stepped on them or whatever I'd slap another $20 down in a second. I've had them for well over a year though with no problems. The only reason I bought the others were because I thought the magnets would be a nice feature for when they are loose around my neck.
Can you tell us why some Jaybird X2 cost $79 on Amazon and some cost $179? What are the major difference making such big price swings?
No you can handle that yourself.
This is no different than Apple on the Macbook Pro upgrade. Tiny spec bumps and big price jumps while the rest of the market has caught up and at times surpassed what Apple is offering while having offered it for months.
What is your motive criticizing Apple but praising Jaybird then?
Not a complaint - i knew this when i bought them - but still - why not let them charge from a lightening port (female)? Apple stremline connections which is great, (usb-c and lightneing) except when they dont.
I too find it interesting on a pair of headphones about which one of its strongest selling point is the cross-compatibility with Apple products via simple pairing, uses a charging cable that no other Apple branded device uses.
FYI, the Beats brand remains separate from the Apple brand, even if the company is wholly owned.
I too find it interesting on a pair of headphones about which one of its strongest selling point is the cross-compatibility with Apple products via simple pairing, uses a charging cable that no other Apple branded device uses.
I have to note that they're still selling accessories with USB-a
Not to say that they should go to USB-c here, it's just an acknowledgement that USB-a has become a standard. USB-a is being built into power outlets in houses, coffee shops, planes, cars... i'm not sure what Apple is expecting with an all USB-c MacBook.
I'll never buy these and this is coming from a guy who owns two sets of bluetooth headphones and uses them daily.
These are simply not worth $200. The Apple or Beats premium isn't worth that in my view. Perhaps the predecessors were priced at that but like many things Apple related lately, Apple stands still and the world moves on.
The high end for bluetooth headphones is around $100 right now and there are loads of great sounding headphones in the $20-40 range.
These are items that are sweated on. The earbuds can get pulled off. They can simply get misplaced or lost. In the past you sucked it up perhaps and gave Apple $30 for a new pair of wired headphones when everyone else was charging half that. Now not so much.
Beats were so hot a few years ago. I don't think I've seen a kid wearing a pair in the last year though.
Where do you live that you don't see Beats on a regular basis? And please point me to a review of a great pair of bluetooth earbuds for $100 or $40. I know for a fact that there are a lot of crap products out there at every price point, so please contribute any wisdom you have.
I live in Southern California. First a couple of points. We aren't just talking bluetooth headphones. We are talking in-ear, bluetooth headphones meant for exercising. I'm not saying you can't and shouldn't drop $200 on a pair of headphones for listening. I'm simply saying there are great alternatives and lots of them for half the price for something you are going to toss in the gym bag, sweat all over and possibly lose.
As for non-crap products out there in the $100 range. I'd look at Jaybird X3 and X2. I'd also look at Bose Sound Sport if you have to have a name brand. They are around $129, $89 and $150 respectively.
I've been using headphones like these Soundpeats though for my rides. I'm a decent enough cyclist but if we get above 2,000 ft of climbing in 30 or say 2500 in 40 miles, there are parts where I just am not lean enough to hang. (Got the power, just too many kilograms.) I'll leave those slung around my neck on the magnets and stick one side in for some alone pedaling if I've been dropped for a bit. Both sides if it is a trail or road where there won't be cars.
The first pair I played around with were Mpow Swift which was a very safe $18 bet when I bought them. I still love using them all the time. At that price they are guilt-free and no worry for exercising. If someone stepped on them or whatever I'd slap another $20 down in a second. I've had them for well over a year though with no problems. The only reason I bought the others were because I thought the magnets would be a nice feature for when they are loose around my neck.
Can you tell us why some Jaybird X2 cost $79 on Amazon and some cost $179? What are the major difference making such big price swings?
No you can handle that yourself.
This is no different than Apple on the Macbook Pro upgrade. Tiny spec bumps and big price jumps while the rest of the market has caught up and at times surpassed what Apple is offering while having offered it for months.
What is your motive criticizing Apple but praising Jaybird then?
Ok as an owner of 7 yes SEVEN pairs of PowerBeats2 wireless Bluetooth head phones (each in a different color) lets clear up a few things here:
You cant put the cable behind your neck as shown in the photos. DONE!! No more discussion. And you wanna know why? Because you idiots... your controller is on the cable. Yeah. The controller. The one that lets you press to talk to Siri. To press to change songs. To press to answer a phone call and more importantly THE MICROPHONE! The very thing you use for that telephone call you're complaining about on the quality! So a singer at a concert should hold her mic BEHIND her neck and sing and you don't find a problem with that? Seriously?
I ride my bike 26 miles every morning. I do apple tech support calls WHILE I RIDE! I have not ever have anyone say how bad I sounded because it's where it's supposed to be...BY MY MOUTH THATS TALKING. Geez Louise some of these reviews are dumb as a stick! I take that back... one time I had a client ask if I was ok. "You're breathing a little hard". My response? "If you saw this hill I'm climbing on my mountain bike at the moment you'd.be breathing hard too!" Lol. "You're on your bike??" (Now there's a great ad for these headphones. I was in heavy traffic going up a hill and they didn't even hear the cars).
Ok onto pairing. This one drives me crazy. It's not the device having trouble pairing (remember I'm on last years model!) it's the person doing the pairing.
1. If you currently are paired to a device click the little "I" on the right side of the device name and unpair the device. If you don't, you will NEVER pair with anything else. It even asks "do you want to remove this device completely? Or just unpair?". How hard is that? Just pick one.
2. NOW you can go to the next device whether it be another phone or iPad or computer. Hold the button down for 10 seconds. Not 2. Not 4 - 10! It tells the headphone and all the other devices "I want to pair to something new now". But this won't happen unless you do step 1 first.
You can't drive two cars at the same time. You have to turn off one car before you turn on the new car. These headphones are no different.
And just like those fancy seat setups where you get in your car and press your number and the car seat adjusts to what you set up as comfortable for you... the powerbeats does the same when you unpair them in step1. You can: "save for future use" (no 10 second hold) just unpair. Or you can "wipe out the device setup completely."
3. If and this is a rare thing trust me - IF you go back to the device (after unpairing from your new one) the fastest way to "re-pair" is to click off Bluetooth and back on. Then pressing the Powerbeats button for a nano second you're connected WHAM (sound of mic dropping to the floor)
This isn't Apple. This is BEATS!
Apple didn't make this this easy BEATS did waaaaay before Apple bought them.
In fact Apple said straight out after buying them "These will remain two different companies with two different approaches. We will NOT be integrating the two together" and they didn't. That's why Powerbeats 3 is out and working EXACTLY like PowerBeats2 - smooth and easy.
Oh oh I forgot to mention one thing that I did different than everyone else..... I READ THE DAMN MANUAL FIRST. Yep. This is all in there folks. And guess what if you do as BEATS states it will work for you too. "NO. WAY. BECKY!" WAY!
This article did manage to get one recommendation correct. All those different size ear buds? Thrown them out - all except the giant flexi one. That one squeezes softly into your ear creating a "suction cup" affect - in essence capturing ALL the sound and not let it slip out of your ear. What does that cause? Excellent tight bass! Pristine clarity.
I wrote about this before: I was actually packing my first set up to return because they sounded so shity. Then this little black "pouch" fell to the floor. I opened it up and saw all the other sizes. I tried each one Small: sounds like shit Mefium: sounds like shit Large: sounds like shit Giant looking flexi thingy: holy crap. Sounds like the BEATS Studio over the ear headphones. No way! Way!
SUMMARY: unpair all devices before attempting to pair to a new one translation: stop driving one car before you start driving another car!
don't sit backwards when driving a car translation: don't put the cable that controls the damn headphones behind your head trying to use it like A contortionist and they will actually work correctly
While not wishing to argue with your rant as I simply have no clue never having owned anything along these lines but, in the photograph above you seem to take such offense at, the controller looks to be directly below his ear and easily reachable. Also, perhaps the 'mic' is using the jawbone type input whereby speech is detected without needing to be close to the mouth?
I got a couple different pairs of Bluetooth Headsets from Amazon a few months back and one of them looks pretty close to this beats headset. I paid around $20 for each of the ones I got. They're not high quality, not the BEST sound, but they sound just fine for my needs. Apple headsets aren't the best quality either and not worth the price either.
Ok as an owner of 7 yes SEVEN pairs of PowerBeats2 wireless Bluetooth head phones (each in a different color) lets clear up a few things here:
You cant put the cable behind your neck as shown in the photos. DONE!! No more discussion. And you wanna know why? Because you idiots... your controller is on the cable. Yeah. The controller. The one that lets you press to talk to Siri. To press to change songs. To press to answer a phone call and more importantly THE MICROPHONE! The very thing you use for that telephone call you're complaining about on the quality! So a singer at a concert should hold her mic BEHIND her neck and sing and you don't find a problem with that? Seriously?
I ride my bike 26 miles every morning. I do apple tech support calls WHILE I RIDE! I have not ever have anyone say how bad I sounded because it's where it's supposed to be...BY MY MOUTH THATS TALKING. Geez Louise some of these reviews are dumb as a stick! I take that back... one time I had a client ask if I was ok. "You're breathing a little hard". My response? "If you saw this hill I'm climbing on my mountain bike at the moment you'd.be breathing hard too!" Lol. "You're on your bike??" (Now there's a great ad for these headphones. I was in heavy traffic going up a hill and they didn't even hear the cars).
Ok onto pairing. This one drives me crazy. It's not the device having trouble pairing (remember I'm on last years model!) it's the person doing the pairing.
1. If you currently are paired to a device click the little "I" on the right side of the device name and unpair the device. If you don't, you will NEVER pair with anything else. It even asks "do you want to remove this device completely? Or just unpair?". How hard is that? Just pick one.
2. NOW you can go to the next device whether it be another phone or iPad or computer. Hold the button down for 10 seconds. Not 2. Not 4 - 10! It tells the headphone and all the other devices "I want to pair to something new now". But this won't happen unless you do step 1 first.
You can't drive two cars at the same time. You have to turn off one car before you turn on the new car. These headphones are no different.
And just like those fancy seat setups where you get in your car and press your number and the car seat adjusts to what you set up as comfortable for you... the powerbeats does the same when you unpair them in step1. You can: "save for future use" (no 10 second hold) just unpair. Or you can "wipe out the device setup completely."
3. If and this is a rare thing trust me - IF you go back to the device (after unpairing from your new one) the fastest way to "re-pair" is to click off Bluetooth and back on. Then pressing the Powerbeats button for a nano second you're connected WHAM (sound of mic dropping to the floor)
This isn't Apple. This is BEATS!
Apple didn't make this this easy BEATS did waaaaay before Apple bought them.
In fact Apple said straight out after buying them "These will remain two different companies with two different approaches. We will NOT be integrating the two together" and they didn't. That's why Powerbeats 3 is out and working EXACTLY like PowerBeats2 - smooth and easy.
Oh oh I forgot to mention one thing that I did different than everyone else..... I READ THE DAMN MANUAL FIRST. Yep. This is all in there folks. And guess what if you do as BEATS states it will work for you too. "NO. WAY. BECKY!" WAY!
This article did manage to get one recommendation correct. All those different size ear buds? Thrown them out - all except the giant flexi one. That one squeezes softly into your ear creating a "suction cup" affect - in essence capturing ALL the sound and not let it slip out of your ear. What does that cause? Excellent tight bass! Pristine clarity.
I wrote about this before: I was actually packing my first set up to return because they sounded so shity. Then this little black "pouch" fell to the floor. I opened it up and saw all the other sizes. I tried each one Small: sounds like shit Mefium: sounds like shit Large: sounds like shit Giant looking flexi thingy: holy crap. Sounds like the BEATS Studio over the ear headphones. No way! Way!
SUMMARY: unpair all devices before attempting to pair to a new one translation: stop driving one car before you start driving another car!
don't sit backwards when driving a car translation: don't put the cable that controls the damn headphones behind your head trying to use it like A contortionist and they will actually work correctly
While not wishing to argue with your rant as I simply have no clue never having owned anything along these lines but, in the photograph above you seem to take such offense at, the controller looks to be directly below his ear and easily reachable. Also, perhaps the 'mic' is using the jawbone type input whereby speech is detected without needing to be close to the mouth?
Ok as an owner of 7 yes SEVEN pairs of PowerBeats2 wireless Bluetooth head phones (each in a different color) lets clear up a few things here:
You cant put the cable behind your neck as shown in the photos. DONE!! No more discussion. And you wanna know why? Because you idiots... your controller is on the cable. Yeah. The controller. The one that lets you press to talk to Siri. To press to change songs. To press to answer a phone call and more importantly THE MICROPHONE! The very thing you use for that telephone call you're complaining about on the quality! So a singer at a concert should hold her mic BEHIND her neck and sing and you don't find a problem with that? Seriously?
I ride my bike 26 miles every morning. I do apple tech support calls WHILE I RIDE! I have not ever have anyone say how bad I sounded because it's where it's supposed to be...BY MY MOUTH THATS TALKING. Geez Louise some of these reviews are dumb as a stick! I take that back... one time I had a client ask if I was ok. "You're breathing a little hard". My response? "If you saw this hill I'm climbing on my mountain bike at the moment you'd.be breathing hard too!" Lol. "You're on your bike??" (Now there's a great ad for these headphones. I was in heavy traffic going up a hill and they didn't even hear the cars).
Ok onto pairing. This one drives me crazy. It's not the device having trouble pairing (remember I'm on last years model!) it's the person doing the pairing.
1. If you currently are paired to a device click the little "I" on the right side of the device name and unpair the device. If you don't, you will NEVER pair with anything else. It even asks "do you want to remove this device completely? Or just unpair?". How hard is that? Just pick one.
2. NOW you can go to the next device whether it be another phone or iPad or computer. Hold the button down for 10 seconds. Not 2. Not 4 - 10! It tells the headphone and all the other devices "I want to pair to something new now". But this won't happen unless you do step 1 first.
You can't drive two cars at the same time. You have to turn off one car before you turn on the new car. These headphones are no different.
And just like those fancy seat setups where you get in your car and press your number and the car seat adjusts to what you set up as comfortable for you... the powerbeats does the same when you unpair them in step1. You can: "save for future use" (no 10 second hold) just unpair. Or you can "wipe out the device setup completely."
3. If and this is a rare thing trust me - IF you go back to the device (after unpairing from your new one) the fastest way to "re-pair" is to click off Bluetooth and back on. Then pressing the Powerbeats button for a nano second you're connected WHAM (sound of mic dropping to the floor)
This isn't Apple. This is BEATS!
Apple didn't make this this easy BEATS did waaaaay before Apple bought them.
In fact Apple said straight out after buying them "These will remain two different companies with two different approaches. We will NOT be integrating the two together" and they didn't. That's why Powerbeats 3 is out and working EXACTLY like PowerBeats2 - smooth and easy.
Oh oh I forgot to mention one thing that I did different than everyone else..... I READ THE DAMN MANUAL FIRST. Yep. This is all in there folks. And guess what if you do as BEATS states it will work for you too. "NO. WAY. BECKY!" WAY!
This article did manage to get one recommendation correct. All those different size ear buds? Thrown them out - all except the giant flexi one. That one squeezes softly into your ear creating a "suction cup" affect - in essence capturing ALL the sound and not let it slip out of your ear. What does that cause? Excellent tight bass! Pristine clarity.
I wrote about this before: I was actually packing my first set up to return because they sounded so shity. Then this little black "pouch" fell to the floor. I opened it up and saw all the other sizes. I tried each one Small: sounds like shit Mefium: sounds like shit Large: sounds like shit Giant looking flexi thingy: holy crap. Sounds like the BEATS Studio over the ear headphones. No way! Way!
SUMMARY: unpair all devices before attempting to pair to a new one translation: stop driving one car before you start driving another car!
don't sit backwards when driving a car translation: don't put the cable that controls the damn headphones behind your head trying to use it like A contortionist and they will actually work correctly
While not wishing to argue with your rant as I simply have no clue never having owned anything along these lines but, in the photograph above you seem to take such offense at, the controller looks to be directly below his ear and easily reachable. Also, perhaps the 'mic' is using the jawbone type input whereby speech is detected without needing to be close to the mouth?
You are right to question the usability of the controller when the wire is routed around back.
I use my powerbeats2 with the wire routed around back to talk on the phone all the time. No one has ever complained. Honestly, I get more complaints about sound quality when using the iPhone's built in mic.
When I first got the powerbeats2 I was worried about the same thing and wore the wire around the front for a week or two, but I hated the way it looked. I decided to try the wire around back and I could tell no difference at all.
Maybe if you have a giant neck that strains the wire and pulls the controller even further back you could have trouble?
I have removed the clip that lets you shorten the wire loop, maybe that lets more slack wire hang and leave the controller in an ideal position?
Bottom line, for me, there is no problem with the wire and controller.
The original commenter went through a 5 paragraph explanation of how simple the default Bluetooth pairing process is. If you need 5 paragraphs to explain how simple something is, you've failed to convince me. I don't pay good money for Apple gear to do things the hard way.
Ok as an owner of 7 yes SEVEN pairs of PowerBeats2 wireless Bluetooth head phones (each in a different color) lets clear up a few things here:
You cant put the cable behind your neck as shown in the photos. DONE!! No more discussion. And you wanna know why? Because you idiots... your controller is on the cable. Yeah. The controller. The one that lets you press to talk to Siri. To press to change songs. To press to answer a phone call and more importantly THE MICROPHONE! The very thing you use for that telephone call you're complaining about on the quality! So a singer at a concert should hold her mic BEHIND her neck and sing and you don't find a problem with that? Seriously?
I ride my bike 26 miles every morning. I do apple tech support calls WHILE I RIDE! I have not ever have anyone say how bad I sounded because it's where it's supposed to be...BY MY MOUTH THATS TALKING. Geez Louise some of these reviews are dumb as a stick! I take that back... one time I had a client ask if I was ok. "You're breathing a little hard". My response? "If you saw this hill I'm climbing on my mountain bike at the moment you'd.be breathing hard too!" Lol. "You're on your bike??" (Now there's a great ad for these headphones. I was in heavy traffic going up a hill and they didn't even hear the cars).
Ok onto pairing. This one drives me crazy. It's not the device having trouble pairing (remember I'm on last years model!) it's the person doing the pairing.
1. If you currently are paired to a device click the little "I" on the right side of the device name and unpair the device. If you don't, you will NEVER pair with anything else. It even asks "do you want to remove this device completely? Or just unpair?". How hard is that? Just pick one.
2. NOW you can go to the next device whether it be another phone or iPad or computer. Hold the button down for 10 seconds. Not 2. Not 4 - 10! It tells the headphone and all the other devices "I want to pair to something new now". But this won't happen unless you do step 1 first.
You can't drive two cars at the same time. You have to turn off one car before you turn on the new car. These headphones are no different.
And just like those fancy seat setups where you get in your car and press your number and the car seat adjusts to what you set up as comfortable for you... the powerbeats does the same when you unpair them in step1. You can: "save for future use" (no 10 second hold) just unpair. Or you can "wipe out the device setup completely."
3. If and this is a rare thing trust me - IF you go back to the device (after unpairing from your new one) the fastest way to "re-pair" is to click off Bluetooth and back on. Then pressing the Powerbeats button for a nano second you're connected WHAM (sound of mic dropping to the floor)
This isn't Apple. This is BEATS!
Apple didn't make this this easy BEATS did waaaaay before Apple bought them.
In fact Apple said straight out after buying them "These will remain two different companies with two different approaches. We will NOT be integrating the two together" and they didn't. That's why Powerbeats 3 is out and working EXACTLY like PowerBeats2 - smooth and easy.
Oh oh I forgot to mention one thing that I did different than everyone else..... I READ THE DAMN MANUAL FIRST. Yep. This is all in there folks. And guess what if you do as BEATS states it will work for you too. "NO. WAY. BECKY!" WAY!
This article did manage to get one recommendation correct. All those different size ear buds? Thrown them out - all except the giant flexi one. That one squeezes softly into your ear creating a "suction cup" affect - in essence capturing ALL the sound and not let it slip out of your ear. What does that cause? Excellent tight bass! Pristine clarity.
I wrote about this before: I was actually packing my first set up to return because they sounded so shity. Then this little black "pouch" fell to the floor. I opened it up and saw all the other sizes. I tried each one Small: sounds like shit Mefium: sounds like shit Large: sounds like shit Giant looking flexi thingy: holy crap. Sounds like the BEATS Studio over the ear headphones. No way! Way!
SUMMARY: unpair all devices before attempting to pair to a new one translation: stop driving one car before you start driving another car!
don't sit backwards when driving a car translation: don't put the cable that controls the damn headphones behind your head trying to use it like A contortionist and they will actually work correctly
While not wishing to argue with your rant as I simply have no clue never having owned anything along these lines but, in the photograph above you seem to take such offense at, the controller looks to be directly below his ear and easily reachable. Also, perhaps the 'mic' is using the jawbone type input whereby speech is detected without needing to be close to the mouth?
Ok as an owner of 7 yes SEVEN pairs of PowerBeats2 wireless Bluetooth head phones (each in a different color) lets clear up a few things here:
You cant put the cable behind your neck as shown in the photos. DONE!! No more discussion. And you wanna know why? Because you idiots... your controller is on the cable. Yeah. The controller. The one that lets you press to talk to Siri. To press to change songs. To press to answer a phone call and more importantly THE MICROPHONE! The very thing you use for that telephone call you're complaining about on the quality! So a singer at a concert should hold her mic BEHIND her neck and sing and you don't find a problem with that? Seriously?
I ride my bike 26 miles every morning. I do apple tech support calls WHILE I RIDE! I have not ever have anyone say how bad I sounded because it's where it's supposed to be...BY MY MOUTH THATS TALKING. Geez Louise some of these reviews are dumb as a stick! I take that back... one time I had a client ask if I was ok. "You're breathing a little hard". My response? "If you saw this hill I'm climbing on my mountain bike at the moment you'd.be breathing hard too!" Lol. "You're on your bike??" (Now there's a great ad for these headphones. I was in heavy traffic going up a hill and they didn't even hear the cars).
Ok onto pairing. This one drives me crazy. It's not the device having trouble pairing (remember I'm on last years model!) it's the person doing the pairing.
1. If you currently are paired to a device click the little "I" on the right side of the device name and unpair the device. If you don't, you will NEVER pair with anything else. It even asks "do you want to remove this device completely? Or just unpair?". How hard is that? Just pick one.
2. NOW you can go to the next device whether it be another phone or iPad or computer. Hold the button down for 10 seconds. Not 2. Not 4 - 10! It tells the headphone and all the other devices "I want to pair to something new now". But this won't happen unless you do step 1 first.
You can't drive two cars at the same time. You have to turn off one car before you turn on the new car. These headphones are no different.
And just like those fancy seat setups where you get in your car and press your number and the car seat adjusts to what you set up as comfortable for you... the powerbeats does the same when you unpair them in step1. You can: "save for future use" (no 10 second hold) just unpair. Or you can "wipe out the device setup completely."
3. If and this is a rare thing trust me - IF you go back to the device (after unpairing from your new one) the fastest way to "re-pair" is to click off Bluetooth and back on. Then pressing the Powerbeats button for a nano second you're connected WHAM (sound of mic dropping to the floor)
This isn't Apple. This is BEATS!
Apple didn't make this this easy BEATS did waaaaay before Apple bought them.
In fact Apple said straight out after buying them "These will remain two different companies with two different approaches. We will NOT be integrating the two together" and they didn't. That's why Powerbeats 3 is out and working EXACTLY like PowerBeats2 - smooth and easy.
Oh oh I forgot to mention one thing that I did different than everyone else..... I READ THE DAMN MANUAL FIRST. Yep. This is all in there folks. And guess what if you do as BEATS states it will work for you too. "NO. WAY. BECKY!" WAY!
This article did manage to get one recommendation correct. All those different size ear buds? Thrown them out - all except the giant flexi one. That one squeezes softly into your ear creating a "suction cup" affect - in essence capturing ALL the sound and not let it slip out of your ear. What does that cause? Excellent tight bass! Pristine clarity.
I wrote about this before: I was actually packing my first set up to return because they sounded so shity. Then this little black "pouch" fell to the floor. I opened it up and saw all the other sizes. I tried each one Small: sounds like shit Mefium: sounds like shit Large: sounds like shit Giant looking flexi thingy: holy crap. Sounds like the BEATS Studio over the ear headphones. No way! Way!
SUMMARY: unpair all devices before attempting to pair to a new one translation: stop driving one car before you start driving another car!
don't sit backwards when driving a car translation: don't put the cable that controls the damn headphones behind your head trying to use it like A contortionist and they will actually work correctly
While not wishing to argue with your rant as I simply have no clue never having owned anything along these lines but, in the photograph above you seem to take such offense at, the controller looks to be directly below his ear and easily reachable. Also, perhaps the 'mic' is using the jawbone type input whereby speech is detected without needing to be close to the mouth?
You are right to question the usability of the controller when the wire is routed around back.
I use my powerbeats2 with the wire routed around back to talk on the phone all the time. No one has ever complained. Honestly, I get more complaints about sound quality when using the iPhone's built in mic.
When I first got the powerbeats2 I was worried about the same thing and wore the wire around the front for a week or two, but I hated the way it looked. I decided to try the wire around back and I could tell no difference at all.
Maybe if you have a giant neck that strains the wire and pulls the controller even further back you could have trouble?
I have removed the clip that lets you shorten the wire loop, maybe that lets more slack wire hang and leave the controller in an ideal position?
Bottom line, for me, there is no problem with the wire and controller.
The original commenter went through a 5 paragraph explanation of how simple the default Bluetooth pairing process is. If you need 5 paragraphs to explain how simple something is, you've failed to convince me. I don't pay good money for Apple gear to do things the hard way.
My two pairs of headphones don't require five paragraphs worth of instructions to use. They can also both pair to two devices each. Apple beats that with their new chip but for me it is beside the point since I don't own an Apple watch nor use the headphones with my laptop. They are paired with my iPhone and iPod and have no issues.
I can understand Apple's solution but just can't see myself using it that way. Understand that I do use and love features like iMessage on my iPhone, iPad and laptop. However why would I wear my exercise heads phone or even regular headphones for 6-8 hours a day? The one or two hours for exercise for a few days a week is more than enough.
Razormaid provided 5 paragraphs on the topic. I take his word that it requires that much explanation. I've never had much luck moving Bluetooth devices from one host to another. Of course, I manage when I need to, but it is an unpleasant experience. Bluetooth, as I experience it, is the least Apple-like technology that Apple offers in its products. I'm glad they made the investment in making Bluetooth more user-friendly.
I know what I'm about to say is just as anecdotal as your less demanding use of your powerboats, but mine stay draped over my neck (another good reason to route the cable around the back) all day during work. I listen to music and podcasts while working. My work requires a lot of focus, punctuated by infrequent meetings where I do pop out the earbuds. I probably listen for 6 hours a day while working. Then an hour and a half while walking the dog most days. I often find myself running on fumes around 4PM. The extra battery life is a welcome improvement for me.
First of all very good and helpful review. I have used this headphones for two weeks and they are great, the sound quality is amazing, the pairing process is dead simple, when I received my headphones in no more than 3 minutes I was able to use them with my AW as well as my iPhone and my iPad, battery life is impresive so far I have had to charge them just once.
I have never owned a power beats before, I purchased a couple of cheap headphones on amazon, but thet just worked for about 3 months each, so I decided to buy the powerbeats 3 and absolutely love them.
"These are without question the most reliable wireless Bluetooth headphones we've ever tested."
Wow, I sure wish my experience was this good. Instead, my PowerBeats3 and Apple Watch Series 2 pair like a divorced but desperate couple: A few minutes of good old "connecting" and they're not speaking again.
My PowerBeats3 will NOT stay paired to my Apple Watch when I run. They don't just drop out now and then, they totally un-pair and refuse to re-pair, telling me instead to make sure the headphones are turned on in in range (they're right @#%&;$! next to the watch, thank you). This is likely not an interference problem as it happens in the middle of a park, hundreds of feet from houses and cars.
I just love stopping my run 15 minutes in, to desperately fiddle with $1000 worth of brand new technology.
Your Mileage May Vary if they even last a mile.
Comments
This is no different than Apple on the Macbook Pro upgrade. Tiny spec bumps and big price jumps while the rest of the market has caught up and at times surpassed what Apple is offering while having offered it for months.
Not to say that they should go to USB-c here, it's just an acknowledgement that USB-a has become a standard. USB-a is being built into power outlets in houses, coffee shops, planes, cars... i'm not sure what Apple is expecting with an all USB-c MacBook.
Very curious what their end game is.
I use my powerbeats2 with the wire routed around back to talk on the phone all the time. No one has ever complained. Honestly, I get more complaints about sound quality when using the iPhone's built in mic.
When I first got the powerbeats2 I was worried about the same thing and wore the wire around the front for a week or two, but I hated the way it looked. I decided to try the wire around back and I could tell no difference at all.
Maybe if you have a giant neck that strains the wire and pulls the controller even further back you could have trouble?
I have removed the clip that lets you shorten the wire loop, maybe that lets more slack wire hang and leave the controller in an ideal position?
Bottom line, for me, there is no problem with the wire and controller.
The original commenter went through a 5 paragraph explanation of how simple the default Bluetooth pairing process is. If you need 5 paragraphs to explain how simple something is, you've failed to convince me. I don't pay good money for Apple gear to do things the hard way.
I can understand Apple's solution but just can't see myself using it that way. Understand that I do use and love features like iMessage on my iPhone, iPad and laptop. However why would I wear my exercise heads phone or even regular headphones for 6-8 hours a day? The one or two hours for exercise for a few days a week is more than enough.
I know what I'm about to say is just as anecdotal as your less demanding use of your powerboats, but mine stay draped over my neck (another good reason to route the cable around the back) all day during work. I listen to music and podcasts while working. My work requires a lot of focus, punctuated by infrequent meetings where I do pop out the earbuds. I probably listen for 6 hours a day while working. Then an hour and a half while walking the dog most days. I often find myself running on fumes around 4PM. The extra battery life is a welcome improvement for me.
I have never owned a power beats before, I purchased a couple of cheap headphones on amazon, but thet just worked for about 3 months each, so I decided to buy the powerbeats 3 and absolutely love them.