Bluetooth earbud by eonfine

Grab one here

Wireless is the thing these days and everyone's racing to see just how wireless you can really be. The well known fruit brand has a new offering coming that, while it's been done in a few brands, will probably make individual stereo buds common. Until then you can save a little by going to these mini headsets with some trade-offs.

This is marketed as a bluetooth (phone)headset but I think of is more as a single channel music device. Headphones for one ear. I use it that way because I'll tell you right now I had a less than stellar experience for conversations. My caller reported that I was a little difficult to hear but I can chalk that up to not talking loud enough. After all it is just a nub barely sticking out of your ear. The big problem was just how bad they sounded to me. I've never heard anything so hollow and muffled. I may fiddle with my phone settings a little but for now I'll just hold the phone to my ear.

Now, having said that; I love this thing for music. It's clearly capable of reproducing good sound so I can't figure out why a call is different. You have an entire bluetooth device including battery in just over the same space a wired earbud takes up and relatively speaking the sound is wonderful. I find myself forgetting that it's only in one ear after a few minutes.

I know what you're thinking: "But it's just like having a bad cord on a wired set and only hearing out of one side" Yes and no. I like to listen to music at work but there are always people around asking questions or maybe you don't want to make everyone feel blocked out. This lets me have the music on but conversation is still very easy and sometimes people wont even know you're using it as it's so small. Are you a runner? When I'm on our small roads(rarely) I don'y like to have music usually because it means I can't fully hear traffic coming up behind. Here you can still hear your rhythm or audio-book while having no problem detecting what's happening around you.

Build wise it's about as small as I'd want to shove in my ear canal and it's plenty light that you never get fatigued wearing it. A single button turns it on and off and also works as a pause button. I love that for when someone comes up to talk I can just press it while pulling the device out and go walk around. When I'm alone again just put it back in and press the button to start things up again. Included in the nice small zipper case is a smaller insert and the perfectly sized charging cable. Battery life is what I consider acceptable for something this small. I can more or less get a full work day out of it before needing an hour or two to charge. Not as long as others but I haven't been frustrated by constant charging so it must be just the right amount.

I kind of wish the case was even smaller for what it holds to take up less space in my pocket. Not a dealbreaker. Again I'll say if you want a conversation-type piece look elsewhere but I keep this right next to a big set of cans. If you really want full stereo sound by all means put on a full set but I think this has a place in anyone's arsenal.