(This post contains affiliate links)
I never liked earbuds. Being clumsy and accident-prone means I’m also apt to losing things and breaking them. Tiny, easily lost speakers that aren’t attached to anything but air and ears just didn’t appeal to me, so I held off on purchasing AirPods for the longest time. When I finally upgraded my iPhone, my precious headphone jack was gone, replaced with more real estate for chrome sleekness, much to my chagrin. With a few grumbles, a heavy heart and a doubtful mind, I purchased what I believed would be my first of many sets of AirPods, as I was sure I’d lose one of the little ear dongles before the day was done.
I didn’t. I never lost an AirPod. I wore them every day for over a year, and despite some close calls, I held on to those little earbuds. One thing did happen though, the buds began to fail. Even with regular (thorough) cleaning, the AirPods started sounding quieter and quieter.
What to do? While idling on Amazon, I saw an ad for some $40 knock off AirPods. I thought “What are the cheapest wireless earbuds I can find that will still be viable?” I needed noise cancellation and a sleek looking charging case, but otherwise I was open to all offers. No brand loyalty here!
Enter ICOMTOFIT. It’s one of those meaningless names that are assigned to the various Chinese knockoffs you can find online, particularly on Amazon, but the reviews were extremely satisfactory. I bought the earbuds (which look suspiciously like the Samsung Galaxy Buds) for a scant $15.99 and figured that if they were garbage, it was a small price to pay for satisfying my curiosity.
They arrived within a day, and I was impressed with them straight out of the box. The case is green and sleek, unlike the boring black or white cases, and the earbuds themselves are black. They fit inside of my ears comfortably, and the noise cancellation worked well enough that my husband was forced to shout and wave his hands at me to get my attention with them on.
As for the actual sound, they are plenty loud, which was big problem with my year-old AirPods. They don’t do well with bass-heavy music. All you’d hear is a little thump or thud instead of a powerful boom when you’re listening to music with a lot of bass. I listen to a lot of podcasts throughout my day, so the earbuds are perfect for hearing normal human voices and treble vocals.
The ICOMTOFIT earbuds have a long battery life as well. After the initial charge, the charging case didn’t reach 50% until several days later. I like that you can see how well the buds have charged by looking at the screen on the front of the case.
The buds paired well with all of my devices and took calls too. One annoyance is that you have to disconnect them from one device for them to switch to another nearby device, but that’s a very minor quibble. I’m happy with my $16 earbuds.
Will I try AirPods again? Knowing myself and my love for gadgetry, yes. Apple is innovative, and I’m sure the next pods they release will have bells and whistles I’d never even considered.
Will they be loud enough after a year? We’ll see.