BEBEN True Wireless Earbuds Bluetooth 5.0, IPX7 Waterproof Sports Earphones with 35Hrs Playtime, Built-in Mic, Charging Case - Compatible with iPhone & Android (Grey) - Perfect for Running, Gym & Outdoor Activities

Short story (TL;DR): Beben's X8 Wireless Earbuds are pretty good to pretty great depending on what your needs are and what you're expecting for less than $40. Recommended.DISCLAIMER: Beben reached out to me about writing a review as I was considering purchasing the X8 Wireless Earbuds. While this review is impartial, it's important for anyone considering their products to understand the efforts that Beben goes to in marketing their products.June 9, 2020 - UPDATE: After I posted this review, the communications channel with Beben went dark. Hm. Typical scam right? Actually, no. I wrote to the company via Amazon and they got back to me to explain that their Facebook account settings had changed and they had lost their messaging platform for the week. Beben's rep asked why my original review wasn't a five-star rating. I explained my reasons and although they asked again for a five-star review (complete with crying face emoji), they were satisfied. Beben was true to their word and refunded me the purchase price of the X8 Wireless Earbuds. I didn't ask for a refund or a discount of any kind. It's pretty clear that customer feedback is important to their marketing efforts. For a company to be so concerned with reviews and customer satisfaction is rare. That's cool.Long story: These earbuds are awesome...for the price. I listen to music a lot when I'm outside doing yard work or out in the shop. Apple's standard iPhone wired earbuds have been my go-to for years. They're light, they fit well and I didn't care too much about the cord because I'd feed it up under my shirt to get it out of my way. No problem. The challenge was always when I'd wear ear protection for mowing the lawn, operating power tools, etc. The cord feeding in from under the ear protection would kill my ears after just 30 minutes.My daughters are spoiled beyond belief by my folks and each received a pair of Apple's Air Pods this last year. They're cool but I wasn't a fan of the hockey stick coming out of their ears. And they're $150. Uh, no. So I started looking around and realized that battery life on this category of earphones is misleading: "35 hours!" Yeah, all in total including recharging in the case, so not really.The Beben X8 featured a ton of great reviews but like anything else on Amazon, I tempered my enthusiasm and did some more research. After a day of looking, Beben reached out to me on Facebook Messenger asking me to purchase and write a review for a discount. Hm. I can see now why there are so many reviews. But what the hell...I'll give them a try.My primary concern was battery life. I'm happy to say that it's outstanding. I've not taken many calls so I can't speak to that sort of usage but when listening to audio I got close to nine hours of life on the first try, straight out of the package. Wow. The recharging pillbox is a fun, round, Mickey Mouse shaped enclosure. It closes magnetically. It's a little tough to open (that's a good thing) but using a fingernail in the front recession opens it right up. This box is not going to pop open on its own. The earbuds fit into their individual magnetic cavities with a satisfying snap. They also are not going to fall out unless you make them. Awesome. There's also a little fabric loop on the back of the case to hook on a backpack or something as Beben's promotional photos demonstrate. I won't be doing that with mine, but it's still a nice detail.The audio quality is good. It's not terrible but it's nothing I would shout from the rafters about. The bass is a little weak and the treble a little tinny but, that said, these things are tiny little speakers and ultra-affordable. They're decent, just not incredible. I don't know if there are any settings that can be leveled for them or not but I doubt it. The volume level is good. You're not going to damage your hearing when topping it out.Pairing them with my laptop and two phones was painless and instant. I noticed that while working on my Windows 10 laptop when paired with the Beben X8, the sound would skip here and there. I don't have that problem with either of my phones. Hm. Weird.Controls on the earbuds are somewhat intuitive and that's a good thing because the documentation that comes with the earbuds is useless. Seriously, just chuck it in the recycling bin. There is volume control however it's slow and awkward; you're better off having access to whatever you're streaming from. Forward/back is fine and pause/play is easy...just watch shoving these things into your ear canal too much. There is no dedicated power button however the units will power down after a few minutes of no audio playback. Simply hold down the button on each earbud when you're ready to resume and they'll pop back on. When the earbuds are placed in the charger, audio play stops. There is also no feature that stops playback when the earbuds come out of the ears but that's not a deal-breaker.Comfort level in my ears is fine; like my daughter told me, "You'll get used to it." It got better on the second day. I tried all six pairs of silicone tips and the ones that originally came on the earbuds ended up being the best. There is no electronic noise cancellation on these that I'm aware of and the tips do a reasonably good job at screening out the world. These things rest in the bottom of your ear cartilage. That took some getting used to. Shaking my head around (as one does) has no impact on the fit. They don't move around. I can imagine that these will work well when going for a run.Someone has to diplomatically tell these Chinese companies to upgrade the robot voice on these gadgets. I have a set of SoundPeats wireless headphones and the voice is the same: some weird British colonial hybrid thing. The difference on the Beben X8 is that when I skip backward this creepy voice says, "reVEERRRRRRssse". Yiiii.All in all, I'm happy with my purchase but I'm only a day and a half in. We'll see how they hold up under more use but they seem pretty cool. I was skeptical at first when my ears got sore wearing them but today I can barely tell. And here's the thing: I know that I'm going to abuse these earbuds working outside so why spend $150-plus on tech that's just going to get cheaper and/or obsolete? For less than $40, these things are pretty great.Note: I spent around $33 when I purchased the Beben X8 and in less than a week they shot up to $39.June 9, 2020 - UPDATE: I've gotten more and more used to these earbuds and I've got to say they're really solid little speakers. I'm still not crazy about the fit but the battery life is outstanding. I'm routinely getting eight hours of playback and the charger holds juice for up to three days at a time. That's exactly what I was hoping for. I'm going to update my rating to five stars because there is no 4.5 option and even though these are a little big, the punch I get with sound and runtime is incredible.I will make this review short because I don't want to get into the overall sound quality components... there are people out there that care about those specifics... I'm not one of them. I just wanted a reliable, decent sounding, long battery time, water resistant comfortable ear bud. I wasn't expecting much and I got what I was expecting. These are great for podcasts... I haven't struggled with clarity of hearing my podcasts... battery life seems decent and charging chase is always close by so that is nice to have.Music. Ehhhhh.... very pitchy... some songs/notes actually makes my brain hurt. I wouldn't buy them for music only... it is okay to have if my mood changes from a podcast to music but would not be my primary earbuds.Comfort. Not terribly comfortable but when I read reviews regarding comfort... not every earbud is comfortable for every ear. I can wear them comfortably for about 3 hours... usually my run/walk time so I haven't worn them longer than that. But I do feel like they'd start being uncomfortable for much longer than that... for me.Comparisons... I have way too many to compare to because I just have issues ... however... I feel I can do a comparison on this particular product. In all fairness I will drop the AirPods, Bose, Beats..etc.. out of the equation. My comparison is to the Skullcandy Dime and JLab Go Air Pop.Skullcandy: Overall far more comfortable, easy to get out of the case, has some noise cancellation due to earbud fit, clever design that I believe help align the buds with the charging box. Sound quality. Honestly... I really felt that they sounded pretty great. Podcasts are very clear and music is really good. I'm not saying it is amazing... but it is really good and that says a lot for Skullcandy and their ability to put this product out at this price. Saw some review that criticized the case because they said it gave it a cheap appearance, thought company should pay more for glam and didn't see a purpose. I'd like to respond to that. First off... less material is better for our environment, if you are going for 'glam' then your expectations are unreasonable for $19.99 and if you don't see the benefit of how these align to ensure buds/charger box are actually connected... well... then you are dumb. Another review said that the button controls require so much pressure that it hurt their ears. I do get that... I too found it to be a little bit 'not so great'. However, this is not a huge deal folks. The buttons are solid, they do as they were designed and if a little pressure inside the ear is a huge deal... well... maybe this isn't for you.Jlab: I have to give this one major props... I think it was in the $20-24 range. But I honestly can say it pounded the BEBEN into the ground and was quite a bit ahead of the Dime. I know Skullcandy.. I love you... we've had a lot of years and products over the years but this kind of beat you. Fit, Sound, Size, Recharging case, USB Port [brilliant] build in and can go upside down or right side up... Wow.. Who thought.. The controls within the earbuds are easy to use and easy on the ears.Overall JLab is my goto for inner ear buds... in BEBEN's defense they are not a fitted, soft in ear fit... they are more in line with the original AirPod style where they rest in the ear but don't have full enclosure.. [that is actually why I bought this particular ear bud] however, I wanted to be fair in the price range, quality, appearance, sound.. etc and this is what i had to compare in that range.