You know how sometimes that thing you wanted without even realizing you wanted it comes along? That was my reaction when I received the email from 1 Voice about their new Bluetooth ear warmers. They sent me a sample, and I was eager to try them out, especially since temperatures have been dropping, and I wanted to continue my morning walks with an audiobook. How perfect would that walk be without worrying about ear buds?
Unfortunately, although the product works exactly as advertised, they don’t fit well on my head. However, they might be perfect for you.
Let’s start with the basics. Charging the warmers is as simple as plugging a micro-USB charging cable into the slot on the right ear. A small red light appears to tell you it’s charging.
Once charged, it paired with my phone with no trouble. I was even able to keep my phone paired to my Fitbit tracker, which had been one of my concerns. Not to worry. They both worked flawlessly together.
Sound quality was fine for audiobooks, but there was a bit of feedback that interfered with music. It was most noticeable when I was listening for it, and the longer I listened the less I noticed it. Since I’ve had difficulty with bluetooth headsets in the past (they pair once and then never pair again), I can’t speak to whether the level of feedback I heard is normal for such devices. If you are an audiophile however, these are probably going to disappoint.
There are basic controls on the outside of the right ear piece. You can move back and forth between tracks, start and stop playback and adjust volume. I found the controls to be a bit stiff, and I often had to press one more than once to get the desired result.
My biggest problem was that they did not stay on my ears. The fuzzy material on the inside of the warmers is slightly slick, and they slid right off. I needed to adjust them about every 15 steps or so, which turned out to be enough of a pain that I just stopped wearing them and went back to my hoodie sweatshirt, which works well enough as long as the wind isn’t too bad.
I think they would better if they were the style which goes over the head instead of behind, but that style is harder to adjust, so I understand why they didn’t use it.
If they fit your head, they would probably work well. Unfortunately, there’s no way to check that without trying them out, and at $59, that’s not an inexpensive experiment.
