I provide honest ratings and reviews on tech, toys, and consumer home goods that I've purchased and used. Reviews are based on hands-on testing and personal observations. All opinions and comments are my own.
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Takeaway: Great fidelity, clarity, and sparkling in mid/upper registers but lacks heavy bass and limited volume/focal range. SAVE 10% with exclusive promo codes below!
Takeaway: Compact, clear/bright sound, fine for video but some distortion at high volume. You'll receive the speaker, gold-plated male-to-male audio cable, microUSB charging cable, and instruction manual. The speaker is small and compact, measuring 3.25" square and 1.25" thick. It is made from a lightweight plastic with a nylon fabric wrap and small hanging loop that snaps down using a metal button clasp. On the front is the 4W driver and the silver logo in the bottom left is the power button. On the back is the AUX-in port for wired connection and microUSB charging port. The unit has a 500 mAh internal battery which can last up to 7 hours of continuous music playback depending on volume level. The battery takes about 2.5 hours to charge fully. On top you have plus and minus keys for volume control.
The speaker is pretty simple to use. Just press the power button for 3 seconds to turn it on. Then in your phone's Bluetooth menu, select "MuveAcoustics: A+" Once connected, you'll be able to stream music and audio from your phone to the speaker wirelessly. The wireless range of this speaker is about 30 ft and in general the connection is stable and reliable. The sound quality is clear and bright which is decent for a speaker this size. It gets pretty loud too and can fill a small room, but with the volume at the max setting or when there's a lot of mid-bass and sub-bass in the track, you'll tend to hear some distortion in the audio and vibrations from the lightweight housing. While there is no track navigation on the speaker, you can control play/pause by short pressing the power button. You can also answer incoming calls when paired to a phone by pressing the power button and there's a microphone built into the speaker for hands-free calling.
When watching video, I found that there wasn't much noticeable lag between the video and the audio and they seemed to be in sync. For a no-frills basic portable Bluetooth speaker, the MuveAcoustics A+ is a tiny pocket-able unit that delivers decent quality and audio performance.
Takeaway: Decent sound reproduction and battery life on a budget, lightweight, but occasional connectivity blips. You'll receive two individual ear pieces, one for left and one for right, a dual-charging microUSB cable, two extra sets of silicone eartips, and an instruction manual. The earpieces are made mostly of plastic with a rubber ear hook that is fairly flexible. Each earpiece has a microphone, status LED, charging port, and multifunction button on the outside of the driver. The earphones come pre-installed with the medium size eartips, but you'll also get a small and a large size. Before first use, you'll want to charge the headsets up using the included cable which can charge both units at the same time. This takes about 90 minutes and a full charge can last up to 6 hours of continuous playback, depending on volume level and up to 5 days of standby time.
To pair these together and to your phone, first select which earpiece you want to be the primary one that connects to your phone and press the power button for five seconds to enter pairing mode. The prompts are fairly loud so I recommend doing this while not in your ears. Then go to your phone's Bluetooth menu and pair with ‘S800'. Then, to pair the second earpiece to the first, simply power it on and it should connect to the first automatically; I found this operation to be quick and reliable, always within 1 second of turning on the second earpiece. After this, you can simply power on both earpieces and they'll connect with your phone automatically going forward.
When wearing the headsets, the large bulky side wraps around your ear in order to keep it in place during rigorous activity like running and working out. They're also sweatproof and water-resistant rated IPX67. I thought the main body attached to the hooks would be big and uncomfortable but I really didn't notice them much. I did notice that the passive noise isolation isn't impressive and even with the ear tips creating a good seal, I could still hear plenty going on around me. That is, until I started playing music. At moderate volumes, ambient sounds are blocked almost completely. In fact, the earpieces can get quite loud and I never had to turn it up to max volume, which could potentially damage your hearing. That said I never had the volume up high enough for there to be any distortion. Note though too, that there is no volume control on the earpieces themselves and volume is controlled solely by your transmitting device. I found the sound quality to be round and well-balanced with a full bass, although the mid ranges tended to sound slightly muffled. While enjoyable most of the time, the signal was occasionally unreliable with the sound periodically dropping from one or both earpieces for a fraction of a second before resuming, even while I was sitting still with my phone nearby. This resulted in a somewhat inconsistent listening experience.
Overall, these wireless earpieces did a decent job with sound reproduction and are light weight and comfortable to wear. If you can deal with an occasional blip in the audio they're not bad for the price since they give you freedom from wires and a decent amount of run time between charges.
Takeaway: Compact, clear/bright sound, fully featured waterproof travel speaker. The Bluetooth speaker comes with a microUSB charging cable, male-to-male audio cable, and instruction manual. The speaker is a compact cylinder with a fabric wrapped grill exterior and rubberized top and bottom rims. Inside are two 6W drivers and dual passive radiators located on the top and bottom. It's got a chunky knit wrist strap loop, and below that you'll find a rubber door to protects the USB charging port, AUX-in port, status LED, SD card slot, and pinhole reset. While this speaker has a waterproof rating of IPX6, and can get wet but not fully submerged, it is only water resistant if the rubber door remains closed. When charging, the LED indicator will be orange and turns off when the battery is fully charged. The unit will take about 4 hours to charge and lasts up to 6 hours of continuous playback at 70% volume.
On the opposite side from the ports are the playback controls: power/mode key, plus and minus for volume and track navigation, and play/pause button. There are 4 audio source modes for the speaker: Bluetooth, FM radio, TF card, and Aux-In. Switching between modes is performed by short pressing the power key. In all modes, the sound from the speaker is clear and bright with boosted high frequencies that add a touch of extra sibilance in the upper ranges. The volume on this speaker can get decently loud too without much distortion creeping into the audio. The bass ranges are a bit lacking in presence, but despite this bass beats are generally tight and punchy. What impressed me was the clarity and sound quality from the FM radio mode. I was expecting the grainy muffled audio that you sometimes get from portable radios, but when used in areas witha strong signal like outdoors or near a window, the stations it picked up were crystal clear and sounded CD quality. Of course, if the signal is not so good, there's plenty of static and the speaker is a bit picky when it comes to location, orientation, and what objects are nearby that might amplify the signal (oftentimes, holding my hand above the speaker gave the signal enough boost for clear audio, but I'm not going ot hover my hand over it constantly just to listen to NPR). In radio mode, you scan for local radio stations by pressing and holding the play/pause button and it'll store any decently strong signals it encounters. After the speaker has found all available stations you scroll through them the same way you'd skip tracks in a playlist, by short pressing the plus and minus buttons. You cannot, however, choose which stations to save and which to discard. In all modes, volume can be adjusted by long pressing the plus and minus keys.
One cool feature of this speaker is if you have a two of them, you can pair them together for true stereo playback with one playing the left audio channel and the other playing the right channel, but unfortunately I don't have a second unit with which to try out this feature. I have seen this feature on other speakers and have liked having that capability, but I can't vouch for the ease of setup or connection quality using the Sbode M350s from my own experience. The speaker also supports wireless calling when connected to a phone over Bluetooth and call quality is clear without too much lag. Overall, this compact speaker has a lot of features and surprisingly good audio performance packed into its small frame. Its weatherproof and durable design makes it great for travel, using outdoors, or even in the shower. Just keep in mind that it does not sound as awesome when it is waterlogged, just FYI!
Takeaway: Decent audio for bone conduction headphones, good battery life, comfort is so-so. You'll receive the headphones, a microUSB charging cable, a set of foam earplugs, and a brief instruction manual. The headphones are made of a lightweight plastic and consist of a single wrap around headband and two sound emitters. On the bottom of the right sound emitter is a small microphone so you can make hands free calls. There also a play pause button on the outside face of it. The two sound emitters are simple rubber pads that rest just in front of the opening of your ears. What they'll do is send sound waves through your skin into the bone beneath so you can hear the sound directly at your ear drum. This leaves your ears open and free to hear ambient sounds and be generally aware of your surroundings, for example, if you're on your bike and need to be able to hear traffic around you. It's also great for the airport so you can hear announcements for your flights while listening to your music.
On the bottom of the right arm is a status LED light, the charging port, under this rubber door, and plus and minus keys for volume. The plus key also serves as the power and pairing button. To turn the unit on and enter pairing mode, press and hold the plus button. The LED will flash blue then red several times, but continue to hold the plus button until the unit says "pairing" and the red and blue lights flash alternately. Then you can go into your Bluetooth menu on your phone and select the BC headphones device to connect with it. In terms of comfort, the plastic of the headband is flexible enough to stretch and accommodate a range of head sizes, but the band isn't padded at all. There's also no way to adjust the amount of tension on the sides of your head, so some folks may not like the sensation of having the area in front of their ears pinched, especially for long-term listening. While I didn't experience ear fatigue, I did experience a bit of head fatigue from the pressure put on the sides of my face after about an hour. The sound experience is decent for headphones that aren't pumping sound into your ears. It's not going to produce as good of a sound as music travel over the air and in general you lose details in the upper ranges and produces a fairly weak bass. Also, with the volume up pretty high, the stronger vibrations makes a sort of buzzing feeling against your face which may be uncomfortable for some. That said, the volume can't get quite as high as normal earphones, which the unintentional benefit of protecting your hearing somewhat. As for sound leakage, it's minimal unless you have the volume way up, then maybe folks around you might start to hear a bit of what you're listening to.
Overall, these may not be the most comfortable nor have the best sound, but if you're looking for a decent set of lightweight wireless earphones that let you stay on top of your surroundings, these bone conduction headphones have decent battery life at 6 hours on a 2 hour charge and functional easy-to-use playback controls.
Takeaway: Firm pressure, lots of warmth, motor is loud so speakers could be louder. You'll receive the eye massager, a micro USB charging cable, and an instruction manual. The eyemask is made using an ABS plastic shell, a soft microfiber eye cushion with embedded air bladder, and has a soft 1" wide elastic adjustable headband. The unit measures 8"W x 3"H. It weighs 9.5 oz and folds in half for storage. When folded, you'll have access to the microUSB charging port concealed in the middle joint and on a full charge it lasts for about a half dozen uses.
On the front of the right side is the control panel. There are two functions: heat and massaging. They can either be used together or separately and each setting has a high and low option for more heat and/or heavier pressure during the massage for a total of six modes. Pressing and holding the power button turns the unit on and it always starts up in low heat mode. To change between low and high, single click the power button. The blue icons indicate low and the red icons high. To change function, double click the power button to switch to massage mode and then into massage and heat mode. When using both heat and massage you cannot mix low massage with high heat nor high massage with low heat; its either both high or both low.
When operating I keep my eyes closed and just relax. The air bladder inflates in different areas and at different rates to simulate a variety of pressure patterns and movements. The heat gives a nice warming sensation like a hot compress though I found the high heat settings to be a bit too hot for me. The motor for the air pump however can be loud and distracting. However, there are integrated Bluetooth speakers right into the eyepiece on the outer edge near your ears. Bluetooth pairing was fast and easy and playback is controlled on your mobile device. The Bluetooth does not let you control the modes of the massager. Music played from the speakers won't be as loud or isolating as if you were wearing headphones but it does help to drown out some of the motor noise. The unit turns off automatically after 15 minutes of use.
While I didn't find that it helped me any with reducing the appearance of dark circles and puffiness under your eyes, the massager provided a refreshing and relaxing eye massage with heat compress that can help relieve stress, tension, or sinus pressure. I like that it's rechargeable and folds up compactly for storage. The only improvements I might suggest are that it come with a protective carrying case and removable eye pads or washable sleeves that could be changed for multiple users since the fabric could be tricky to clean if it gets soiled.
Takeaway: Bright/balanced audio, good isolation, stay in place, but occasional connection issues and lack bass, charging case. You'll receive the true wireless earbuds with a semi-rigid clamshell carrying case, a split microUSB charging cable, two additional sets of silicone eartips and wing stabilizers, a pair of plastic earhooks and a quickstart guide. The earbuds are compact and lightweight and measure about 1" long and 1" wide. The earbuds come pre-installed with the medium size silicone eartips and stabilizing wings, but there are small and large sets included so you can find the right fit. The plastic ear hooks are optional if you're having trouble getting these to stay in your ears during physical activity like running, but I didn't have a problem with them falling out of my ears and the wing stabilizers seemed to do a decent job keeping them in place.
The earbuds don't charge wirelessly in a battery case like many other true wireless headphones. You'll still have to charge via a microUSB cable, although with the split bale you can charge both using a single USB port. A fully charge will last about 3 hours of listening time depending on playback volume. When you power on the right earpiece and then the left, they'll pair to each other automatically. Then you can pair the right earpiece to your phone. However, either earpiece can be used independently too; to place one of the ear buds into paring mode, hold down the power button for a few extra seconds when powering on until the unit beeps, then let go and it will be in individual paring mode. In general, the earbuds paired with each other automatically every time, though on a few occasions I have had them disconnect from each other so that sound was only coming out of one earpiece. Powering them off and on again helped reset them and correct the problem.
The sound from the earbuds is decent. It's mostly balanced though skews a bit bright so cymbals can sound harsh and female vocals may carry extra sibilance. The bass and mid bass ranges are clear and present but without very heavy low bass. Passive noise isolation also is pretty good when you're listening at moderate volumes, but at low volumes and quiet passages, there was a lot of static and white noise. The power button also doubles as the play/pause, with a single press, and next track, with a double press, for music playback control. You can also answer and hang up calls with a single press when paired with a mobile phone. However, there's no volume control on the earbuds. These earbuds are sweatproof but don't have an advertised IPX rating. That said, I have rinsed them off under the tap and they still seem to work fine.
Overall, these are a decent sounding pair of true wireless earbuds. They don't have all the bells and whistles like wireless charging or a battery case so you'll have to find a way to charge them every 3 hours or so, but so the convenience of not having to deal with a tangled neck cable, these aren't too bad.
Takeaway: Clear picture, compact and portable, use w/BT speaker for better audio, avg battery life. The mini DLP projector comes with a USB power cable, a wall adapter power cable, a mini tripod, remote control, and an instruction manual. I also received a 1GB microSD card shipped separately which contained a software update.
The projector has a glossy black finish on top and measures 6"W x 3"L x 3/4"H. The outer frame is aluminum and the bottom has a really cool pixel pattern as well as the fan exhaust and 1/4"-20 thread hole for mounting to a tripod. You can use any standard tripod and not just the mini one that's included. On the front, the projector lens is on the long side, then to its left is the focus wheel for adjusting the image focus. On the back is the external speaker, power button, HDMI in, headphone audio out, DC power port, USB input, pinhole reset, and microSD card slot. There are no physical playback controls on the body of the unit, so be sure not to lose the remote control. When you plug the unit it, it will start charging the internal battery and the LED indicator on the top just below the logo will flash red. On a full charge the player can last about 2 hours of playback, so make sure to plug it in or use a portable battery pack if you're watching a long movie where you won't have access to an outlet. The length of the wall adapter cable is 6.5' but the USB cable is about 40". It's just a shame it uses a barrel style plug rather than a more standard microUSB connector for the power.
The projector is quick to boot up and comes pre-loaded Android OS 4.4.4, and the interface is similar to a tablet or smartphone. It has built-in WiFi that you can use to connect to your home WiFi network and Bluetooth capability as well so you can stream the audio to a speaker or headphones. Using the remote to navigate the interface is fairly easy, though sometimes when you can't find your position, you have to bring up the cursor on the screen by pressing the 'mouse' button on the remote. Using a wireless keyboard/mouse make things much easier and the single USB port is expandable with a USB hub (not included) for adding multiple devices. The remote also lets you change the volume and adjust the screen keystone if to square up the image, but you can do this from the settings menu as well. It also has a pretty good auto-keystone calibration that detects the tilt of the projector and adjusts keystone automatically.
Out of the box, I wasn't able to get the Google Play Store to work which prevented me from downloading apps through it. Thankfully, the vendor sent me the software update on an SD card and it was easy to perform. After the update, the Google Play Store seems to work fine. When installing apps, be mindful of ones that require swiping (for scrolling etc.) because you may not be able to execute all the commands with just the included remote.
The 100ANSI lumen brightness of this projector makes the image hard to see in a brightly lit room, but once the lights are dimmed or if used in complete darkness the image is of decent quality. The image brightness will decrease as you increase the projected image size by moving the projector farther away from your screen. Adjusting the focus is easy with the focus wheel although text also becomes somewhat blurry at larger display dimensions (greater than 50" diagonal) as the native output resolution for this projector is only 480p. Therefore, individual pixels may be visible at larger display sizes. It can, however, accept input resolutions of up to 1080p but steps down the quality in the projection. The color depth and contrast are better than I expected and images were clear and crisp. The onboard audio, however, is small and boxy. If you're sitting close to the projector the volume gets loud enough to drown out the fan noise but it won't be adequate for a larger crowd. You're better off wiring to a speaker/home theater system or streaming to a Bluetooth device. I was pretty impressed that there was very little noticeable lag between audio and picture when using Bluetooth headphones/speakers, even while streaming video from the internet from the YouTube and Netflix apps. There was virtually no delay/lag in the audio when playing videos via WiFi, USB, SD card, or HDMI.
If you have an Android phone you can cast your screen wirelessly to the projector too (I didn't have an iOS device to test with), but note that there may be a slight delay between what happens on your phone and the image and sound that appears on the projector screen. With two wireless transfers to consider (one to your phone and then to the projector and perhaps a third to a BT speaker) this can create a significant delay that makes video and audio choppy, out-of-sync, and garbled. Wireless screen sharing is best reserved for displaying photos or slideshows for work presentations.
Overall, I think you get the best resolution, brightness, and saturation at 50" and under, but the projector still displays a really nice image even at large dimensions of up to 120" diagonal (~13' from the screen). It works extremely well as a WiFi streaming video player and when paired with a Bluetooth home theater system makes for a pretty awesome movie night or gaming experience.
Takeaway: Bright, full sound, nice construction quality and finish; good set for beginners. You'll receive the ukulele in a carrying bag, a clip on tuner w/CR2032 battery, a neckstrap, an extra set of nylon strings, a cleaning cloth, and two plastic picks. The case for the ukulele is made of canvas and has a small zippered pocket at the bottom, a side handle, and a shoulder strap on the back. This is a 21" soprano ukulele with a solid mahogany body with a medium/dark stain. The bridge is smooth and has simple beveled edges, and the fret board is also nicely finished; the frets have no sharp edges.
On the back of the head, you have four worm drive tuning pegs with plastic grips for tuning the strings easily. This ukulele has two strap buttons installed to use with a snap-on shoulder strap. The included strap, however, is a sound hole hook-style strap which you wrap around the bottom of the uke and hook into the sound hole. While you can also use this strap with ukuleles that don't have the strap buttons, it's not as secure as a shoulder strap and you can't carry it hands-free.
The tuner comes with a battery that you install in the back of the LCD panel. It helps you adjust the strings when they are flat or sharp with its large, brightly lit, and easy-to-read metered display. When the strings are in-tune the LCD turns bright green for faster visual identification. The uke isn't tuned when you receive it, and the new strings will be very loose. Also, since these new strings need to stretch a lot, you'll need to tune often while playing during the first week. The sound from this ukulele is bright and full with resonant tones. It's really nice for beginners like myself, though if you have large hands and fingers you might want to trade up for the concert size which is bigger and may give your fingers a little more room between the frets. I'm still really new to the ukulele so I only know a few chords and can read through tabs, albeit slowly. Overall, the sound and build of this instrument seems to be good quality, and it's a lot of fun to learn.
Takeaway: Nice build quality, sound, and extras; small details could be improved but not big issues. This ukulele comes with all the accessories that you need to get started - minus lessons of course! You'll receive the ukulele in a canvas carrying bag, a clip on tuner w/CR2032 battery, a neckstrap, an extra set of nylon strings, a cleaning cloth, and two felt picks. The case for the ukulele has a zippered front pocket for the accessories, a side handle, and a shoulder strap on the back. The 24" body is made from mahogany that is both durable and resonant with a handsome medium-walnut stain. The neck is stained a lighter color which I think gives it a nice contrast. The bridge is rectangular and unpolished though (quite plain looking) and it has a bit of a rough feel to it. Along the fret board I noticed the ends of the frets were clipped in such a way that they have very tiny "burrs" on the end. This is different from the soprano uke that I have whose fret ends are tapered and polished smooth. On the Hua Wind uke this results in a slight catch at each fret as I run my hand along the side of the fret board; it scrapes a little though isn't sharp enough to cut my skin.
On the back of the head, you have four worm drive tuning pegs with plastic grips. This ukulele is also outfitted with two strap buttons for use with a snap-on shoulder strap. However, the included strap is a sound hole hook-style strap which you wear around your neck and it wraps around the bottom of the uke and hooks into the sound hole. While you can't go hands-free with this neck strap, this design makes it compatible with ukuleles that don't have the strap buttons too.
The clip-on tuner comes with a battery that you install in the back of the LCD panel, and the unit is really easy to use. The large brightly lit display is easy to reada nd determine when your strings are flat/sharp or in tune. When the strings are tuned, the LCD turns a bright green for easy identification. The uke isn't tuned when you receive it and the strings will be very loose. Tuning the ukulele for the first time went quickly with the tuner. With new strings, you'll end up tuning the strings pretty often, sometimes several times in an hour long practice session. But after the first week or so, the strings stretch out and settle and you'll need to tune less frequently. The sound from this ukulele is warm and round with full sounding tones. It's great for beginners like myself, though perhaps it's meant for those with a bit of experience as there weren't any instructions as to which notes to tune to nor a primer to reading ukulele tabs. I was able to find a few tutorial videos online which helped immensely. Overall, for someone who's new to playing the ukulele, like myself, I found the sound and construction from this instrument really nice. It's also a great size for kids and a lot of fun to play.
Takeaway: Works exactly as advertised, no string buzzing or uneven pressure; stays in-tune. The capo comes with 3 plastic guitar picks. It is made from a lightweight yet durable aluminum alloy. It's got a strong stainless steel spring and silicone grips where it squeezes the strings and neck of your guitar. I actually use this with my ukulele as it functions the same way as on a guitar. You simply have to clip the capo over the strings at the fret position of the number of steps you want to change the key. It works exactly as expected and presses all the strings to the fret board does without creating any buzzing or affecting the tuning of the instrument. It's simple, works well, and is nicely constructed.
Takeaway: Syncs w/TV audio, improved sound but the balance could be better, gets pretty loud. You'll receive the soundbar, a remote control with CR2032 coin cell battery, AC adapter, power cable, male-to-male TRS audio cable, 1/8" jack to RCA audio cables, optical Toslink cable, a set of wall mounting hardware, and an instruction manual. The speaker measures 30.5" W x 3.75" H x 3" D. The front is lined with mesh fabric over a plastic grill which covers the two 2.5" main drivers, 3" subwoofer and dual 3" passive radiators for a combined 60 Watts of output.
On the back are the input for 1/8" jack line in, digital coaxial, optical TOSlink and DC power. There are two built-in metal brackets on the back for wall mounting. This soundbar does not have an internal battery and must be plugged in to operate. On the right hand side are a few on-board controls like power, source, volume control, mute, a USB port for music input and a headphone jack. The remote has additional functions like track navigation, treble and bass EQ control, and a 3D mode. This speaker also supports Bluetooth for wireless streaming, and there's an LED display in the top right hand corner that shows you what mode you're in.
I used the optical cable with my LG TV and the sound output synced up nicely with no latency lag or delay. Just remember to remove the plastic caps on the optical cable connector tips. The sound quality of the soundbar is okay considering this is a budget sound bar. The balanced is on the bright end, lacking in bass response with has somewhat muddy midranges. The volume can get quite loud, however, and fills a medium sized room adequately. I like to keep the speaker in 3D mode as this adds additional bass for a fuller sound but also some excess reverb. I would only use the non-3D mode if you need to keep the volume low because it doesn't sound as good.
Overall, the audio can sound a bit contained/restrained rather than clear and crisp. While the soundbar performs better than the built-in speakers of my TV, the improvement is incremental at best but I wasn't expecting Bose quality sound at this price point. It's fine if you need more projection and sound for a small TV with lackluster speakers, but you won't get anywhere close to an audiophile experience with these. I like that you can also stream music to it wirelessly via Bluetooth, and that it is compatible with Xfinity universal remote controls so you don't necessarily have to add yet another remote control to your TV setup.
Takeaway: Decent battery, nice sound/features, convenient charging case. The earphones come with a lipstick style battery pack that doubles as a case and charger for the earbuds. You'll also receive 2 additional sizes of eartips (large and small), a microUSB charging cable, and instruction sheet. The earbuds are stored in both ends of the case using magnets and simply slide in and out. They charge using wireless contacts. On the side of the charge you have and 'IN' and 'OUT' rubber door that cover the microUSB charging port and full size USB output port for charging your phone or mobile device. This power button activates charging for both the earbuds and the USB port. When the battery pack is activated the LED in the front shines red and the earbuds have a red LEDs when charging which change to blue when the battery is full; charging the earbuds takes about an hour. On a full charge, the earbuds will last about 4 hours of continuous playback, depending on volume level.
The earbuds themselves are compact, if not a bit bulky for true wireless earbuds. They measure ¾" x ½" x 1" and weigh about ¼ oz a piece. Each earbud has a power button that you press and hold for a few seconds to turn them on. It's recommended that you turn on the right earbud first, then the left to get them to pair to each other automatically. Then you can pair them to your phone. If you need to get them back into pairing mode, turn them off, then press and hold the power button until it turns on and continue holding it until it says 'pairing'. This lets you re-sync them to one another and even use each each individually with different devices since they can both be used as a stand alone unit. Occasionally they'll drop their connection with each other or with the source device but the blip usually resolves itself and lasts for only a second.
The sound from these is not bad. It's balanced with well-supported mid and bass ranges for full and rich sound, though it lacks any definition in the low bass. At higher volumes the treble ranges distort a bit and can take on a harsh edge. However, the passive isolation was decent even at moderate volumes. For me, because of the angle of the eartips, I found that they seat better when rotated towards the back of my head rather than remaining vertical. This also helped keep the earbuds in my ears, as I found that they would fall out easily otherwise. There is no volume control on the earbuds, and the volume is only controlled by the source device. You can, however, start and pause playback by short pressing the power symbol on either earpiece. There are no additional playback controls, however, you can answer or disconnect calls by short pressing the power button and re-dial the last number by double pressing it; note you can only do phone functions with the right earpiece.
The earbuds are stated to be IP67 waterproof rated and I have gotten them sweaty and rinsed them under water and they still work fine. Overall, the audio quality of these earbuds is pretty good for the price, and they are fairly comfortable to wear with a decent battery life. The charger case comes in handy since you can charge them up automatically between uses and also use it as an emergency charger for your phone.