As wireless earbuds rise in popularity with the release of the Airpods and Airpods Pro – and with them starting to become a fashion statement, more and more pairs come out aiming to get as big as them with some even aiming to take their spot. As with any other product though, there are some fakes that come into the scene which makes things interesting.
In saying that, today we are going to be reviewing what seems to be a knockoff pair – the iON Pods Pro Wireless Earbuds which are strikingly similar to the Airpods Pro. Like many other pairs, it boasts of a lot of features which makes it look very promising on paper. We can’t help but wonder; will this be the perfect alternative or just another wannabe? Find out with us.
As we want to be as transparent as possible, we are going to be looking at both the Pros and Cons of this model. Starting off with the positives, here are the good things we found out about the iON Pods Pro Wireless Earbuds.
Pros
Streamlined Look. One thing we cannot fault about this pair is its design. It does a great job of replicating the Airpods Pro’s signature look so these will definitely look good worn as the iconic Apple design keeps it very minimalist and chic. That being said, it’s very portable as well which means that it’s a good pair to bring around with you no matter where you’re headed to.
Unfortunately, that is it for the Pros that we found out about this pair. As much as we wanted it to be better, we want to be as candid as possible so we are going to be moving on to the Cons part of our review. Here are the negatives we found and the things you should keep in mind should you want to go ahead and purchase this product.
Cons
Poor Connection. This pair has poor signal strength, making it a pain to connect and reconnect to your phone. This takes away greatly from its convenience and is a turn off for this product. This also means that it has generally bad range so you would need to worry about having the connection be choppy especially if you’re someone who likes to move around.
Terrible Sound Quality. With sound quality being the star of the show with any pair of wireless earbuds, this does not deliver at all which is a shame. It’s a bad listening experience overall with a static background noise that does not seem to disappear. This makes it frustrating to use during extended periods of time like a full work day or long haul flights wherein you might not have a lot of choices on what to do.
Inferior Battery Life. Another Con we’ve discovered about this product is its bad battery life. For the price that it retails for, you would have expected to get better playtime which it ultimately fails to provide. This is another frustrating characteristic as it’s pretty maddening having your earbuds die on you in the middle of a good episode of your favorite show or in the middle of an important meeting while you’re out on a busy day.
Unfair Price Point. For the features that you get (and don’t get), there are a lot of cheaper options out there with better quality. Similar – if not better – earbuds can be purchased for about $20 at Chinese websites with much more offerings. In our opinion, you just won’t get value for money with this pair since there are also loads of cheaper options from reputable brands like Anker and Aukey which have proved themselves in not just the audio niche but also in the technology market.
All things considered, these earbuds are not worth your money both in the short term and in the long term. A lot of brands can provide a streamlined design for an affordable price if that’s what you’re after which doesn’t make it such a unique Pro to have. It falls short on all the other features it offers and does not do its job as a solid pair of true wireless earbuds. It will give you more frustrations than convenience and for that reason, it defeats the whole purpose of buying this model. Because of that, we advise against getting this pair and instead would recommend you to look in other directions.
We hope to have helped you with this review and with your earbud hunting journey in general. Let us know what you think, and check out our other reviews to find more pairs of true wireless earbuds.
