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Every Bluetooth device I have ever tried has failed to meet my expectations. I have a drawer full of Bluetooth devices that I regret purchasing. I've been foole

Every Bluetooth device I have ever tried has failed to meet my expectations. I have a drawer full of Bluetooth devices that I regret purchasing. I've been fooled too many times already, I simply won't buy a device that relies on Bluetooth any more. For mouse/keyboard I like RF and for audio you can pry my 3.5mm jack from my cold dead hands.

sneak 7y ago
The AirPods are magical. The only time the magic breaks down is when you're in a place where there is a ton of signal interference (e.g. walking around in busy parts of Manhattan). Aside from that, they're about as close to Just Works as anything I've ever used in my life.
- arcticbull 7y ago
  Yeah, but they're pretty mediocre headphones in terms of sound quality, and they're built as a single unit making them impossible to recycle.
  - ben-schaaf 7y ago
    From what I understand they also don't fit/stay in a lot of people's ears. A lot of in-ear headphones come with different sizes for this reason.
    - rimliu 7y ago
      They actually stay better even if wired Apple earbuds do not. There is no wire pulling them out.
    - Aromasin 7y ago
      I don't quite understand why you're being down-voted here for a very reasonable statement. I suppose that perhaps 'a lot' is a bit hyperbolical, and it is realistically closer to 'a small few'. I had AirPods for a while, but they simply did not fit comfortably in my ears. I bought some Jabra brand wireless headphones, which come with a selection of different sized buds, and I'm very satisfied with them thus far. They don't quite have the "sleek" look that Apple does so well, but the side button functions are excellent and the call quality seems clearer when in noisy areas. I've had a few friends complain about their AirPods just about not fitting, and I always recommend the Jabra's now.
  - sneak 7y ago
    As a headphone buff and snob, I respectfully disagree. I think they sound wonderful, and I own Sennheiser HD1s and HD820s. For as small and portable and convenient and affordable as they are, they are far higher audio quality than I would expect. I use them all of the time.
- raverbashing 7y ago
  So it breaks when you need it the most? Gotcha "Hey let's make everybody use the unregulated band for a basic function so that we make our phones thinner and we can sell more expensive accessories, how about that"
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
joosters 7y ago
I've found (after many bad buys) a pair of cheap bluetooth headphones that 'just work' with my iphone. The problem is, there is no way for a customer to tell whether a bluetooth device is going to work well or not (or even not at all!) Bluetooth can be good but there are just too many devices which are 'bluetooth compatible' in theory but have many odd incompatibilities. Perhaps it is the complexity of the spec that causes this to happen to bluetooth, rather than wifi...
arethuza 7y ago
I was initially rather skeptical of bluetooth headphones - but after yet another gardening related headphone incident I bought a cheap pair (£30) and they worked perfectly well. They broke (headband snapped) and I upgraded to moderately priced Sony ones (~£100). I've literally never had any problems connecting any of these to any devices (desktop PC, iPads, iPhones). Bluetooth also seems to work pretty much perfectly with my car as well. I'm not doubting you have problems - but interesting to note that for some people Bluetooth does actually seem to work.
- asutekku 7y ago
  Same with me. I’ve had two bluetooth headphones, one pair from sony and one pair from bower & wilkins. Never had problem with them.
- downtide 7y ago
  I'm surprised when it works. I still don't know how to unpair on some black boxes. My partner has a speaker, and I think auto-pairing occurs if used previously, so we have a strange ritual of turning off bluetooth on other devices until it seems to correct itself when wanting to use it. I've always assumed this was a UI issue. I've had phones that have presented themselves as a pointing device to a computer. Some as modems. Some that have transferred/pushed files okay on some OSs, not others. I have no idea what's going on with Bluetooth most of the time, and it's quite infuriating. On Linux Blueman doesn't give much away. On a Windows PC I have, using Bluetooth kills WIFI, and requires a reboot to fix. From a mobile perspective if I say try and transfer a file from a phone, it can turn Bluetooth on, fail and then leave it on. Wireless headphones sound like a great idea though! But again not sure which protocols are being used. Again that's a UI issue, I've a streaming speaker - and have no idea about the stream quality of what I'm listening to. Oh for some simple feedback diagnostics.
  - arethuza 7y ago
    We have a couple of those bluetooth speakers (UE Booms) and I've never had a problem with them either! Mind you - I never 'unpair' a device - I just set the BT device to be in pairing mode (or whatever it is called) and then connect from my phone/tablet and that removes the previous connection. Having to do this on both devices and that the step necessary to initiate pairing is device specific is the only issue I have with BT - but it's a relatively minor one.
rimliu 7y ago
I had zero problems while using Apple products: mouse, keyboard and Airpods. Other two non-Apple products: Withings watch and Honda Civic gave me no problems either.
moron4hire 7y ago
Microsoft makes excellent Bluetooth keyboards and mice. Sennheiser does OK with headphones, with their newest models being markedly better than ones even to years ago. There are also a few, rare, small companies that do a pretty good job: TechNet and AfterShokz come to mind.
turk73 7y ago
My kids go through the wired headphones like crazy--the 3.5mm jacks are too small and bend too easily. Wired headphones are pretty much junk. Just in the past 12 months or so the wireless headphones have become pretty decent. I have a drawer full of over-the-hear headphones (some that were quite expensive) with busted jacks. I tried to solder on new jacks to some of them, but no, the wires are so freaking tiny that the whole effort failed despite numerous attempts. We got maybe two days of use out of my repair attempts. The stuff just isn't made to be repaired, a typical contemporary tech nightmare story.
aerique 7y ago
All the Bluetooth issues being downplayed in this thread are a far cry from wired headphones that just work.
ip26 7y ago
They're getting better. It's a little reminiscent of Android, actually, which wasn't really solid until KitKat. For example, I have a microsoft bluetooth mouse that is utterly painless & two AA batteries last for something like a year working full time. Also have a pair of Jabra 65t, pairing is annoying and on rare occasions it hiccups, but 97% of the time they are excellent. I had owned BT mice & headphones previously, and they have never been better than today.

sneak 7y ago

The AirPods are magical. The only time the magic breaks down is when you're in a place where there is a ton of signal interference (e.g. walking around in busy parts of Manhattan). Aside from that, they're about as close to Just Works as anything I've ever used in my life.

arcticbull 7y ago
Yeah, but they're pretty mediocre headphones in terms of sound quality, and they're built as a single unit making them impossible to recycle.
- ben-schaaf 7y ago
  From what I understand they also don't fit/stay in a lot of people's ears. A lot of in-ear headphones come with different sizes for this reason.
  - rimliu 7y ago
    They actually stay better even if wired Apple earbuds do not. There is no wire pulling them out.
  - Aromasin 7y ago
    I don't quite understand why you're being down-voted here for a very reasonable statement. I suppose that perhaps 'a lot' is a bit hyperbolical, and it is realistically closer to 'a small few'. I had AirPods for a while, but they simply did not fit comfortably in my ears. I bought some Jabra brand wireless headphones, which come with a selection of different sized buds, and I'm very satisfied with them thus far. They don't quite have the "sleek" look that Apple does so well, but the side button functions are excellent and the call quality seems clearer when in noisy areas. I've had a few friends complain about their AirPods just about not fitting, and I always recommend the Jabra's now.
- sneak 7y ago
  As a headphone buff and snob, I respectfully disagree. I think they sound wonderful, and I own Sennheiser HD1s and HD820s. For as small and portable and convenient and affordable as they are, they are far higher audio quality than I would expect. I use them all of the time.
raverbashing 7y ago
So it breaks when you need it the most? Gotcha "Hey let's make everybody use the unregulated band for a basic function so that we make our phones thinner and we can sell more expensive accessories, how about that"
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

joosters 7y ago

I've found (after many bad buys) a pair of cheap bluetooth headphones that 'just work' with my iphone. The problem is, there is no way for a customer to tell whether a bluetooth device is going to work well or not (or even not at all!) Bluetooth can be good but there are just too many devices which are 'bluetooth compatible' in theory but have many odd incompatibilities. Perhaps it is the complexity of the spec that causes this to happen to bluetooth, rather than wifi...

arethuza 7y ago

I was initially rather skeptical of bluetooth headphones - but after yet another gardening related headphone incident I bought a cheap pair (£30) and they worked perfectly well. They broke (headband snapped) and I upgraded to moderately priced Sony ones (~£100). I've literally never had any problems connecting any of these to any devices (desktop PC, iPads, iPhones). Bluetooth also seems to work pretty much perfectly with my car as well. I'm not doubting you have problems - but interesting to note that for some people Bluetooth does actually seem to work.

asutekku 7y ago
Same with me. I’ve had two bluetooth headphones, one pair from sony and one pair from bower & wilkins. Never had problem with them.
downtide 7y ago
I'm surprised when it works. I still don't know how to unpair on some black boxes. My partner has a speaker, and I think auto-pairing occurs if used previously, so we have a strange ritual of turning off bluetooth on other devices until it seems to correct itself when wanting to use it. I've always assumed this was a UI issue. I've had phones that have presented themselves as a pointing device to a computer. Some as modems. Some that have transferred/pushed files okay on some OSs, not others. I have no idea what's going on with Bluetooth most of the time, and it's quite infuriating. On Linux Blueman doesn't give much away. On a Windows PC I have, using Bluetooth kills WIFI, and requires a reboot to fix. From a mobile perspective if I say try and transfer a file from a phone, it can turn Bluetooth on, fail and then leave it on. Wireless headphones sound like a great idea though! But again not sure which protocols are being used. Again that's a UI issue, I've a streaming speaker - and have no idea about the stream quality of what I'm listening to. Oh for some simple feedback diagnostics.
- arethuza 7y ago
  We have a couple of those bluetooth speakers (UE Booms) and I've never had a problem with them either! Mind you - I never 'unpair' a device - I just set the BT device to be in pairing mode (or whatever it is called) and then connect from my phone/tablet and that removes the previous connection. Having to do this on both devices and that the step necessary to initiate pairing is device specific is the only issue I have with BT - but it's a relatively minor one.

rimliu 7y ago

I had zero problems while using Apple products: mouse, keyboard and Airpods. Other two non-Apple products: Withings watch and Honda Civic gave me no problems either.

moron4hire 7y ago

Microsoft makes excellent Bluetooth keyboards and mice. Sennheiser does OK with headphones, with their newest models being markedly better than ones even to years ago. There are also a few, rare, small companies that do a pretty good job: TechNet and AfterShokz come to mind.

turk73 7y ago

My kids go through the wired headphones like crazy--the 3.5mm jacks are too small and bend too easily. Wired headphones are pretty much junk. Just in the past 12 months or so the wireless headphones have become pretty decent. I have a drawer full of over-the-hear headphones (some that were quite expensive) with busted jacks. I tried to solder on new jacks to some of them, but no, the wires are so freaking tiny that the whole effort failed despite numerous attempts. We got maybe two days of use out of my repair attempts. The stuff just isn't made to be repaired, a typical contemporary tech nightmare story.

aerique 7y ago

All the Bluetooth issues being downplayed in this thread are a far cry from wired headphones that just work.

ip26 7y ago

They're getting better. It's a little reminiscent of Android, actually, which wasn't really solid until KitKat. For example, I have a microsoft bluetooth mouse that is utterly painless & two AA batteries last for something like a year working full time. Also have a pair of Jabra 65t, pairing is annoying and on rare occasions it hiccups, but 97% of the time they are excellent. I had owned BT mice & headphones previously, and they have never been better than today.