When searching for wireless earbuds or a compact (yet loud) bluetooth speaker you can spend as little or as much as you want. The high-end earbuds will run $200 or more. Same for bluetooth speakers. What if you don’t want to break the bank? Can you still get a decent product? I took the much more affordable Tribit Flybuds and Stormbox Micro for a test.
Tribit Flybuds 1
We all know how popular the Apple Airpods have become but have you ever checked the price tag? They START at about $140 and go up from there. The Tribit Flybuds 1 slash about $100 off that price but can they still do the job? I would say… yes and no.
The included charging case has a cool look to it. It’s round and you keep your Flybuds inside. You get 6 hours of play time on a single charge and the case will charge up the buds about 4 times before you need to re-charge the case. It can be plugged in via USB-C or a wireless charger! I was surprised to see Qi wireless charging supported in such an affordable product. Nice touch!
The Flybuds themselves are interchangeable… meaning the left and right buds are identical and can be swapped. Yes, they have an L and an R but if your right bud is dead and you prefer to have a single bud in your right ear for phone calls, you can use the L bud. They are not shaped for a specific side like other wireless earbuds are.
Bluetooth connection was simple and re-connection seemed flawless in my tests. The sound was pretty much what I expected from a set of under $40 earbuds. Great? No. Good? Yes. I didn’t hear the deep low bass that I could hear in more expensive ear buds like the brand new Samsung Galaxy Buds Live. With that said, they still sounded good. Great for phone calls and pretty good for general music streaming. The buds are also waterproof so you can wear them to the gym without hesitation.
Amazing Value
Sure, these aren’t the best high-end ear buds that you’ll find but they’re easily one of the best values I’ve seen yet! For under $40 you get a well-built set of earbuds that actually come with a great little charging case. On top of all that, they sound pretty good and the case supports wireless charging. You won’t get $200 sound quality but you will get an affordable set of wireless buds that work well and won’t break the bank.
The Tribit Flybuds 1 are $35.99 and can be purchased through the Tribit website.
Tribit Stormbox Micro
Walk down any bluetooth speaker aisle at your local store and you’ll see dozens of options. Good thing in 2020 is that you don’t have to spend $200 to get a good speaker. Case in point, the Tribit StormBox Micro.
The speaker is compact and looks slick. The top half is covered by a nice fabric with a few buttons on the face while the bottom is made up of a nice rubber coating. This thing has a great design to it with small little feet on the bottom as well as a rubber strap that detaches so you can attach this speaker to your gym bag. Charge it up via USB-C and you’ll get 8 hours of playtime on a single charge. It also has a decent weight to it. It looks as good as any speaker made by the big brands. I was impressed.
How’s it sound?
Really good! I was also impressed with the sound from the Tribit StormBox Micro. It gets loud and sounds really impressive. Like most smaller speakers there is only so much deep bass it can pump out. That’s simple a limitation of the size. None the less, I would put this thing up against many micro $100 speakers! Tribit did a good job of building a good speaker in a small package. It’s also water resistant so you can take it to the beach or pool without having to worry.
The Tribit StormBox Micro is a great small speaker and well worth the $50 price tag. You can buy it directly from the Tribit website.
