Remember when the first wireless bluetooth earbuds started showing up in stores? They were bulky and cost $200 and up. Thankfully, that has changed. You no longer have to break the bank to get some cool wireless buds. I tested out the wireless earbuds from onn., Walmart’s house brand that cost just $25 and could make a great last minute gift this Christmas.
Hardware
The wireless earphones with charging case from onn. look just like many other competitors. It includes a plastic carrying case that also charges your earbuds as you store them. The charging case works as you would expect, close the lid and it gives the earbuds some juice. Onn. promises 4 hours of music playback per charge, a total of 15 hours of playtime when using the charging case to re-charge the buds.
Pairing the earbuds with your phone or tablet is super simple. Pop them in the case, close and open the case and they start blinking red/blue. Find the device in your phone’s Bluetooth pairing settings and tap to connect. That’s it. Once paired, they’ll automatically reconnect to that device whenever you open the case.
I have two complaints about the charging case. First of all, the charging port on the back is microUSB. This works just fine and a cable is included but in a world where so many of our devices have switched to USB-C ports, I would prefer the newer charging port. Also, pulling the buds out of the case proved to be – a bit of a challenge! It literally took me a good 30 seconds to get the earbuds pulled out of the case. I finally figured out a good way to approach them (coming from the side with my thumb near the opening) but it shouldn’t be this hard. Perhaps a grippy texture on the side of the bud would make it easier to grab them and pull them out.
How do the sound?
The big question with any set of earbuds is, “how do they sound?” “Good enough for $25” would be my answer. You won’t get big bass but they do work pretty well. They sounded good and got pretty loud. I would describe the sound as solid but lacking those deep tones. This is great for phone calls, zoom calls and listening to some music. Sure, there are wireless buds that provide better sound but you’ll pay much more than $25 for them. So, while the sound isn’t amazing, it’s what I expected for the price point.
Worth it?
For $25, the onn. wireless earbuds from Walmart are a solid deal. You won’t get the biggest bass, the charging plug isn’t the newest USB-C format and the case provided a few challenges but overall it’s a great deal for $25. They provide plenty of battery power, sound good for calls, video chats and some music and could be perfect for a teenager looking for an inexpeisve set of earbuds. Best of all, if they get lost (as these wireless buds often do) you won’t be out $200.
You can find the onn. wireless earbuds at any Walmart store or online at Walmart.com.