Walking with Two Pairs of Airpods in Winter

Walking with Two Pairs of Airpods in Winter

Byrichard

During walks, especially once temperatures drop my old pair of airpods tend to die by the time I reach the half way point of my walk. When they’re getting old the batteries in airpods don’t last as long in cold conditions but they’re fine in warm conditions.


A few years ago when a pair of airpods died I didn’t immediately put both to charge and so one of them was dead, dead, not just temporarily dead. I tried to get Apple to sell me a replacement airpods but the person I dealt with was asking me over and over what the problem was and I told him, over and over. In the end I got so tired of dealing with this induhvidual (intentional spelling) and just ordered a new pair.


I looked at the price for replacing the charger and individual earphones and came to the conclusion that it was cheaper to just get a new pair. Sometimes they sell for 189 CHF and other times the same airpods sell for 110 so I buy them when they’re cheaper. The airpods that I killed are no longer in use.


Since then I have bought two new pairs, at least one and a half years between purchases. I use my airpods for every walk I go on, so one and a half hours a day. I also often use them when cooking so that’s even heavier use.


When airpods are new they’re fine with the heat, and the cold, so you can use the same pair without worry. It’s when they have been used for a year or two that they begin to hate the cold of winter. It’s at this time that the left ear usually dies. If an airpod dies while you’re walking you’re stuck without audio. During phone calls you go from a video chat that’s easy to hear, to impossible to hear, due to ambient noise traffic.


That’s where the second pair of airpods comes into play. Yesterday when I was walking I used my old airpods until I started to run. Half way through the run the old airpods died, so I swapped them for the new airpods and continued my run.


The point about airpods is that even when they don’t last as well in cold weather they are still good for years. By buying a second pair you can have a primary pair, that you plan to use for the entire walk, and the secondary pair for when the primary fails.


Why Not Wired?


You might ask “why not use wired earphones in cold conditions and the reason is “comfort”. Airpods are more versatile and practical when you’re wearing layers of clothing, coats and more. I do use wired earphones when it’s windy, when I know I’ll be talking on the phone.


With airpods it’s hard to shelter them from the wind but with wired earphones the mic is easy to shield from the wind. You can continue your walk and your conversation, without the person you’re talking with struggling to hear you.


And Finally


Airpods come in a small convenient charging box so it’s easy to walk with a spare pair in winter. The point is not that you buy two pairs at once. The point is that you buy one pair and use it until it starts suffering in winter, and a new pair, to use as a backup when the old pair fails. The old pair then heat up and recharge as you continue your walk. Once winter is over you can go back to carrying a single pair of airpods again.

Of AirPods – useful and simple

Byrichard

What do you have to say about AirPods? I see them as useful and simple. I have tried earphones, headphones, and Bluetooth variants. With some earphones, I found that they hurt my ears. With others, I found that they slipped out too easily. With yet more, I found that the noise cancellation feature was unpleasant. All in all, AirPods are still the earphones that I prefer.


Earphones and headphones are curious, because we may keep them with us every day for weeks, months or even years. Eventually, they break. The most common problem that I had with earphones is that the solder from the speaker in the earpiece to the cord would detach. Another problem, with headphones, was that the soft fabric would wear out and break.


With work headphones, I found that the leather/plastic part that rests on ears gets warm and unpleasant after hours of wear. My favourite headphones were Koss headphones. They folded into a little egg. One day I was opening them before a shoot and they snapped and I was sad. They were the best headphones I ever owned. They were also the most expensive. They were given.


As I slipped from cassette players to minidisc and CD players to iPods, Symbian devices, android devices and iPhones I have usually used the earphones that came with the device and i never bothered to put the plastic fabric on the earpieces.


Recently the left ear on my AirPods died and so for a few days I tried the various earphones I have, to see if one would be an apt replacement. I lost the habit of hearing the noise of the cable that runs from the earphones to the device it’s plugged into. I could hear it rubbing against my collar, against my sweater and against the coats I’ve been wearing. I don’t know whether that was an issue a few years ago. I don’t know whether it’s because the earphones are relatively old or whether I’m more demanding.


Replacing AirPods


Replacing AirPods is not as easy as switching from a wired charging case to a wireless one. Apple’s website makes buying new charging cases a matter of a few seconds.


The journey to replace AirPods is more complicated. To replace AirPods you have three options. The chat window, a phone call, or going to the shop in person. The chat experience was bad. The first time I tried I got disconnected because it took me too long to find the serial number.


In the second case, the experience was bad because I gave the serial number and a description of the problem but the person or bot kept asking questions as if my simple sentence had not answered the question. “My AirPods are at least two years old and the left ear has stopped working” . “Ok, can we do a diagnostic test?”


When you’re a geek, and when you’ve tried pairing the AirPods, and you’ve tried following their suggestions to resolve the problem before joining the chat it’s frustrating. It’s also frustrating because AirPods are 75 CHF per ear so you’re speaking about 150 CHF to replace something that costs 169 CHF to buy new if I remember correctly.


Due to the current health situation, and due to having to schedule a meeting with a genius I decided that going to the Apple store to resolve this issue was not worth the time.


Buying a New Pair


As I browsed various online stores I saw that Mediamarkt had new pairs for 129 CHF instead of 159 CHF. For 179 CHF I could have upgraded to wireless charging. I didn’t go for this option because I hardly ever use wireless charging. The charging case needs to be charged every few days so wireless charging is uninteresting. I use wireless charging for the phone infrequently.


The Upside


I decided to replace my iPhone SE because the battery was beginning to weaken and the screen touch interface was not as responsive as it used to be. With the AirPods, I have once again used a device until it was at the end of its useful life. If buying new AirPods was as simple as buying a charging case I would have kept the right ear and charging case. I have broken the habit of buying something new just because I wanted to try something new.