Running Gear: AirPods Pro

Sorry, imaginary readership—no movie today! It was in the 50s and clear out tonight, so I felt I couldn't waste an opportunity for an outdoor night run. It was a good one—I went with Coach Bennett's “One Hour Run” guided run in the NRC app while listening to a live Get Up Kids concert and the first Siouxsie and the Banshees album:

This was my first run with my new AirPods Pro, purchased a couple of weeks ago during the Massachusetts no-sales-tax weekend. My previous set of AirPods 2 have been acting a little sketchy lately, mostly because they were never intended or marketed as being in any way water-resistant, and when I run I sweat like you wouldn’t believe. Honestly, after a year and a half of that kind of abuse, that they even work at all is sort of a miracle. But I got tired of jiggling them around to try to hit their charging contacts in the case just right, or finding that one or both had completely discharged while just sitting idle in the case, so I figured I’d upgrade to the Pro models, which are supposedly sweat-resistant and more appropriate for what I use them for.

 

My overall impression is that they’re only a few points shy of incredible. I didn’t even consider the noise cancellation, which is dope when I’m wearing them at home or work (it is SO weird not to hear the fans running!), but a quick squeeze lets me put them into “Transparency Mode” while running so I can listen to music but also hear when cars are coming. The sound quality is great for certain values of “great,” meaning I don’t think audiophiles are going to be all that excited, but it’s far better than I need—or have ever experienced—from a set of earbuds. The integration with other Apple products is as deep as you’d expect, so ease of setup and use is exemplary, and since the little stems are shorter they don’t even interfere with mask use or changing shirts as much.

 

The downsides: weirdly, they don’t seem to stay in my super-sweaty ears quite as well. I had to readjust the left one a few times to keep it from feeling like it would fall out. I don’t believe it’s an ear-tip fitting problem, but more of a shape difference from the original design, which just happened to fit my ears better, but maybe changing out the tips for a different size will help. The other issue is that when I got home after a little over an hour and a half of use, the AirPods Pro were down to 9% battery. The original AirPods didn’t chew through power nearly as quickly—I’d worn them on runs longer than two hours with no issues. So I may have to investigate strategies if I want to wear these on longer runs.

 

All told, though, I’m a happy camper. If you like to listen to stuff while you run and you were considering a pair of AirPods Pro, I do recommend them.