Since Apple brought out their airpods and airpods 2 there has been a flow other companies trying to create copies or alternative models but for a cheaper price. We have been sent a pair of Lectrify Blackpods Pro.
The Blackpods Pro retail for $69.95/£56 so they fall into the budget sector of the market. The buds come in a matt black finish on both the buds and the charging case. Design-wise the buds are a little shorter than the normal Apple Airpods. However, they do have a very good fit in the ear and even when taking part in exercise these buds stayed in my ears all the time.
The buds have what you would think is 2 side sensors turns out they are just for show and are nothing but stickers. The main sensor can be found on the inside of the bud and this is where you control the buds which I will discuss more shortly.
The main spec for these buds are they are Bluetooth 5.0 with a range of up to 30m however in testing I actually got up to 45m before the signal went. The buds are also very lightweight only weighing 50g so you will hardly know you have them on your person.
The style of these buds are almost identical to the untrained eye and if I had these in my ears going to work I don’t think anyone would know these are not Apple Airpods. Inside the box, you have the buds the following:
Setting these up for the first time you will the pop up telling you how to connect basically you just hold the little black button on the back of the case for a few seconds. Then you will see they are connected. With my review sample, they seem to be called Airpods Pro but I think that just iPhone thinking they are an Apple product by mistake. Now you’re ready to listen to music or podcasts. In the settings, you will notice it will show how much power both the buds and the charging case has this is a nice touch and very similar to how the originals work.
In the settings, you will see they have given you the options of transparency and noise cancellation but unfortunately this is just for decoration. And the switches do not do anything.
However, these buds like the Apple Airpods do have an ear tip fit test and on inspection, it works. Now unlike Apples Airpods, you can use the Blackpods Pro on an Android phone which opens up to a whole new market. Set up is very similar to how you connect on an iPhone. Worried about losing them well worry no more as you can use the Find My iPhone app to track the buds if you have misplaced them in the house or office.
Moving on to the controls they are very similar to the Blackpods 2 I have reviewed. Press the sensor once for play/pause/call management. Press twice to skip a song or press three times to skip to the next song. Hold for 3 seconds to bring up Siri for voice commands.
The charging case gives you 24h battery life and the buds offer 4 hours of playtime now if using these on an iPhone you get the indication of battery levels for both of the buds and the case. Now the case is also compatible for wireless charging. When using the wireless charging the charging case will see it has a LED light on the case light up for example when charging you get an orange light for 8 seconds and that shows the case is on charge and for 5 mins of charge it gives you 1 hour of playtime.
Moving onto the sound quality the highs are decent and the bass is about average but the sound quality seems very loud to get a decent sound level you can just have it up to 60% max for the perfect sound.
Overall, The Blackpods Pro for the price of $69.95/£56 these are going to be a decent pair of buds if you do not mind 60% volume max. The wireless charging is handy but am not sure why they have put settings like the transparency and noise cancellation if they do not actually do anything.
For these who want a budget pair of airpods this that looks like the Apple Airpods these give the Blackpods Pro a try.
