It’s been nearly three years since I wrote about the Aftershokz Titanium. I said at the time about how happy I’d been with them and I’ve certainly put a lot of miles/hours into them since so it wasn’t a huge surprise when they started to give up on me. The right hand side started to get really crackly. If I prodded it with my finger it would go away for a little while but it would always come back. Definitely some kind of physical failure. But I’d been so pleased with how they’d worked out for me I had no problem picking up another pair. I decided to spring for an upgraded version this time around.
If you want them for running there are three pairs to choose from (prices from their website as of October 2021)
The OpenMove and the Air are really similar. Style and fit is a little different but the main differences are that there is only 1 gram difference in weight and the OpenMove has bluetooth v5.0 vs 4.2 for the Air. Specs otherwise are the same other than a slight difference in standby battery life.
The Aeropex are a bit of a jump in price. But they are a fair bit lighter and are fully waterproof whereas the other two are meant to be sweat resistant only. If you want a pair for swimming there is a dedicated pair for that
Buying either of the Air or the Openmove felt like getting pretty much the same as before, which would have been fine but figured as I’d definitely get plenty of use out of them I’d go with the higher end model.
After a few months of use I’m pretty happy with them. They aren’t drastically different to my previous set. In terms of differences though.
They are noticeably lighter than the Titanium. You can barely tell you’re wearing anything. Very comfortable.
The buttons are in slightly different places which took me a little while to get used to but that didn’t take long.
The charging cable is now magnetic, I’m guessing that’s part of the waterproofing measures. Does mean you can’t just plug any old USB cable in but you do get two of them in the box.
I read somewhere they are supposed to have better audio quality I can’t honestly notice. As with the last pair on really busy roads it can be really hard to actually hear what you’re listening to, especially if it’s spoken word such as a podcast or an audio book. This is the trade off though when want to be able to hear your surroundings at the same time.
I do have two gripes that are related to each other. Battery life is nowhere near as good as the Titanium. My guess is that is where some of the weight has been lost. You can see the physical difference in the battery sizes. It has meant I’ve been caught out a few times where they have died on me while I get used to the battery life The second annoyance is the battery indicator. When you power them on there is an announcement of either battery high, battery medium or battery low. My problem with that is doesn’t really mean much. A percentage would be a bit better, though that would mean recording 100 audio clips instead of three so on a technical level it makes sense.
So in closing. I don’t think there is much between the models really. The lighter weight is the biggest standout feature and it’s nice to have but it’s not like the heavier ones are dragging your head down so go with whichever pair suits your wallet best!
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