Adidas is so assured in its ‘Powerfoyle’ photo voltaic charging know-how that it ships the Bluetooth RPT-02 SOL headphones and not using a charging cable.
What may very well be worse than a charley horse midway right into a run? The reply incessantly beeped in my ear as my wi-fi earbuds alerted me their time was nigh.
Up to the purpose, I had an excellent stride and was cruising on what could be considered one of my final summer time runs. But with my legs outlasting my headphones, that vibe was gone. And I used to be caught with the ambient sounds of distant ambulance sirens, close by street building, and the “swoo-swee” of my operating shorts.
This wasn’t a one-off both. As a lot as I take pleasure in operating and recreating with music or a podcast, there’s at all times an opportunity the battery will die (and having made the soar from corded headphones, I can’t return).
Adidas realized this and this summer time supplied up an answer: solar-charging headphones. For the final 2 months, I’ve been testing the RPT-02 SOL on-ear headphones.
And in that point, I plugged them to recharge precisely as soon as. The remainder of that cost, after near-daily use, got here from daylight. If these appear too good to be true, learn on for the total rundown of what I believed.
In quick: If you assume the thought of wi-fi Bluetooth headphones that nearly by no means run out of battery feels like a fallacy, assume once more. Over the final 8+ weeks of testing, I plugged the RPT-02 SOL in solely as soon as to totally recharge. Most of the time, the facility drain contained in the headphones was both mitigated by daylight, or the battery really went up with use. But they aren’t good for every thing and so they come at a excessive worth. So contemplate these a worthy funding in the event that they match your life-style.
adidas RPT-02 SOL Wireless Solar-Charging Headphones Review
I used to be instantly impressed by these headphones even earlier than placing them on. Opening the field, it was clear adidas needed to make an enormous assertion — the model doesn’t even embrace a charging cable within the package deal.
That’s proper, if these run out of juice, you’d higher have a USB-C cable mendacity round (or wait till morning to make use of them once more). But the message is evident: These actually do cost from the solar.
Quick Start
If you’ve used any wi-fi Bluetooth earbuds or headphones, you’ll most likely handle to navigate the RPT-02 SOL intuitively. At the very least, you’ll probably have the ability to begin listening proper out of the field.
A management button sits on both aspect, and these ought to face backward when worn correctly. Your grasp management rests on the appropriate headphone. This is a “five-way” toggle, so you possibly can press it up, down, left, proper, and depress inward.
Up and down management quantity, left and proper advance or reverse tracks. Pressing the toggle inward controls play/pause, or solutions calls.
On the left ear is your “action button.” Despite the title, I hardly ever used this function. The button is programmable — kind of — in that you would be able to assign it to play sure Spotify playlists. You can’t assign it to any app you please and, at the very least in my thorough try, it received’t management podcasts.
You also can set this button to carry out completely different features in keeping with the variety of instances you press it. So one press will illuminate the built-in mild meter to indicate you the way sturdy the sunshine is. Two presses can launch Spotify, and three will entry voice assistant (“call Arlo”).
A fast notice on the sunshine meter: I by no means used this. I determine if I can see the sunshine meter, I can see whether or not or not it’s brilliant exterior. What’s extra, this consists of three concentric rings and isn’t a exact quantitative measure of the cost — for that, you’ll want the app!
adidas Headphones App
You don’t have to obtain the corresponding headphones app to make use of or benefit from the headphones. I didn’t at first, and every thing labored positive. But after I downloaded the app and paired the headphones, I like to recommend you do the identical.
The app will help you customise your motion button, set your equalizer in keeping with your preferences, and most significantly, it’s going to present you the battery stage and whether or not your battery is draining or gaining milliamps.
And on a brilliant, sunny day, you’ll really see your battery going up as you employ them — wild!
Great for (Some) Activity
Because I’m accustomed to earbuds that relaxation throughout the ear, I questioned how a lot use I’d get from the on-ear RPT-02 SOL. I’m pleased to report that these headphones do a fairly good job hanging powerful throughout exercise.
For path runs and jogs about city, they stayed put the overwhelming majority of the time. Yes, a few instances they began to slip again — however that was simple to repair with slightly adjustment (the earphones every slide a number of notches up and down alongside the headscarf — and they are often adjusted individually).
I additionally wore these on the basketball court docket and located them OK, however not supreme. For severe high-output actions, these won’t show as secure pretty much as good earbuds.
On prime of this, the headphones carry IPX4 water resistance. You can’t take them swimming and I wouldn’t suggest carrying them in a soaking rain. But they are going to stand as much as sweat throughout sizzling days, no downside.
Fit & Feel
While these headphones remained very secure throughout testing and proved usually comfy, I discovered they wore out their welcome after about an hour. These are usually not true over-the-ear headphones, in that they sit in your ear, however they don’t cowl it.
This isn’t an issue for reasonable durations of time, however I can marathon a podcast collection whereas catching up on my weekend honey-do checklist. So, I seen stress factors alongside the center of my ear and tightness across the sides of my head.
Readjusting the match and placement helped relieve this considerably, however it has been the principle situation for me in testing.
Tech Specs
For audiophiles and electrical engineers, listed below are the gritty particulars.
adidas RPT-02 SOL Headphones
- Frequency response: 20Hz – 20kHz
- Driver sensitivity: 105 ±3dB @1KHz 179mV 10mm
- Driver kind: Dynamic
- Driver impedance: 32Ω ±15%
- Drivers: 40 mm
- Battery life: 80 hours (w/o daylight); “close to” limitless with sufficient mild
- Charging time (USB-C): 2 hrs.
- Range: 10 m
- Microphone: Yes
- Price: $229
While I’m not an knowledgeable on audio or sound, I’ve used my fair proportion of headphones. The RPT-02 SOL presents wealthy, balanced sound — and with customizable EQ, I can fine-tune the expertise to my preferences. Zero complaints.
Conclusion: Who Should Buy
If you possibly can swing $229 for a pair of headphones, I believe you’ll most likely be very pleased. That mentioned, if you’re keen to spend that a lot, you might have extra distinguished audio preferences than I do.
But if the value is correct and longevity is of major concern, I can nearly assure you’ll love these headphones. I think about with the onset of winter, I’ll must be extra aware of recharging these manually.
But with an 80-hour saved runtime and near-infinite cost in summer time, it’s a no brainer for me. The RPT-02 SOL works nice for a lot of of my out of doors actions, and to date works higher the extra I take advantage of them.
My Charley horses, then again…
