GoMax QY7 Bluetooth Headphones

My husband and I have needed a new set of bluetooth earbuds for a while now, but I never got around to buying one.  So I was glad to have the opportunity to try out these GoMax QY7 Bluetooth Headphones.  They come with a USB charging cord, 3 different sizes of silicone earbuds, and an instruction leaflet (not pictured).

The back of the box includes the following technical specifications:

• Bluetooth Specification: 4.1+EDR
• Bluetooth Profile: HFP1.6, HSP1.2, AVRCP1.4, A2DP1.2
• RF Range: 32ft/10m
• Noise Reduction: CVC6.0
• Audio Playback: Up to 8 hours
• Talk Time: Up to 5 hours
• Standby Time: Up to 175 hours
• Charging Time: Aprox. 2 hours
• Dimension (LxWxH): 1.6 x 0.94 x 1.3 in / 40 x 24 x 32 mm
• Weight: 0.58 oz  / 16.4g

The earbuds are an attractive white with a blue flat rubber cable connecting the two earpieces.  They include something the manufacturer calls “ear hooks”, but they’re a little different than the ear hooks I was used to on my old headset.  Instead of hooking around the top of your ear, these are just a little silicone loop that attaches to the piece that enters your ear canal (the included photo shows you one earpiece with the “hook” and one without).  I didn’t find them terribly helpful (though other users with different ear shapes may), but they are easily removed if you don’t want to use them.

Pros:

• I enjoy the inner-ear design since it blocks out more sounds (and avoid sharing my music with everyone around me).  Though I have found some inner-ear headphones uncomfortable in the past, these seem very comfortable.
• Ability to connect with not just one, but TWO cellphones at once.  I was able to set this up easily using my phone and my husband’s.  I’m not sure when this might be useful to me, but I’m sure it can come in handy!
• Caller ID, so when you have an incoming phone call, the headphones will read you the caller’s phone number (though not the contact name from your phone).
• Easy to turn voice prompts off if you don’t want them (or find them too loud, as I did).
• Included USB charge cable is sturdy.
• I typically charge battery-operated electronics before using them.  However, I was impressed that it arrived out-of-the-box at 71% capacity (according to my iPhone).
• I’m not an audiophile, but at least to me, the sound quality is excellent.  There is a very faint hiss sometimes but this is pretty common on the bluetooth (and even wired) headsets I’ve tried before.
• Microphone works fairly well on phone calls, even though it’s not right by your mouth.  My voice came over clear and only slightly softer than using the phone itself.

Cons:

• The voice prompts are significantly too loud comparative to the volume of the media I’m listening to, and remain at the same volume regardless of how I adjusted my volume on the phone.  This was the most frustrating part of these earphones, and was loud enough to be very uncomfortable.  I encourage the manufacturer to reduce this volume significantly, and/or allow the user to adjust it.  You can turn the voice prompt off entirely but then you lose some functionality.
• The manual refers to a “BTK” button.  However, it’s labeled differently on the headset I actually received (instead, it displaying icons of phone, play & pause).  Once I figured this out it was smooth sailing.
• The build of the plastic earpieces are decent quality but I can see the seam and am concerned it may separate over time.  So far no problems though.
• I wish one of the earpieces didn’t blink a bright blue the whole time it was playing, but I suppose that’s good to indicate the connection is still active.  A minor quibble on my part.

Random Source of Amusement:

• The voice prompts use broken “Engrish”.  This made me giggle.  For example, when you hang up a phone call, a delightful female voice informs you “Phone is hang up”.  And when you decline a call (which you can do by double-clicking call/play/pause button), she says something that I can’t quite understand, but it goes something like “Pro don’t answer your cellphone has a calling”.

This product was provided at a discounted price in exchange for my honest review.  I wouldn’t have bought it at full retail, because there are so many other good options in that price range that I believe would have a higher quality.  However, it serves my purposes and I was glad to have the chance to review them.  I am awarding four stars for overall functionality and quality, but subtracting one star because the VERY loud voice prompts made for an uncomfortable experience!  So 3 stars overall for these headphones.