[dropcap]S[/dropcap]amsung’s first pair of cord-free Bluetooth fitness earphones, the original Gear IconX, suffered from one big problem: extremely short battery life. So, for the 2018 model, available for $199, Samsung stripped out the heart rate sensor to cram in a larger battery.
Now, the Gear IconX can last for 5 hours with Bluetooth streaming or 7 hours with local music playback, Samsung claims.
That’s up from 90 minutes of streaming and 3 to 4 hours of local music playback in the older, more expensive model.
This and other changes make the 2018 IconX a solid improvement over its predecessor, though it’s still not perfect.
Easy setup, with some limitations
The Samsung Gear IconX earbuds work with both iOS and Android devices, though, as you might expect, you’ll get more out of the earphones if you pair them with a Samsung Galaxy phone.
With an iPhone, the Gear IconX works just like any other pair of Bluetooth headphones.
However, pairing these earphones with a Galaxy device unlocks a suite of features.
The case on the 2018 version has a bigger, 340-mAh battery than the 315-mAh battery in the original, which means it can also last longer on a charge (and provide more fuel to the earbuds). More on that later.
Install the Samsung Gear Manager app on your Android device running version 4.4 of the operating system or later to pair the headphones and then customize the settings.
Just open the charging case (with the buds inside) near your phone, select the Gear IconX from the device list, and the headphones will start pairing.
If Samsung developed a Gear IconX app for iOS that offered all of the same controls, these earphones would be much more versatile and reach a much larger market. Just sayin’.
You’ll have to learn some gestures to control the music playback and workout coaching on the IconX, such as one tap on the earbud to pause a track or a long-press to launch a run.
The only gesture I had trouble with was the swipe up/down on one earbud to control volume. You have to delicately swipe; otherwise, the device thinks you’re tapping to pause.
As you might imagine, this is incredibly difficult to do while running, and after I accidentally paused the music enough times, I gave up trying to control the volume from the earphones and relied on my phone’s volume rocker instead.
Fitness: These earphones fall short
You also use the IconX app to choose the pace you want to be coached to. Because it lacks a heart rate sensor, the new Gear IconX uses its accelerometer to figure out how fast you’re walking or running, and advises you to speed up or slow down according to the pace you’ve picked in the Gear Manager app.
The coach isn’t as advanced at stat tracking or as detailed in its advice as the assistants in other sensor-packed fitness headphones, such as LifeBeam’s Vi, but it’s good enough.
I used the Light Running Coach workout, which advises you to run 2.85 kilometers (1.77 miles) in 30 minutes, including a 5-minute warm-up and a 5-minute cool-down.
It was a little too lightweight for my usual running routine, and the coach kept telling me to slow down, but there are more rigorous workouts designed to boost running speed and endurance.
The problem with the Gear IconX’s built-in accelerometer is that it overestimates distances by a significant amount.
I logged three 3-mile runs wearing the earphones, but each workout was recorded as more than 4 miles.
You can view your workout data in the Gear Manager app, but you’ll need to install Samsung’s S Health app and sync it to Gear Manager to view your running logs.
Considering that the workout coach isn’t that helpful and the workout data are inaccurate, I wouldn’t buy the 2018 Gear IconX as a dedicated fitness tracker.
Comfortable fit, solid sound
The Gear IconX may fall short in fitness tracking, but these earphones excel when it comes to wearability.
Samsung nailed the fit of the original Gear IconX, and the company didn’t change a thing with the 2018 version.
The only other pair of cord-free earphones I’ve worn that fit comfortably right out of the box without any fuss is Apple’s AirPods, but those aren’t rated as water-resistant for working out and don’t nestle in your ear as tightly as Samsung’s earphones. Samsung includes three additional wings and tips to customize the fit.
The audio quality is also impressive for a pair of Bluetooth earphones. I couldn’t hear any ambient noise as I ran, which felt a little dangerous, but Samsung offers an ambient-noise setting in the Gear Manager app that amplifies environmental noise for situations like that.
Tunes on the go
Like the original Gear IconX, the new version can store up to 1,000 MP3s, so you don’t need to be connected to a phone to enjoy your jams.
Samsung made it easier to load up the earphones with songs, with a new wireless transfer option to transfer tracks from your Galaxy device via Bluetooth.
There’s also a USB connector included in the box for connecting the earphones to your Galaxy device for easy offloading, or you can install the Gear IconX PC Manager on your computer if you don’t keep MP3s stored on your phone.
If you have a Mac, transferring music is a little tougher, but you can connect the earphones directly to your Mac and then move song files from your iTunes folder to the Gear IconX folder that pops up on your desktop. It’s not a sophisticated process, but it gets the job done.
The main problem I had with the music-transfer process is that I just don’t have a lot of MP3s anymore.
Instead, I use streaming music services to create playlists and save them offline. Unfortunately, the Gear IconX has no integration with streaming music services — not even Google Play Music, which is Samsung’s default music application.
Battery goes far
The biggest problem we had with the original Gear IconX was its battery life, which clocked in at a paltry 90 minutes; a long workout and a commute to work would put the buds out of commission.
Samsung sacrificed the heart rate sensor to extend the battery to 5 hours of Bluetooth streaming and 7 hours of local music playback.
You can see how charged each earbud is in the Gear Manager app, but you can’t see how charged the case itself is, which would be useful.
Apple’s AirPods show separate battery-life percentages for the case and the pods, so you always know when either accessory needs a charge.
Bottom Line
With improved battery life, Samsung’s upgraded Gear IconX is a solid pair of wire-free fitness earphones.
The $200 buds fit perfectly (in my experience), sound great and now can last for a few days’ worth of workouts on a charge.
The deep Galaxy smartphone integration is a bonus for Galaxy owners.
However, the IconX’s fitness-tracking features leave a lot to be desired, so if you’re looking for a pair of heart-rate-monitoring headphones with advanced workout advice, LifeBeam’s Vi headphones are a better bet, though they’re not completely wireless.
But if you’re a Galaxy user who wants a pair of AirPod-like earbuds that can survive a run (and the rest of your day, too), the Gear IconX is a winner.
Credit: Samsung/Tom’s Guide
This post originally appeared on tomsguide.com