CONCLUSION

   I know we've said it many times in the past but when we get a product by a virtually unknown manufacturer we're always skeptical about its quality and performance. Still ERL with their wireless sports earbuds left us with very good overall impressions. For one mids and highs are surprisingly good and so is the amount of bass and volume these little earbuds are putting out (thus we advise not using them at full volume for long periods of time). Audio is not exactly as clear as what we got from the Elite 65t by Jabra but bass levels are indeed better so if you like listening to music and more specifically bass-heavy tracks the ERL is the better choice. The exact opposite however applies for people on the other end since the Elite 65t did outperform the ERL during our tests (probably due to the two extra MEMS microphones) although not by much (always according to all the people we talked to using them). As for battery life ERL is on the spot with their advertised number of 3.5 hours for a single charge and 40 extra hours via the bundled charging case although as expected these numbers depend a lot on the volume level used (we got really close to 3 hours with a single charge and 32 hours total with the charging case at 5/7 volume). Unfortunately we didn’t thoroughly check the splash-proof IPX5 certification of the ERL wireless sports earbuds but they did work fine while on the treadmill and that’s more than what i can say for several wireless headsets which have stopped working over the years while exercising.

   Currently the ERL Wireless Sports Earbuds retail for USD79.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) a price tag which although quite fair for what you’re getting is nowhere close to the outstanding price of USD39 offered to early backers by supporting this project through Indiegogo. Now I do realize that manufacturers need to give an incentive to people for basically funding an entire project but I am not entirely convinced that asking for twice the amount of money is something potential buyers will like. Still even at USD79.99 the ERL Wireless Sports Earbuds represent a very good choice (especially since they trade blows with the twice as expensive Elite 65t by Jabra) and for that they certainly deserve our Golden Award.

PROS

- Design / Size (LED Rings)
- Very Good Audio Quality / Plenty Of Bass (For The Size)
- Excellent Stability
- Bundled Charging Case (Up To 40 Extra Hours)
- IPX5 Certified (Sweat And Splash Resistant)
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- EU Availability
- Price (Compared To The Indiegogo One)
- Build Quality (Not Very Robust)