iClever BTH12 Kids Headphones : School’s Out

This is a new year with great new products. The folks at iClever have sent us the iClever BTH12 Kids Headphones which have LED lights, adjustable sound levels, are Bluetooth compatible, and have a built-in mic for your child’s distance learning needs.  Our test model came in Blue, but this kid-friendly over-the-ear headphone set also comes in Pink. Let’s take a look inside the box:

In the Box

The iClever BTH12 Kids Headphones come in a relatively nice retail box: the Specifications are listed on the back of this box if needed. Inside you will find the BTH12 BT headphones, and a small plastic bag containing the instruction manual, a guarantee card,  a USB C charging cable, and a 3.5mm to 3.5mm patch cable intended for use when the internal battery has lost its charge but your child still wants to listen to music or has school work to complete.  All of the control switches, buttons, and ports are placed on the right side of the headphones. Starting at the front and working back they include the On/Off switch, an indicator LED, the Microphone, the 3.5mm cable port, the USB C charging port, and the control buttons. The Control panel includes a – button, Play/Pause, a + button, a * button. I will explain the uses of these buttons in a moment. The On/Off switch is an actual toggle switch. My iClever BTH12 arrived with the switch in the “On” position so the internal battery was DOA. I quickly attached the charging cable to a 5v charging block. The indicator LED lights red while charging.  It took about 3 hours for a full charge and a Green LED. I then switched on the unit to pair it with my Samsung Galaxy phone. When connecting to your device for the first time look for iClever-BTH12 on the available device screen. Let’s see what all those buttons do.

Button Button Switch and Port

The control buttons for the iClever BTH12 headphones operate as follows: The – button controls volume by clicking on the button to reduce volume. It also will play the previous track by holding it for a few seconds. The Play/Pause button is self-explanatory but it also functions as an MFB(multi-function button). The + button will adust volume and play the next track with short clicks for volume and a long push to change to the next track. The last button is the * button and that is used to toggle between LED light display modes on the headphone earpieces. There are 5 light modes plus a lights-off mode to extend battery time. The iClever headphones also have a voice prompt that tells you useful information such as Power on/off and it can also indicate “ready to pair” and “Connected” to your Bluetooth device. Once you’ve turned on your new iClever BTH12 kids headphones you will probably want to adjust the overall volume level to appropriate maximum sound pressure level for your child. The BTH12 headphones are able to preset those levels at 74 dB, 85dB, or 94dB. As a professional sound engineer in the touring music industry for many years, I understand well how listening to headphones or any source of sound at high levels for extended periods of time will cause permanent hearing damage, loss, and potential deafness. The loudest volume choice of 94 dB was the sound level limit for live concerts at most outdoor venues I’ve worked and that’s actually loud enough to cause permanent damage over long periods of time. I regularly wore ear protection in those environments if I wasn’t required to actually control the sound levels at that time for over 30 years and I still do today. I would suggest you set and keep these headphones at the lower level whenever possible to save your children’s hearing. The folks at iClever suggest using the lowest volume as “normal mode” the 85 dB level as “learning mode’ and the 94 dB level as “travel mode”. I suggest you set the headphones at 85 dB and leave them.  To toggle between the levels you will use the – and + buttons. The instructions say to press both buttons at the same time but I found it worked better if you push the – button slightly before pressing the + button. When you’ve done so correctly the voice prompt will indicate “74 dB”, “85 dB” or “94 dB”. The default setting when powered on will always be 94 dB which I found to be way too loud for a child’s hearing when the volume is set at the highest levels. The iClever BTH12 can also be used when making/receiving phone calls. In that case, the MFB button is used to answer/reject calls or to ask Siri a question. You can also use the + – buttons to clear the device paired so you can repair it with a different device. Note: when one is using the BTH12 when directly plugged into the 3.5mm cable to any device the limiting is disabled along with the volume buttons, and track buttons. The unit is physically limited to 94db at that point so be careful.

Sounds Good Works Good Looks Good

The iClever BTH12 kids headphones’ adjustable maximum volume is a great feature.  I played with these headphones for 3 days and my only complaint is that the manufacturers should have stopped at 85 dB rather than open up the headphones to 94 dB. Although it’s not easy to change the setting, it’s got to be done every time the device is switched on, and the default setting is the loudest setting of 94 dB. The BTH12 headphones should default to the middle setting of 85 dB just to protect sensitive children’s hearing from hearing loss. The 94 dB setting has the potential to reproduce very loud music and I found it absolutely inappropriate for headphones designed to be used by children. That being said: the iClever BTH headphones have a great full-range sound with thumping bass and clear mids and highs no matter if they were set to 74 dB or 94 dB. I found them to be useful when connected to a cell phone. The BTH 12 headphones were clear, and those people who I spoke with didn’t realize I was using headphones to talk to them until I mentioned it. The controls work as described and it’s although it’s not instinctively easy to change the Maximum SPL levels, it’s pretty simple to do. At this time these headphones when purchased at AMAZON have a 15 dollar saving coupon.

Final Thoughts

The iClever BTH12 kids wireless headphones definitely fulfill a need for that very important niche market demographic. These Bluetooth 5.0 headphones have a greatly extended range which I could use throughout most of my home without issue. The ability to choose maximum sound pressure level was well thought out except I feel that 85 dB could have been the maximum overall level without any need to be louder because of the intent of a child’s headphones.

They sounded good in my ears across the entire audio spectrum at any maximum dB level. The BTH12 was easily adjustable to fit even my adult-sized head without too much discomfort ever after 6 hours on my head. The 40-hour battery life seems accurate: I had them working connected to my cell phone for 3 days before I had to recharge them. They worked well as a telephone accessory and were clear and crisp in my ears with no complaints about “sounding boxy” from anyone with whom I spoke over the test period. The buttons and switches were easy to find and larger than usual to help small hands be successful while manipulating the device. The voice prompts make it easy to adjust or understand the settings on the iClever BTH 12 headphones. The USB C connection made for quick charging and is becoming the industry standard.

I give these headphones 8.5 out of 10 because they are just so good for such an amazing price. I hope the New year finds you and yours healthy and safe and let’s keep bringing amazing consumer electronics to you in the near future!

*Average price is based on the time this article was published

Additional Images:

Specifications:

• iClever BTH12
• Bluetooth Version: 5.0
• Bluetooth Profile: HFP/HSP/A2DP/AVRCP
• Speaker Unit: 40mm Full Range
• Battery Type: Li-Polymer
• Battery Charge Time: Up to 3 hours
• Input: 5V=1A
• Colorful LED Lights
• Three Limit Volume Options – 74/85/94dB
• 40H Playtime & Wired Mode with included 3.5mm cable

Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.

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