Tribit has launched a new pair of wireless buds into the world and we are a bit excited about these since they seem to have asked themselves “what are the most interesting features you could pack into a pair of earbuds?” and then dumped everything into the pot and started cooking. The end result is their new Tribit Flybuds 1 earbuds.
Not only do these earbuds pack a lot of neat features, but once again, they also stuck an impressive price tag on them. The kind of price tag that can strike fear within the competition. A price tag, of only $40, making them quite affordable for what they are.
Their design is quite simple. They are really small, light-weight, and fit nicely into your ears. After you insert them, you slightly twist their direction so they fit right under the fold of your ear, which helps keep them in place–and keeping in place is exactly what they do. A good set of rapid jumping jacks couldn’t knock them out of our ears. In fact, a quick set of burpees couldn’t get them to budge, which was nice (given, ears come in many shapes, so your experience may differ from ours).
The case they come in is also quite small. It isn’t exactly the smallest case we’ve come across, but it doesn’t grow much larger than the smallest either. This is likely because they needed a little extra space for some of the features they offer. Like the ability to wireless charge! The case features Qi charging support, allowing you to drop the case onto any Qi charger. The case will vibrate, letting you know that charging was triggered, and will charge itself and the buds inside. The vibration is a nice touch, mimicking a lot of the smartphone models that do the same, and makes for one of the best confirmations that the charging process is working.
You get around 30 hours of usage with the case and up to 6 hours each round if they are fully charged coming out of the case. It takes around 1-1.5 hours to charge the case with the buds inside if the buds and case are completely dead, and this includes wireless charging vs using a USB-C cable. If you don’t have access to a wireless charger, a USB-C port is available on the side of the case (and it does come with a cable).
They are also waterproof! Ok, nothing fancy there since most modern earbuds offer some form of water/sweat protection. However, these are IPX8 rated, meaning you could jump into a pool with them in your ear, completely submerge them, and they will still work just fine. Given, water is one of the greatest blockers of Bluetooth connectivity, so you might lose signal temporarily if you go for a dive below the water’s surface (not that they are going to sound any good underwater anyway).
Another fun fact is that they are Bluetooth 5.0, which means greater bandwidth and longer battery life. This also means they can increase the wireless range allowing them to still get to the average distance of around 25 feet or so from the connected device. An option you don’t always get when the buds get this small in size (we’ve seen buds this small that can barely reach the phone in your pocket depending on which way your body bends).
So they have great connectivity for their size, a wonderful battery life (still) despite this, BT 5.0, incredible waterproofing, and wireless charging. See? That pot is filled with ingredients. However, what about how they sound? I mean, that’s kind of the most important feature.
Thankfully, they sound good on top of all of this. They aren’t going to sound like something with a huge soundstage or anything (ie, like the HELM Audio’s buds), but they are also a small fraction of the cost and packed with other features. For what they are and how much they cost, they sound really good. The audio is nice and crisp, making vocals incredibly clear. They also pack a good amount of bass if you have them in your ears just right. So play with them a little to make sure you know how they best fit in your ears personally. It helps to choose a gel/tip size that is large enough to create a nice seal and you will get more than enough bass at this price.
They come with the second to largest tips already installed, and likely, these will be good else you can try the largest pair. We found that with the many sizes they have to offer (6 pairs/sizes), there was a good fit for everyone here who gave them a run.
Audio range falls mostly into the highs and mid-lows than anything else. So the mids are missing some presence, which most of these earbuds suffer from. You can only do so much with such little space. The best way to get better audio is to up the power use, use better drives, use multiple drivers, etc. This also drains the battery faster, increases their size, and absolutely increases the price tag. So again, these are doing quite well within their price range.
Thanks to the crisp highs they offer, they also do good for phone calls, allowing you to hear the other person clearly. The microphone isn’t anything fancy and the person on the other end won’t compliment you on how amazing you sound. They will know you are using buds, but it isn’t terrible or anything. This is the same for almost all of the true-wireless buds we have ever tested.
Each bud features a button to control everything with. One button each, with each acting as a multi-button experience. Both buds share the same set of button features, unlike the models out there where each ear has separate functions. What makes this different is that they are interchangeable. Each bud will fit in either ear, which means it doesn’t matter how you toss them into the case to charge and there is no guessing when you take them out of the case, even if the room you are in is perfectly dark. Left and right never changes though, so if you do wear them backward, the stereo effect will be backward as well, not that many would actually notice this unless it’s a track you’ve listened to your whole life, causing it to sound off, or a stereo sound effect traveling in a specific direction (ie, car driving by).
They automatically turn on and off and go into pairing mode when you take them out of the case or place them back inside. So no interaction button-wise is required for you there. You only need to play with the buttons when it comes time to control the track (play/pause/next/previous/answer call, etc). The buttons are easy to press, so they won’t annoy your ears like some models out there, as their “click” isn’t audibly annoying (it is soft) and there is no pressure being applied to your ears since you aren’t having to press hard on them. The only thing they are missing is volume control, which is unfortunate, and that is one of the very few things holding the score back any.
Our Conclusion
We really enjoyed these buds! They sound fantastic for the price and are littered with all of the features you’d ever want from a pair of earbuds. A good battery life, a modern BT version, IPX8 waterproof, wireless charging, USB-C, incredibly small, stays in the ears, and more. For $40, the only words that work their way out of your mouth are “thanks Tribit”. Now, we’d like to see them come out with a pair that is $10-$20 more that can go 80+ feet from the device to compete with the distance that some of the more expensive options can offer (albeit, how few there are at the moment).
COUPON ALERT — To make things even better, at the time of this story, they are offering a $10-off coupon you can clip to bring the price to just $29.99! To gain access to the coupon, click here or use the Amazon button below (coupon available while it lasts).
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Our Rating | Average Price* $39.99 |
*Average price is based on the time this article was published
Additional Images:
Specifications:
- Headset Form: In-ear
- Ear gels: 6 sets of eargels
- Bluetooth Version: 5.0
- Wireless Range: Up to 33 feet / 10 meters
- Earbuds Charging Time: 70 minutes with the dedicated charging case
- Case Charging Time: 80 minutes with charging cable or wireless charger
- Playtime:
- Up to 30 hours
- 6 hours of playtime on a single charge
- 4 more full recharges from the charging case
- Box Content
- Tribit Earbuds(L&R), Charging Case, Wristlet, Ear Tips, USB Cable, User Manual
- Weight: 227g
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1 Comment
Left and right dont switch when putting them in the case like you said.