Recently, there’s been a trend of companies going Abra Kadabra on the headphone jack, thus rendering Bluetooth earphones a necessity. We have seen Bluetooth earphones sprout all over and Pace is one such company that has quickly become a solid player in this space.
Pace Mate is a set of Bluetooth earphones that come in a neck-back style form factor. Meaning they are not truly wireless, as they have a flat cord connecting the two buds together. The earphones have a lot going for them including good sound and a reasonable price tag, but all that is subjective. Here’s my full review:
For the data conscious, don’t worry. I got you. Here’s a brief breakdown:
Build Quality
The earphones are mostly made out of plastic, aside from the sound drivers which are enclosed in a metallic casing. These materials keep the Pace Mate light and comfortable around your neck. The buds are magnetic, thus they stick together whenever they are hanging on your neck and this gives you that extra confidence that the Pace Mate won’t just fall off your neck.
There are three buttons on the device, volume up, power button and volume down. Pressing the power button once, plays and pauses the song, pressing and holding the power button for a few seconds turns on the device. Holding the volume up button plays the next song, holding the volume down button plays the previous song.
Sound Quality
The Pace Mate follows in the steps of its older sibling in delivering well-tailored sound that hits the right highs and lows without overdoing it. Bass levels are sufficient even in low volumes, at higher volumes, it feels like you have a subwoofer up in your ear. The mids and lows are great too. No distortion and the clarity is just on another level. The downside? They are not noise-cancelling.
Battery Life
When it comes to battery life, Pace promises around 11 hours of playback and I am happy to report that this is as close as you will get. I charge my set once every two days but those who will be using the Pace Mate throughout the day and even in the house, you will probably have to charge them once daily.
The Thorns
My biggest gripe with the pair of earphones is the battery low notification. There’s only one warning which sounds like three minutes before the earphones go off. I wish it would read the remaining battery capacity or at least estimate the amount of time left.
Secondly, there’s no form of water resistance employed which is bad news for those who plan to use the Pace Mate during heavy exercise sessions as the set of earphones might get damaged from the sweat.
Price and Availability
The Pace Mate retails for Ksh.3800 price tag. For those interested, you can purchase a pair online here: https://goo.gl/jiCsrg
