For many parts of Australia, especially those on the east coast, winter is bitterly cold. It’s wet, windy, and a prime time to catch airborne illnesses. While we spend more time indoors to escape the chill of winter, it’s worth thinking about air quality, something an air purifier can help with.
Huddled up in offices or retreating under the blankets at home, most of us are keen to stay indoors until the warmer weather arrives. But it can get stuffy staying inside for extended periods. Opening windows or doors isn’t much of an option, unfortunately — fresh air comes at the expense of letting all the heat out.
Further complicating things is the range of air pollutants that are common during winter. Many Australian homes use wood heaters, emitting smoke into the air and adding another reason why opening windows isn’t always practical, especially for people with asthma and other respiratory issues.
There’s also not much room to escape when someone brings an illness home. Every cough and sneeze from a cold or flu spreads viruses in the air, increasing the chance of others getting sick.
While bushfire season might be thought of as the main time to be conscious of poor air quality, it’s something that’s worth being aware of all year round. Between pollution from woodfire heating and vehicles, in addition to airborne illnesses, reduced air quality can also be a problem during winter.
Commonly measured in ‘fine particulate matter’ (PM2.5), it’s a figure used to express how many tiny particles 2.5 micrometres or smaller are in the air. The smaller the number, the healthier the air. Pollutants from factories, fires, and cars are among the biggest contributors to PM2.5 levels, which impact air quality.
If pollutants make their way into your home, a World Health Organisation report found that air purifiers can be highly effective at reducing indoor PM2.5 levels. Plus, the Australian Centre for Disease Control recommends using high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters to improve indoor air quality.
This advice also applies to airborne illnesses, which winter is rife with. According to Healthdirect Australia, flu season runs from June to September, which is a decent stretch of time. One of the common ways to catch the flu is via tiny droplets in the air, usually after someone sneezes or coughs.
There’s evidence that air purifiers with HEPA filters can help reduce the spread of airborne viruses, so it’s a good idea to have one on hand during winter. So, while air purifiers can’t cure illnesses, they can be a big help in preventing illness in the first place.
By getting and using an air purifier now, you’re also ready for the hay fever-filled months of spring and bushfire season in summer, giving you all-year benefits.
How air purifiers work and what to look for
Not all air purifiers are made equal. Some use different technologies, while others are best-suited to different-sized rooms. If you’re eyeing off an air purifier this winter, it’s important to know what to look for.
For starters, check the coverage area. Some air purifiers specialise in filtering air in smaller rooms, while others can cover larger living areas. For example, the Levoit Core Mini covers up to 12m², making it suited to more compact rooms, like bedrooms. Meanwhile, the Levoit Core 400S covers up to 90m², so it’s an air purifier suited to living rooms and kitchens.
Air purifiers work by pulling nearby air in, and then passing it through a set of filters, trapping tiny particles, and then blowing the clean air out via a fan.
This is why it’s also important to know what kind of filtration an air purifier uses. Like mentioned before, HEPA filters can catch the tiniest of airborne particles, including viruses, so it’s worth choosing a purifier with HEPA filtration.
This technology is also great at capturing pet dander, so you don’t have to worry about the spread of allergens when snuggling up with your furry friends during the winter months.
Other pollutants, like dust and smoke, are also taken care of by Levoit air purifiers. So, if your cooking produces smoke, or you use a gas stovetop, you don’t have to wait long for the air to clear.
Although you might not think of air purifiers until you can see the pollution (i.e. from smoke), they’re just as helpful now as they are any other time of year. Next time you hear sniffly noses, consider getting an appliance that can help keep you and your family healthy this winter.
About Levoit
Levoit is a leading global air care brand, offering a range of products including air purifiers, innovative fans, and more.
Levoit products are designed with consumers in mind, combining high-quality materials, reliable performance, and intuitive design to meet the needs of modern households. Our goal is to provide practical, effective solutions that help create healthier and more comfortable living environments.
Stick vacuums keep getting better and more convenient, with modern models equipped with an increasing array of bells and whistles. The Tineco Pure One Station A70S Pet is no exception, proving itself an accurately (if long) named appliance that keeps floors clean.
Another recent development in the world of vacuuming is the rise of auto-empty stations. Commonplace among robot vacuums, it’s not as ubiquitous with stick vacuums. Docking stations that automatically empty and recharge vacuums aren’t new to Tineco, but they are to some brands: Dyson only debuted its first stick vac and dock combo this year.
What Tineco presents with this model is twofold: a stick vacuum with the convenience of automatic emptying, plus powerful performance that can tackle the joys of pet ownership.
As someone with a beloved furry four-legged friend, and a partner with long hair, I’m squarely in the target market for this vacuum. Fortunately for me, the Station A70S Pet stood up when faced with lots of hair and fur on the floor.
Until now, I’ve only had experience using Tineco’s wet-dry vacuum cleaners. Unlike those, the $1,299 Station A70S Pet is decidedly a dry cleaner. Not because it’s boring, but because it’s not designed to mop your floors. Although this means it’s not a do-it-all appliance, the good news is that you can use it on tiles and carpets alike.
What makes the Station A70S Pet a bit different from most Tineco appliances is its base station. In Australia, this model is one of two to come with a docking station that empties, charges, and cleans the vacuum. The other model, as listed on Tineco’s Australian website, is the $799 Pure One Station 5.
$500 is a fair difference between vacuum cleaners, with the gap in pricing reflective of the power difference between the two. Tineco advertises up to 200 airwatts (AW) of suction power for the Station A70S Pet, compared to 175AW for the Station 5.
Battery life is another differentiator; the Station A70S Pet lasts up to 100 minutes while using the smaller crevice brush on the lowest power setting, and up to 80 minutes using what Tineco calls the ‘ZeroTangle Power Brush’. Meanwhile, the Station 5 lasts up to 70 minutes. It may not look like a huge difference on paper, but when charging takes upwards of four hours, the extra runtime is handy.
At $1,299 in Australia, the Station A70S Pet is one of the pricier stick vacuums on the market. On the flipside, it’s also one of the more powerful and, from my experience, reliable options for everyday vacuuming.
I always like it when appliance brands pivot away from bland, utilitarian design. Sure, the mark of any vacuum is how well it cleans, but a bit of colour never hurt anyone.
My point being that the Station A70S Pet is quite stylish, as far as vacuums go. Dark blue and silver on the vacuum complement the gold accents on the docking station quite nicely.
Image: Chris Button.
Said docking station has a clear front window, letting you see inside and how full it is. This window into the world of dust bunnies has a helpful line to indicate when it’s time to empty the main canister. On top is a space to place the vacuum when not in use, automatically emptying its dustbin and recharging its battery. All of this sits on a small black tray, which stops any nasties picked up by the vacuum from making contact with the floor.
Thankfully, for someone as averse to cleaning chores as me, setting up the vacuum isn’t all that complicated. The Station A70S Pet comes in a few distinct parts that easily click together. Once it’s all attached, all that’s needed is to dock the vacuum and wait for the battery to top up.
Image: Chris Button.
Some appliances I’ve used before have a helpful LED screen with clear depictions of real-time information. However, the Station A70S Pet uses a thin bar of light instead that isn’t as clear as some of the LED displays I’ve seen before. When lit up blue, it indicates a relatively clean floor. Conversely, red means dirty, and the vacuum automatically boosts the suction power accordingly.
Vacuuming at great heights
Surprisingly, the Station A70S Pet is quite tall. When fully upright, the top of the vacuum’s handle sits above my waist. As someone roughly 5-foot-10, I didn’t have much trouble lifting the appliance onto or out of the dock. My much shorter partner struggled, however.
Of course, you don’t vacuum with the appliance standing fully upright, but the height makes it a bit awkward to get started. Conversely, the benefit is that the vacuum reaches far ahead of you, especially when laid completely flat to suck up stuff under couches, tables, and the like.
With how this vacuum is built, there’s no way to retract or extend the main tube. So, if you’re short, you can’t lower it to a more comfortable height.
To look on the bright side, it’s great for tall folks, who constantly put up with using appliances made for people much shorter than them. Still, the vacuum’s lack of adjustable height presents some difficulties.
Vacuuming on carpets and tiles
If you’ve seen some of my robot vacuum reviews, you’ll know that my silver tabby cat, Billie, loves leaving her fur on the carpet. While testing the Station A70S Pet, I probably vacuumed up enough cat hair to create a plush replica of my beloved pet.
Across tiled and carpeted floors, Tineco’s pet-centric stick vacuum sucked superbly. My home’s carpets are notoriously tough to clean, too. Consisting of dense loop fibres, the floor is like the Venus flytrap of carpets, gobbling up any strands of hair or dust that deigns to drop within its grasp.
Up to the challenge, the Station A70S Pet caught plenty of debris, filling up its 0.45L dustbin rapidly. Unsurprisingly, given the strong carpet performance, it glided across tiled areas, sucking up crumbs, dust, and loose bits of kitty litter kicked out by Billie during her daily zoomies.
Making the job of cleaning easier was the Gatsby-like beam of green light that shoots out at a wide arc. It illuminated the floor, clearly showing what sections needed extra attention. My partner described it as the “green light of shame” because it left no ambiguity as to what parts of the floor hadn’t been properly vacuumed for a while.
Images: Chris Button.
In some instances, the green light of shame worked to Tineco’s disadvantage. For context, one of the Station A70S Pet’s features is an automatic edge cleaning mode that kicks in when vacuuming near walls, skirting boards, and the like. A light on the brush head turns on, and the suction power ramps up, aiming to suck up dust to the sides as you push and pull back and forward.
This edge cleaning mode was most effective on tiles, where the vacuum had little resistance. However, it wasn’t quite enough on carpets. Made visible by the green light, I could see a thin strip along carpet edges where a collection of dust and fluff remained. On the other hand, it’s a good visual reminder of where you might need to go over some areas again with the crevice brush head.
Hair today, gone tomorrow
With the word ‘pet’ in its name, Tineco’s vacuum would want to be good at dealing with tangles. True to its title, it was very good. None of Billie’s fur got caught in either the brush head or the dustbin. As another test, I left some beard trimmings on the bathroom floor. Although I didn’t expect any tangle-related issues, I wondered if the vacuum would struggle to pick up small, thin hairs. Nope, no problems whatsoever.
This left one major test remaining: my partner’s thick, long hair. I’ve cut strands of her hair out of several robot vacuums before, but no such intervention was needed here. If anything, the only minor problem was that some particularly long and pesky strands would wrap themselves around the inside barrel of the vacuum’s dustbin.
I only dealt with this when docking the vacuum, which automatically triggers an auto-empty cycle. Each time, the emptying process transferred the overwhelming majority of the dustbin’s contents into the docking station’s much larger 2.5L bin. But on occasion, a bit of my partner’s hair would stick out of the bottom flap of the vacuum’s dustbin, not fully dislodged during the auto-empty cycle.
See all this gunk? You won’t have to touch most of it. Image: Chris Button.
There was nothing else for it but to grab it out with my fingers. So, it’s not quite a 100 per cent ‘hands-free’ process. More like 90 per cent hands-free, which still reduces my dust exposure substantially compared to my old stick vacuum.
More important to me was that nothing was stuck in the vacuum’s brush or its inner piping — the parts that impact suction efficiency. If I have to occasionally touch a few strands of hair to completely empty the bin, so be it. I’ve been doing it already, so it’s not like it’s introduced a new problem.
When it came time to empty the station’s bin compartment, removing it was easy. A quick pull of a latch took it out of the dock, with the contents still sealed. Then, pulling a lever-like mechanism on the back flipped the base open, emptying everything into the bin.
Check before starting
I encountered an odd quirk on my second vacuuming run, though. Starting the vacuum up, it looked like it was working, but it wasn’t picking much up off the carpet. Considering it did such a great job the first time, I was confused. It also sounded slightly different, but it took me a while to figure out what happened.
As it turned out, the brush roller had come slightly loose, so it wasn’t spinning. Popping it back in saw normal performance resume, and the Station A70S Pet was back to inhaling all manner of cat fluff and dust. On a couple of separate occasions, I noticed the brush come loose, but it never happened during cleaning — only when picking the vacuum up off the dock.
Image: Chris Button.
One thing I never had to worry about was battery life. Tineco boasts up to 100 minutes of runtime, not that I ever depleted it during testing. I live in a two-storey home with a modest surface area to clean. I never troubled the Station A70S Pet’s battery — living with a cat means you need to dock vacuums to empty them well before the battery gives out.
Not that I would’ve easily known how much battery was left. Tineco’s minimalist light-based display didn’t give me an insight as to how much power was left after a vacuuming run. In hindsight, maybe it was a flex on Tineco’s part that it’s so confident in the battery life that you don’t need to monitor it in real-time.
Who is the Tineco Pure One Station A70S Pet for?
Those blessed with luscious long locks of hair or living with fluffy animals will be well-served by the Tineco Pure One Station A70S Pet. As much of a mouthful as its name is, this vacuum makes life simple by taking tangles off your list of daily stressors.
I don’t think there’s such a thing as a perfect vacuum: each one has its strengths and weaknesses. Tineco’s given it a strong go, though, with a vacuum that reaches far, comprehensively cleans different floor types, and does most of the emptying for you.
Tineco Pure One Station A70S Pet
Made to combat anything that tangles, the Tineco Pure One Station A70S Pet takes on hair and fur with ease.
Features
8.5
Value for money
8
Performance
8.5
Ease of use
8.5
Design
8
Positives
Strong suction power across hard floors and carpets
Anti-tangle brush lives up to its name
Convenient docking station automatically empties and charges the vacuum
Helpful green light guides you to areas in need of deep cleaning
Negatives
Edge cleaning isn’t as effective on carpets as it is on tiles
Vacuum unit is quite tall, with no way to adjust height for shorter users
As obvious as it sounds, smart home gear is only helpful when it’s online. It’s why there’s such a focus from smart home brands on extending battery life. Reolink is one of those brands, launching a new video doorbell that it claims lasts much longer than other devices.
Simply called the Video Doorbell 2nd Gen, Reolink’s latest device comes with claims of up to 10 months of use between charges. Inside the doorbell is the more power-efficient Qualcomm QCC730 chipset — also used by the brand’s tiny magnetic security camera.
This claimed longevity relies on the internal 7,000mAh rechargeable battery. When it runs out, it tops up via a USB-C source of power. Reolink’s doorbell also supports hardwiring, which enables 24-hour recording and pre-roll footage too.
Priced at $229 in Australia, the doorbell sports a 4MP 2048 × 2048 camera. It’s meant to keep an eye on your doorstep, with a 180-degree diagonal field of view, helping you monitor packages and visitors.
It also supports most smart home platforms, including Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, IFTTT and Home Assistant. Apple’s ecosystem appears to be one of the few that isn’t natively supported.
One of Reolink’s biggest selling points is local storage. You don’t need a subscription to access security footage; only a microSD card and a Wi-Fi connection. Similarly, various AI features — like people and package detection — process locally without relying on cloud functionality.
10 months is a big claim from Reolink, and one that could be useful to Aussies who don’t want to fret about smart home gear going offline every few months. The Reolink Video Doorbell 2nd Gen is out now in Australia via the company’s online store and Amazon.
Skullcandy is a brand that has always had interesting ideas, but the company’s dedication to bass above all else has held its products back from being actually good. They were fun, looked interesting, and certainly fulfilled the DJ’s request to ‘turn the bass up’, but they were toys, not serious headphones.
Now that the brand has joined the ‘Bose Sound Program’, all the best parts of what makes Skullcandy special can shine alongside refined, mature audio and good quality noise cancelling.
All that combined makes the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC the most interesting headphones I’ve tried this year, and ones that I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who loves bass-heavy genres.
Taking them out of the box, I noticed the case, which is like a large dice bag, as well as the aesthetic of the headphones. The physical buttons are comically large, and the dial to control the Crusher effect is large enough to make a statement. It can also be easily controlled while wearing winter gloves.
Image: Alice Clarke.
The cans themselves look a bit cheap and plastic, but feel robust. The cushioning on the cups is plush and soft, covered in vinyl.
Image: Alice Clarke.
Setting them up with my iPhone was easy – I paired them in Bluetooth settings and then opened the app to check for firmware updates. Then I was good to go.
SkullCandy Crusher 1080 ANC specifications and price
On top of that, the battery life is an impressive 60 hours (without ANC or Crusher), and the sound has been tuned by Bose.
Audio quality
I will fully admit that I went into reviewing this pair of headphones assuming they would be a gimmick and nothing more. I reviewed the previous Crusher Evo model and found it to be a novelty, but not a pair of headphones you could take seriously.
Well, I am delighted to have been proved wrong. I actually, shockingly, love these headphones. They’re what I reach for when I want to get hyped up and listen to music with gusto.
Part of that is down to how Bose has tuned the audio. I find it fascinating how Bose is now branching out to give other brands the signature Bose sound, while still maintaining other brands’ priorities. I’m not sure how that works as a business model, but it’s better than Sennheiser’s approach of dividing up the company into splinters, and it means that there’s better audio for more segments of the market, so I’m a fan.
The other part is how the Crusher effect has matured. The concept of Crusher is to make it so that you feel the bass. On the previous Crusher over-ear model that I tried, it was quite a concussive effect that made the music sound worse.
Image: Alice Clarke.
On this new Crusher 1080 ANC, it’s easy to turn the effect up and down depending on your mood and the genre of whichever song you’re listening to. More importantly, the Crusher is now less about violently vibrating your whole skull, and more about giving you the feeling of being on the barrier at a gig, and feeling the bass vibrate through you.
It reminds me of the first time I went to the Big Day Out: I was 12 years old, it was my first concert, and I just remember the feeling of walking up to the area outside the main stage and having the bass be so strong it reverberated through my chest and changed the way my heart felt. My ribs were vibrating in a new way. The music fully took over my body, and there was nothing I could do but surrender to it. Crusher is a gentler version of that, but it takes the personal listening experience to a whole other level.
With closed-back, audiophile headphones, I always talk about how it gives you the feeling of sitting in the middle of the band in the studio, an intimate listening experience. Crusher is the opposite of that; it transports me to the mosh pit, to a sweaty rave, to sitting at the drum kit with the wedges pointed directly at you as you play a show to a crowd singing along.
It’s obvious that these headphones were designed for dance music. That’s what shines the best, particularly with the Crusher effect.
Music tests
“Sissy That Walk” by RuPaul: The first thing that hits me on this song is how hard the bass hits with the full Crusher effect. I can close my eyes, and I’m in the club with all my friends. I can still hear the synths, and RuPaul’s voice is still super clear, but it has that distorted effect you get when the club has cranked the subwoofer up to max. It’s impossible not to dance along.
“One Second Of Insanity” by The Butterfly Effect: Turns out, Crusher is also great for metal and heavy rock. Once again, the Crusher effect has me feeling like I’m 14 years old sneaking into over-18 gigs.
Listening to “One Second Of Insanity” with Crusher on gives me this sensory memory of being at The Corner Hotel watching these guys absolutely crush this song. It also brings back visceral memories of feeling the reverb from my own kit when my cover band would play this song with far less skill but plenty of enthusiasm.
The bass drum is obviously at the forefront of the soundstage with the effect on, but the jingling of those open hi-hats is still so present. The bass guitar almost feels like a physical presence. Clint’s voice is perfectly recreated, going from being angelically smooth to a gravelly growl. On Skullcandy headphones, I expected everything to get dragged down and muddy with how the brand usually tunes the bass (and the added emphasis from the Crusher), but that’s just not a factor here. It’s as clean as you’d get at a show, which is dirty as hell, but I think what the company was going for.
Image: Alice Clarke.
With Crusher off, the headphones are still extremely good for this price point. Going back to my usual testing playlist, I can hear more than what I’d usually expect to hear from mid-range headphones, and certainly much more than I’d ever expect from Skullcandy.
“Simmer” by Hayley Williams: Yes, of course, the bass is still far more emphasised on other headphones, even without Crusher. But I can still hear the more delicate cymbal strikes, and most of the snare ghost notes. Williams’ voice is clear, and I can hear some of her little breaths.
“Georgiana” by Dario Marianelli: The idea of testing Skullcandy headphones with a delicate classical piano track would once have been laughable, but I am shocked by how well the Crusher 1080 reproduces this song. It’s beautiful, it’s delicate, and the mids and high tones shine just as brightly as the bass notes.
Unfortunately, the Bose spatial effect isn’t one I could hear clearly during the review period. I’m not sure if that’s a technical issue with my pair, or a broader issue with the technology, but it did not work for me. It’s no great loss for everyday music listening, though.
Comfort
These headphones are so soft. I can (and often do) comfortably wear them for hours. If I had to jump on an 18-hour flight tomorrow, these are the over-ear headphones I’d have in my bag alongside my AirPods Pro.
Image: Alice Clarke.
Noise cancelling
I’m writing this review on a plane, and I can no longer hear the person in front of me who has keyboard clicks on their phone. While I’m vaguely aware of the low hum of the engines, and now and then I can hear the ghost of an announcement over the PA, I can’t hear any of the conversations around me. I am shielded from the most annoying parts of commuting.
It’s perhaps not hitting the lofty heights of what I experience from Apple’s latest Gen 3 AirPods Pro, nor the Bose QuietComfort Ultimate. But enough of the external sounds are being covered that I’m impressed with the performance from this mid-range pair of over-ear cans.
The transparency mode is also very good. Not anywhere near the best in the business, but more than good enough for most uses.
Who is the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC for?
These are the best headphones for people who want to feel the bass in their music. To be transported back to a live music venue while in the comfort of their own home or the discomfort of a commute.
At $399, these are in the territory of being someone’s main headphones for years, and so I am slightly cautious given there are better noise-cancelling options close to this price point. However, these are such good all-rounders for metal, dance and rock music fans that for those who want to feel the bass, it’s a worthy trade-off.
Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC
The SkullCandy Crusher 1080 ANC is the most interesting pair of headphones I’ve tried this year, and ones that I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who loves bass-heavy genres.
Features
9
Value for money
8
Performance
9
Ease of use
9
Design
7
Positives
Excellent sound
Skullcandy's 'Crusher' effect is more refined and enjoyable
Long battery life
Negatives
Very specific aesthetic
Bose's spatial audio feature did not work for me during the review period
In the world of TVs, 2026 has been the year of RGB technology. Most of the major TV brands are using some form of RGB-based backlighting, including Samsung, LG, and Hisense. Sony also recently debuted its spin on the technology in the form of the Bravia RGB range.
I recently reviewed the Sony Bravia 7 II, and it really does show how deep the colours can look with RGB technology. As we’ve explored before, RGB backlighting replaces the traditional white LEDs with red, green, and blue backlights, which are capable of displaying the full BT.2020 colour spectrum.
For everyday viewing, the result is deeper and more accurate colours, especially when watching high-quality HDR media, like from a 4K UHD Blu-Ray. Combined with the growing trend of anti-reflective TV coatings, it produces a great viewing experience, day or night. It’s worth seeing in action, just to see what RGB technology brings to the table.
When I was a little kid playing princess dress-ups, long before I was old enough to pierce my ears, my mum got me some shiny clip-on earrings. They clipped onto my earlobes and were encrusted with dozens of sparkling fake diamonds, and they really helped with my role-play of ruling over the land of the teddy bears.
The Motorola Buds Loop is a set of true wireless open-ear headphones, and thanks to the collaboration with Swarovski, it’s covered in crystals. They’re easy to wear so we can all play princess dress-ups again, and I enjoy many aspects of it, including the concept.
But are the Moto Buds Loop worth the money? Or are they just a fun oddity?
My first reaction upon seeing the Motorola Buds Loop was surprise that the case isn’t also bedazzled. I am a strong believer in that if you’re going to do something, you should do it. Commit. These buds don’t commit enough. I’ll get more into the aesthetic choices below, but I had high hopes that were not met.
As far as setup goes, it was easy. I opened the box near my phone and connected from the Bluetooth section in settings, and then was able to ride off on my bike listening to tunes five minutes later.
Motorola Moto Buds Loop specifications and price
Audio technology
12mm ironless drivers Sound by Bose Spatial audio
Connectivity
Bluetooth 5.0
Battery life
8 hours of playtime with an extra 37 hours in the case.
Water resistance rating
Water-repellent design
Price (RRP)
$399
Warranty
One year in addition to your Australian Consumer Law Rights
In addition to those specs, it’s worth noting that the sound is tuned by Bose, so it sounds better than it looks.
But otherwise, it’s very clear to see that a large chunk of the $399 is for the crystals. At that price, you could get some really good headphones, or the best open-ear buds on the market. For $399 I would expect Bluetooth 5.3 at minimum, as well as an IP57 rating at least.
Motorola advertises the buds as being protected against “moderate exposure to water such as accidental spills, splashes, or light rain”, which is a bit vague. On a ride the other day, I got drenched when a truck drove through a puddle next to me, and I got splashed. Is that the kind of splash Motorola means? Or the kind of splash you’d see in a Neutrogena ad? With a specific IP rating, you can compare and contrast, not so much with “splashes and light rain”.
At least Motorola is more specific when it says the Moto Buds Loop are “not designed to be submerged in water”.
Comfort
This is a very challenging form factor to make comfortable. If you make the band too soft, it’ll fall off. If you make it too rigid (as Motorola has done here), it becomes uncomfortable if you don’t have the ideal ear shape.
I do not have the ideal ear shape. I can only get the left bud close enough to the entrance of my ear canal to get the optimal fit. By comparison, my right ear has lower-quality audio and the fit hurts.
This clip-on form factor is gaining popularity, with more and more headphones releasing in this style. Personally, I think it’s the worst of all worlds, but other brands (like Shokz and Bose) have managed to make it in a more malleable shape to better suit more ear shapes.
Image: Alice Clarke.
A reason why I think this style is the worst of all worlds is that it’s a pair of open-ear headphones that isn’t designed to be exercised in. One of the main benefits of open-ear headphones is that you can run or ride relatively safely in them.
While I don’t think Motorola would encourage it, I took the Moto Buds Loop for a 20km bike ride with absolutely no problems. They did interact with my helmet strap a few times in a way I found annoying, but they never felt in danger of falling out and (if I put them on in a non-optimal way, away from my ear canal), they were comfortable enough to be worn for an hour.
One thing I do really like is that the back plate of each bud has a physical button to pause or skip songs, and it worked most of the time! Not all the time, but it worked more often than it didn’t, and that’s something.
Audio quality
This style of headphones is designed for open-ear listening, so they’re going to sound different to a pair of AirPods or other more traditional true wireless headphones. The aim is for you to be able to hear the world around you and conduct conversations, while also hearing music or a podcast.
They’re not for audiophile listening or finding the beautiful details in a song. However, the Moto Buds Loop sound way better than they have any right to. Bose really crushed it on this one. They don’t hold a candle to my favourite open-ear buds (the Shokz OpenFit Pro), but they sound better than any other buds I’ve tried in this style.
With the buds in the (uncomfortable) proper position, I get a surprising amount of bass. Often on this style of headphones you can just hear the shadow of the bass, but I can hear the kick drum coming through and the meaty guitars in “Goddess” by Pvris just fine.
It’s better than I would expect on a delicate song like “Infinite Ache” by Kaki King. I get enough of the soundstage that I’m having a good time, even if I can’t hear the human details of fingers on frets.
These aren’t headphones I would choose for a first listen to a new album from my favourite band if I had other options. But were my ears able to comfortably get the optimal fit, I would happily use them while exercising when I was feeling blingy.
Aesthetics
Normally the aesthetics of true wireless headphones wouldn’t merit their own heading, but these Moto Buds Loop are really all about the aesthetic. The Swarovski crystals account for probably half the price.
I can see what they were going for: princess sparkle earrings. The problem is that, like on the case, they just didn’t commit hard enough. Had Motorola chosen a shinier, metallic material for the rest of the buds, they could have looked like premium jewellery. Had they covered more of the buds in the crystals, it would have been sparklier and worked better.
Image: Alice Clarke.
The problem is that these buds look like regular buds that have had some crystals glued onto the band. Which is what they are. The combo of sparkly crystals and (in the case of my Pantone Ice Melt review pair) light blue plastic is a lot closer to the dress-up princess earrings I wore as a very small child than the premium jewellery aesthetic Swarovski normally goes for.
It makes these buds look cheap and tacky, and it brings down the appearance of the crystals. Because of how they’ve been styled and paired, I really can’t tell they’re premium crystals. It’s also worth noting that Motorola has since released additional colours in this range.
I love the idea, and I think it is possible to execute this idea well. I just don’t think they’ve done that here. However, I’m an aging millennial. Maybe this is the aesthetic Gen Z is into. And if you love it, then I’m so glad this niche has been filled for you.
Who is the Moto Buds Loop Swarovski Edition for?
The Moto Buds Loop Swarovski open-ear earbuds are for people who love the way they look. You would buy this pair for purely aesthetic reasons.
You can get the same buds without the crystals for $100 cheaper. Plus, there are better headphones at the same price that (in my opinion) suit a wider range of personal styles. You’d buy these headphones because you like the way they look and want them to be a conversation starter.
Motorola Moto Buds Loop Swarovski Edition
If you loved playing princess dress-ups as a small child, you can now bring that vibe into your adult life with Moto Buds Loop adorned with Swarovski crystals.
Features
7
Value for money
6
Performance
8
Ease of use
7
Design
5
Positives
They sound surprisingly good
Long battery life
Sparkly design stands out
Negatives
Most of what you’re paying for is the crystals, not the tech
Uncomfortable for my ears
Only half-commits to the aesthetic, which is an acquired taste
