When comparing GrizzlyBuds vs Apple Airpods, the Slant community recommends Apple Airpods for most people. In the question“What are the best rugged and durable earbuds & IEMs that last?” Apple Airpods is ranked 9th while GrizzlyBuds is ranked 18th. The most important reason people chose Apple Airpods is:
These come in at only 4 grams per earpiece. The absence of a connecting cable further minimizes the weight.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Sustainable design
GrizzlyBuds are committed to reducing consumer waste. Each part can be individually replaced, meaning that no working parts need to be thrown away if just one piece breaks.
Pro Replacement parts are cheap
If one of the speakers goes out, it costs $14 to replace. If the cable goes out, it costs $11. Note that the assembled product is only $2 less than building it from parts.
Pro Good sound with excellent bass response
GrizzlyBuds' sound quality exceeds expectations for their price range.
Pro Extremely durable
Replaceable parts aside, GrizzlyBuds are built not to break in the first place. Earphone components are housed in aluminum cylinders, and the cable is reinforced with kevlar.
Pro Lightweight
These come in at only 4 grams per earpiece. The absence of a connecting cable further minimizes the weight.
Pro True wireless
There is no band or cable connecting the earpieces. You won't have to deal with the noise caused by a cable rubbing against your clothes or body.
Pro Bass-light sound signature with good clarity
These headphones do produce some low-end, but the bass does not come with a lot of power and oomph. The highs and mids are good though. They are not too forward and present a nice level of clarity. Most genres of music will sound good with these, though bass heavy tracks like dance, hip-hop, EDM and the like may sound lacking.
Pro Easy to connect with Apple devices
Thanks to the proprietary connectivity chip used, the Airpods sync to Apple devices without a hitch. This is a noticeable advantage over many third-party wireless headphones where you might need to go through a lot of steps just to get them synced properly.
Pro Signal stability and quality is great
The signal cuts-off only on very few occasions. Generally, you should have a stable wireless listening experience. Also, there is no noticeable lag between what is happening on screen and when you get to hear the sound from these headphones when watching videos.
Pro Microphone sound quality is good
Voices sound clear and full so conversations will not be an issue.
Cons
Con Sketchy company
These originally appeared on Kickstarter as "IRONBuds", for which the company never delivered on their promised product. What they did deliver suffered from poor construction quality, and looks exactly like what is pictured here. The custom components that allow the parts to be swappable might have more value if they could be sourced from other companies or were held together with enough glue to keep them from falling apart in the first place.
Con No option for controls or mic
Despite a replaceable cable, GrizzlyBuds does not offer anything beyond basic headphone function.
Con Limited controls
There are only two control gestures (double tap on either one of the two Airpods), which is enough for basic running (where you might only skip a song once in a while), but less than any other headphones with inline controls.
Con If you get sweaty ears, there is a good chance these will fall out
Con Bass may be too light
If you listen to a lot of bass heavy tracks or if you want all of your music to have great low-end punch then the bass reproduction may be too thin for you.
Con Hard to acquire
In most places of the world, you need to wait about 6 weeks to get your hands on these.