Review on 🎧 Plantronics Backbeat Fit 2100: Sweatproof & Waterproof Wireless Headphones for Workouts in Black by Janie Dennis

I have had the original Backbeat Fit headphones for many years and absolutely love them. I've often used them 3-4 hours a day, they stay comfortable and just keep working. After a lot of abuse they finally started breaking and I decided to try the new version. I've seen a lot of lukewarm reviews about them, but overall they seemed similar to the original reviews, most of which I felt were unfair or just plain wrong. As mentioned before, but it always seems to get overlooked, these headphones are not for hardcore audiophiles. These are semi-open headphones that allow you to listen to traffic, cyclists, etc. while running or on the road in general. Therefore the sound will never be perfect. That's good, even great for what they are, but they're designed to let outside noise in, that's no disadvantage. It also seems like a lot of people like me are upgrading from the original version, let's take a quick look at the differences. In general, everything is the same or a little better. The headphones are the same, fit and feel the same (which is great). The overlay loops are made from a softer/rubberized material and are slightly thinner. I would say a little more comfortable, but hardly a big change. The buttons have been reduced to one side (instead of two). It is excellent. The old method worked, but I see the appeal in discarding the keys and the new combinations take a second to learn and work just as well. The new buttons are okay, the tactile feedback is a bit less, but again just different, not better or worse. A nice improvement is that there is no longer a seam between the earhook and the connecting band. This broke on my original (after years of putting it in bags and backpacks) and that stitching is gone, it's one piece of material end to end. So they should last longer. Ironically, the electronic voice seems to have taken a step back. I don't care how they sound because I only hear them when I turn them on, but it's odd that they're noticeably worse, just more electronic and a little harder to understand. Not a big deal, just really weird. That's all. EXCEPT the hiss. I've seen some people mention this in other reviews but decided they were unlucky or just not used to the open ear sound. NO. I've had three pairs now (after returning) and all three sounded terrible. They work, music/podcasts play, but the background is static white noise that is 1/4-1/2 the volume of the podcast voices. The worst of the three was loud enough to sometimes completely drown out people's conversations when they quieted it down a bit. Tried to update each to the latest firmware, no change. After three attempts, this is obviously a design, software, or manufacturing defect. Basically, you shouldn't buy them at this point (November 2018). If they can fix the noise issue and provide reliably working headphones, I'll give them an unconditional 5-star rating and buy them immediately. In the meantime, buy the originals (which I will be doing in the near future). Also, the originals are currently worth about $25 less anyway. While the new ones are better in a few small ways, they're not really worth the extra $25. Buy originals. Update (January 2020): My second pair of the original version are starting to break (kid got them, my fault) so my wife bought a pair of these new ones from Costco and I've tried them again. . The exact same hiss and electronic voice was so bad it was hard for me to understand. I would give this copy 1 star, honestly I'm stunned that this is still an issue and that's a bad thing. I will buy the originals again and probably never try the 2100s again.