Bluetooth was introduced on May 7, 1989. I think I first heard of it in the mid-2000’s. People would use it to try to send contact info or other files between feature phones. As I recall, it had about a 50% chance of actually working. All of my attempts fell squarely in the failing 50%. So I ignored it for a few more years.

Then there were smart phones with Bluetooth and laptops had Bluetooth. There were Bluetooth mice and eventually Bluetooth fitness devices and smart(ish) watches. And they all SUCKED.

Bluetooth and Me: A History

Mice

Every Bluetooth mouse I had was slammed down on the desk in frustration at least once. And only very narrowly avoided being hurled across the room. When you’re using something all day every day, 99% uptime is unacceptable. I’d be in the middle of something and the mouse would just stop responding and I’d have to spend a minute or so reconnecting it. Then it might be fine for several more hours. I tried several and finally quit. I’m firmly in the wireless USB dongle camp now as far as mice go. Logitech’s MX Master 3 is glorious. It actually supports Bluetooth AND wireless. I think I tried an earlier version of the MX Master on Bluetooth and quit the first time it disconnected. The wireless dongle has never once failed me, and I’ve used many.

Headphones

Specifically, I’m talking about “earbuds” or what the kids call “IEMs” (in-ear monitors) these days. I’ve had multiple sets of these. Historically, they suffer from four issues:

1. Poor audio quality.
2. Discomfort due to weight.
3. Poor battery life.
4. Connectivity issues.
5. Cost.

You could probably come up with something where you could say you get to choose three out of those 5 points. Maybe. The point is, they play off each other. Better battery life means more weight and cost. Anyway, I never had a pair that I was happy with. In the end, the hassle of a cord (and these days a USB-C adapter) has always been less than the hassle of battery, discomfort, poor sound, and connection problems.

Speakers

I’ve also had multiple Bluetooth speakers. And I’ll even throw my car stereo system into this category. These have been so-so. Connectivity has often been an issue. Some good, some not so good. My car in particular is really bad. It always takes a minute or so and at least two tries to actually connect my phone.

The other thing that has killed me with Bluetooth speakers is that they’ve always had horrible performance on listening to voice audio sources. Music is ok, but just about every one I’ve had cuts out in the silence between words. It will pick up again when it hears the next set of words, but routinely a few words will be lost on almost every sentence. I listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks, and this was always impossible with every Bluetooth speaker I had.

Fitness Devices / Smartwatches

I’ve had multiple running watches that had Bluetooth, as well as several Fitbits and an Android Wear watch. Generally, the Bluetooth has worked great. Until it stopped working great. When they decided to stop connecting via Bluetooth, it seemed like there was nothing I could do to get them to reconnect. Even rebooting the device and whatever device it was trying to connect to. But then at some point it would just start working again for however many days.

All this is to say that I’m not just someone who hates something they’ve never tried. I’ve had dozens of Bluetooth devices and every single one of them has caused me some level of frustration. And yet, I keep buying them, holding out hope. (Except mice. I’ve eternally given up on Bluetooth mice.)

But wait!

In the last couple of months, I’ve purchased three Bluetooth devices that I’m actually quite happy with!

Galaxy Buds Plus

For some reason, I decided to take another leap of faith and got another set of Bluetooth ear buds. I checked out a ton of reviews on these things and these seemed like a solid buy. The cost was $139 on Amazon, which isn’t cheap, but not exorbitant. I’ve been amazed at how happy I am with these things. There’s nothing I can say about these that is negative.

Battery life is great. They have the charging case, which itself has wireless charging. I already have wireless charges scattered around the house, so it’s super easy to just toss it on one of them.

Connectivity has been flawless. They connect instantly, never lose the connection.

They are comfortable. I use them with foam tips, which I always get for any earbuds. Never get uncomfortable. I’ve used them while running and they stay put and feel fine.

Sound is quite good. Most of the time I’m listening to podcasts and audiobooks on my phone. They sound great for that. To be honest, for music, I stick with my Sony Walkman NW-A55 and wired Ikko OH-1 IEMs. That’s been a life changing combination. But if I’m running with my phone and want to listen to music, I’ll use the Buds for that, as the music is just background at that point.

I’ve had these for two and a half months now and I can’t say enough good about them. These are the items that have finally sold me on the idea that Bluetooth has made it.

JBL Flip 5

Speaking of sound, I recently picked up a Bluetooth speaker. To be completely transparent, I got this for free. A while back I switched to Verizon Fios and out of the blue they sent me this $100 coupon for the Verizon store as thanks for switching. Lots of phones and phone cases, chargers and headphones, none of which I really needed. I didn’t really need a Bluetooth speaker, but this had pretty good reviews and came to $95 with tax, so why not?

It sounds good, connectivity even on multiple devices has been great, and it works flawlessly with audiobooks and podcasts. Huge battery with lots of listening time. Also, you can turn off the power on/off and Bluetooth connect/disconnect sounds, which has been a big annoyance on every other speaker I’ve had.

Garmin Forerunner 235

In the last month I started running again. I pulled out my old Garmin running watch, which I hadn’t used in … sadly, years. After a full day of charging and trying to get it running, with no success, I ordered a new Garmin watch, the Forerunner 235.

It’s very nice. It’s a full on smartwatch (not Android), which you can add apps and watch faces to. I did set up a better watch face, but not really interested in other apps. It does all day heart rate and sleep tracking. Battery lasts a week if you’re not running. GPS while running will suck it down faster, but will still let you run for many hours without a problem.

It connects to the Garmin Express phone app via Bluetooth and that’s been nearly perfect. When I finish a run, if I have my phone on me, it nearly instantly syncs to the cloud via Bluetooth and phone. If I don’t have my phone on me, it often syncs as soon as I walk into my driveway, with my phone inside the house. Downright impressive.

Summary

Bluetooth may have won me over. I look forward to seeing other quality implementations, though I’m not holding my breath on the mouse situation.