The Best Wireless Earbuds With Long Battery Life

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What does weekend yard work, intercontinental flights, and running ultra-marathons have in common? They all take a long time to complete. When you’re in the middle of a long task, you want the best wireless earbuds with long battery life. Full stop.

Now, if the batteries go kaput in your earbuds during yard work, you can always go inside and grab a portable speaker, or charge your earbuds for a few minutes; no harm, no foul. Another example is being on an  international flight, you can plug into the screen in the headrest in front of you and watch a movie, or read a book.

But when it comes to running, you can’t just stop and recharge your earbuds, or do something else to entertain yourself. Your wireless earbuds may be the singular thing that pushes you towards the finish line and without them, you may lose the motivation to train, or finish the race.

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What the Experts Say

That’s exactly what two marathon runners and one ultra-marathon runner explained to us when we discussed the most important aspects of the earbuds they use during training and race day. 

“There’s nothing worse than needing that extra push to get you through to the finish line and your music cuts out. That happened to me during the Chicago Marathon and the finish to that race was a struggle,” said Tess Sucher, a nurse and marathon runner. “I only consider headphones with at least six hours of battery life,” said Sucher. 

When it comes to longer races, Jordan Stuart, Senior Marketing Manager at Freeus and ultra marathon runner said, “I prefer headphones that last up to 10 hours, since I run longer races.” Stuart continued, “My gear is the last thing I want to worry about. If something is getting in the way of me having a good, enjoyable workout, then I will replace it immediately.” 

Beyond battery life, runners also hold comfort to a high standard. Brian Sucher, VP of Regional Sales for US Foods and marathon runner said, “I want a snug fit. I look for earbuds that stay in place throughout the bumps of running. I don’t want to have to stop and look for my earbud on the ground.”

Read more: There’s No Fiddling Around When You Get Hooked on With the Best Hook Earbuds for Running 

SPY contributor Alex Bracetti said this is the best earhook design earbud available. Full stop. And for good reason – the design is pliable, yet sturdy and keeps the buds from moving around in your ears, which is ideal for runners where the impact of running and jostle earbuds out of place.

Aside from the comfortable fit, the nine hours of listening time is among the best battery life you’ll find in a premium earbud.

Why We Chose It: We like the synergy between your iPhone and headphones including hands free operation thanks to Siri.

Improving upon already impressive noise cancellation, and upping the battery life from four to six hours from the previous generation, the Second Generation Airpods Pros made many necessary changes from its predecessor.

SPY contributor Jonathan Knoder has complained often about the short battery life from the previous generation, especially considering the price point. Now with two additional hours, as well as all of the synergistic goodness between your pods and iPhone, like on-call Siri and having it read your texts and reminders, make these even more ideal for iPhone users.

Read More: After 30 Days of Testing, Do Sony’s New Earbuds Live Up to the Hype?

Why We Chose It: If you hold sound quality and features like ANC above all else, these are the earbuds for you.

SPY contributor William Goldman wore the Sony Wf-1000XM4 earbuds on a cross country flight and said the ANC was superior level and reduced the noise from a plane greatly. Aside from the ANC, which is often touted as Sony bud’s bread and butter, the battery life is equally impressive with eight hours of listening time.

You can essentially get through the entire nine-to-five without a recharge. These buds are a bit on the bulky side, but if you want great sound quality, ANC and battery life, these are definitely the go-to if you’re looking for wireless earbuds with long battery life.

Read More: Bone Conduction Headphones Keep You Safe While Running or Biking Through The City

Why We Chose It: We feel the bone conduction form factor has a lot of advantages, especially for runners.

Ultra marathon runner Jordan Stuart touted safety as one of the most important factors when looking for headphones or earbuds. With the bone conduction design, you can still hear the outside world, meaning you can still hear traffic, or bikers on the trail, which is critical for the safety of you and others.

Aside from safety, the battery life is great at eight hours, and the IP67 waterproof rating makes these one of the most waterproof sets available, so you don’t have to worry about sweat or if the weather turns on you when you’re out and about on a training session.

In our own testing of the Shokz OpenRun, SPY contributor Michael Bizzaco confirmed the manufacturer’s rating for battery life. “On average, we got about seven-plus hours from a full charge at varying volume levels, and the Quick Charge function worked great — netting a little over an hour of extra playtime after our OpenRun died,” explained Bizzaco.

Read More: The Best Sports Earbuds for Active People

Why We Chose It: These deliver good sound quality at an affordable price.

These are proof that you don’t have to take out a small loan to get great sounding earbuds at an affordable price. SPY Reviewer Jonathan Knoder liked the addition of the Jabra+ app where you can adjust the sound profile to your liking. The app also tells you how much battery life remains in each earbud, so you can say goodbye to that frustrating guessing game.

The fit is comfortable and stays in your ears, even during long runs with the small bud design that tucks nicely in your ear. If you’re looking to save a little money, but still get premium sound quality, these are a good buy.

Read More: The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds I Are Some of the Lightest Earbuds You’ve Ever Used

Why We Chose It: Bose is an OG in the active noise cancellation world, and these certainly don’t disappoint. 

SPY Reviewer Jonathan Zavaleta said when these are in your ears, loud noises go from a roar to a hum. That’s no surprise considering Bose was the first brand to create noise canceling headphones. Bose redesigned the case and the audio tuning features compared to the previous gen to provide an even better transporting and listening experience.

One of the only knocks is the lack of wireless charging with the battery case, which was available on the previous version, but if you can go without that and afford them (the price tag is a bit hefty), these are some of the best sounding and best ANC performing earbuds around.

Read More: The 10 Best Cheap Earbuds With Pricelessly Quality Sound

Why We Chose It: We like that you get premium features at a budget price tag.

Noise cancellation, check, transparency mode, check, IPX7 waterproof, check. You’d think these were priced above $100, but you can score these for around $50 on Amazon. We like the extra waterproof resistance of IPX7 compared to the likes of Apple or Sony that only offer IPX4, ensuring that bad weather or even dropping these earbuds in the sink won’t cause any harm. And features like transparency mode help you hear your surroundings and keep you safe when you’re training in the trails or in the city.

Read More: There’s No Fiddling Around When You Get Hooked on With the Best Hook Earbuds for Running

Why We Chose It: We love the fit and the long battery life. 

Out running on the trail, SPY contributor Jonathan Knoder loved how these earbuds stayed put. And even if you’re a marathon runner, the long nine hour battery life helps keep you in the zone with uninterrupted music or podcasts.

The only real knock is that these don’t get as loud as other earbuds, but if you don’t need your music cranked to 11 at all times, you get really comfortable earbuds as well as good sound quality at a great price.

Why We Chose It: We like the amazing battery life and unique features.

These long battery life earbuds with 10 hours of battery are nothing short of impressive. Equally as impressive is the UVano+ case that uses UV-C light to kill 99.9% of bacteria that may be growing on your earbuds. We also like the fanned wing design that helps keep the bud inside of your ear without being intrusive.

Another unique aspect is the “plug & wireless” feature that allows you to plug a wired-requiring device, like the screen on an airplane, to the earbud case which serves as a Bluetooth converter allowing you to then use your Bluetooth earbuds with a non-Bluetooth device.

Why We Chose It: We like the sound quality and fit for the price.

Ask a marathon runner, and they’ll tell you comfort is more important than sound quality. But what if you could get both. In his detailed review, SPY Reviewer William Goodman felt that the JLab Go Air Sports were hard to beat when it came to sound quality and fit for the price.

The JLab Go Air Sports provide big bass and good passive noise canceling (no ANC available) that make everything from rap to The Beatles sound good. The fit feels great and with eight hours of battery life, you can get plenty of runs in or gym sessions before they need a recharge.

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How We Chose the Best Wireless Earbuds with Long Battery Life

While the long battery life wireless earbuds conversation has been geared mostly towards runners, just about everybody can appreciate the sentiment that earbuds should last a long time, be comfortable, and sound good. Combining our outside experts’,  as well as our SPY teams’ input on the topic of earbuds, here is everything we looked for when considering the best wireless earbuds with long battery life: 

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