1w ago

Best wireless earbuds when wearing gloves or mittens?

I need some new earbuds, and live in a place with severe winters. I want to be able to access the controls using gloves or mittens if possible.

The online reviews I've seen all assume that you can just touch the earbuds with bare hands, but when it's well below freezing, that sometimes isn't possible. If I have to take off a mitt to use my earbuds my hand might not warm up until I can get back indoors again. Earbuds that work with touchscreen-capable gloves aren't good enough either. I've never seen touchscreen-capable gloves that keep your hands warm at -40C.

Any suggestions?

31 comments

I can recommend trying shitty ones. I bought a couple of pairs of Temu and the clicky buttons are cheaper than capacitive touch, so I have two pairs that are easily pressed with gloved or in my case my shoulder when cooking or cleaning. They make a loudish click in my ear when I press the button, but it is not that bad.
A second and possibly worse option is to get wrap around earbuds, the kind that go behind the head. They tend to have buttons on the ear or just behind but still tend to be physical buttons most of the time.
- Even mediocre Beets earbuds have physical "click panels". I've used mine in the Upper Peninsula at -18F with gloves, hood, and ear covers.
  
  By "click panels" do you mean basically clicky buttons? Or is it the kind of buttons where you can click on the left part and click on the right part?
  The ones I have right now (Jabra) have a clicky button on the right, which is fine. But, the one on the left has a "click on the left side to do X, and click on the right side to do Y" setup. That one just doesn't work with mittens on for me. I can find the ear button and click it through multiple layers, but I can't manage to click on the right part of it. That means if I'm trying to say raise the volume, it's a 50/50 chance whether I'll raise it or lower it.
- Thanks, those are definitely options worth considering.
  If nothing else, if I get a cheap pair then find a good set, I'll have a backup in case I lose the better ones.

Sony WF-C700N. I've had my pair for a long time and I wore them on an Interrailing holiday, which included two days of cross-country hiking in Finnmark. In Northern Norway. In February. Not -40°C, admittedly, but below -20°C. They worked a treat and both have big, clicky physical buttons that are easy to use even through a hat, a thick scarf and gloves.
- Nice, I'll look into those. It's nice to get a review from someone who has really put them through their paces.
  
  I have the same exact model and I love them! They're light, a lot of earbuds try to pack too much. I know it seems silly when we're talking grams, but it does make a difference. Well made case. I've had mine for 18 months and they're still holding up.
  I also got tip replacements made out of earplug material, they do more than the noise cancellation ever did. I typically don't turn on the noise cancellation as I can't tell the difference and it only serves to drain the battery.
  Definitely recommend. And yes the buttons are big and easily mashed. I too live in a cold climate, and they held up just fine. At -30f, which isn't far off from -40
  Edit: also the earplug material traps a lot more body heat!

You can get little Bluetooth media remotes, maybe that would help?
There's a bunch of types but as an example https://a.aliexpress.com/_mMaANmb
- Wow, thanks for the link. I haven't seen one that cheap before. I was looking at a more expensive name-brand one but it's like 10x more expensive. The one you suggested is cheap enough that I can take a shot and see if it's something that might work.

I have several pairs of anker earbuds, one wireless and one semi wireless (connected to each other, not the device). They either have a little control panel/remote with buttons connected, or you can tap the top or bottom of the bud with a bit of pressure to change certain things (next song/volume, ect)
- Is the control panel wired to the buds? One solution I've considered is getting a small remote that I could keep inside my glove, but if it's wired I don't think that would work.
  If you know what model they are I'd be interested in learning more.
  
  It was attached, and they ate a few years old, and I don't see them anywhere on their website. They are similar to these ones but not exactly what you are looking for. Good luck searching
  
  A remote inside your glove, what a brilliant idea!
  Maybe repurpose a Bluetooth camera remote to adjust sound instead. These things connect to your phone via Bluetooth, and usually have 2 or 3 buttons. You can usually assign the button actions.
  Edit: Maybe you can use something like this and assign actions for the buttons (may need to use something like Macrodroid or Tasker). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084SFBDF5?psc=1
  I may just get one of these myself. Grabbing the phone for volume is a nuisance when it's charging and connected to Bluetooth at home.

Hey, I believe Sony has some open earbuds that you touch your face instead of the bud to do stuff. Maybe take a look?
- Um... like you boop your own nose to skip forward?
  I found an article about them. Apparently they sense vibrations, so you need to tap near them.
  I don't think I'll go with those, I don't want open ear designs, I want something that can block traffic sounds. I also worry that something that is vibration sensitive would be confused by the movement of a hat or scarf in winter. And since they're Sony, they're way too expensive to buy just to see if they maybe work.
  Thanks though, if nothing else, it's interesting to know about new technologies they're using.
  
  Glad I could help

My Samsung Galaxy Buds+ work with gloves. I work construction, so I have work gloves on quite often. The tap to pause/double tap to skip forward/triple tap to skip back works perfectly with work gloves on. Can't say I've ever tried it with winter gloves, though.
- Definitely do not work with winter gloves
- Thanks, good to know.

Ugh, I indirectly feel your pain. I don't have the issue with cold, but just didn't enjoy the touch controls on any earbuds I've tried, so I'm stuck using my older, slowly falling apart earbuds with inline controls. The earbuds have a wire connecting the two buds, and there's a little lump of plastic along the wire with 3 buttons, but there's no wire connecting them to the device. Short press turns volume up, down, pause/play. It also has functions mapped to long press and double press for things like next/previous, assistant, and I forget what else.
It's super hard to find any headphones lately that are Bluetooth, but still have a wire connecting the two ear pieces, and therefore a spot for the inline controls. I have no clue about the quality of these, just linking as an example of the style that has worked well for me: https://www.amazon.com/Scosche-Rechargeable-Bluetooth-Microphone-Isolating/dp/B01KU7EYZO
- Yeah, I used to have a pair like that. If you don't like poking at your ear, the in-line controls are nice. But, in winter those can often get buried in your scarf/coat which is a bit annoying.
  You might be interested in what some other people have said in the thread about bluetooth remotes.
  There are somewhat expensive ones that seem to be meant for either steering wheels or handlebars, and ultra-cheap ones that are basically a handheld remote. Some others are designed to be worn as rings. I might see if one of those will work inside a mitten. It could be ideal for winter. Maybe it's useful for you too.

Circumvent the whole issue with speaking to the assistant. Siri may be a moron but it works quite well in this application on AirPods. The AirPods Pro 2 are some of the best you can buy. They’re excellent.
I have to shovel snow plenty in the winter here an I just tell it to play, pause, volume up, etc. Doesn’t miss a beat and I’m not taking my mittens off.
- Nah, not going to do that. I really hate the voice assistant and never use it. Glad it works for you, but it's not for me.

31 comments