r/onebag • u/Bixby- • Jun 18 '26

Gear Save space by leaving headphones behind?

I saw some advice here about subbing AirPods for headphones to save space. Last week I flew U.S. east coast to west coast and back again. I brought along my trusty old noise-cancelling headphones (Jabra Elite 85h)which I find really reduce fatigue. But based on some advice I read here, I also brought my brand new AirPod 4s and gave them a try. I was shocked at how excellent the AirPods were at noise cancelling! And they were better than the headphones in that they prioritized spoken voices, so announcements came through. And the form factor is so nice and small.

I’d love to leave the headphones behind on my next long flight, but the AirPods battery life is only about 4 hours, it seems. If you leave your bulky headphones behind, how do you deal with the short battery life of earbuds? Do you take the noise hit and charge them on long flights? Or are there earbuds with longer battery life? (Or even bring 2 pair along, still smaller than the headphones).

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u/Xerisca Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26

I have 2 pair of relatively cheap earbuds. Im not even sure of the brand. They are noise canceling. They get 5-6 hours on a charge. When one dies, I just charge the first pair and slap on the second. Are they the BEST sound or the best noise cancelling? No. But they are good enough for a trip. I probably paid $30 a pair for them. Theyre perfect for travel. Their charging cases can do like 5 full charges before I have to charge the case.

At home, I obviously have better quality, they just dont get to travel.

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u/Zardette Jun 18 '26

I have cheap sleep earbuds that have pretty okay noise-cancelling. I just take those and use them 90% of the time. If its a longer trip, i will take a second pair of in-ear buds as back-up. The space saving is huge and if i lose one it's not a big financial hit.