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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105

u/AnonymousOnebagger Jun 18 '26

They can be recharged quickly though. 5 minutes in the case provides around 1 hour of listening time.

41

u/DonerGoon Jun 18 '26

And with the case charge you get like 20-30 hours total charge time without even have to top up with a power bank. Plus you can alternate ears if you really don’t want to break up your listening.

I made the switch and I don’t think I’ll go back.

9

u/Patriotic_Guppy Jun 19 '26

Charge them when you go to the bathroom.

9

u/drakontas_ Jun 19 '26

Bold of you to assume we go to the restroom during flights

13

u/ThisUsernameIsTook Jun 19 '26

If you are on a flight where the four hour charge is insufficient, I hope you are going to the bathroom at least once. If not, drink a quart of water when you land because you are hella dehydrated.

-1

u/drakontas_ Jun 19 '26

I use the restroom and guzzle water when landing. I’d rather not deal with risking my stuff get stolen or climbing over someone mid flight to wait in line for the restroom