How much of this is down to the fit in an individual's ear? Whilst not being noise cancelling or even isolating, the original Airpods do an OK job for me of blocking out some of the background noise for me, but only if they're properly fitted in my ear. Anything less and I struggle to hear anything and its as if I don't have them in to be honest. I found those third party earhoox really helped.
Totally agree with the OP though about different headphones for different situations. I have PowerBeats3 wireless for running, a cheap pair of wired ones for really long runs and use my Earpods for when I'm working - particularly for audio calls and the like. I'm really interested in trying the Airpods out, but I suspect i'll use them to replace Earpods and possibly also for when listening to stuff on the iPad or laptop at night when I don't want to disturb anyone. And I'm planning on picking up a pair of Beats Solo for long flights, train travel etc.
If Apple did a pair of Airpods which were in-ear, they may have a chance of replacing my wireless beats for exercise, but as things stand, no chance.
But I get that not everybody can afford to, or even wants to have multiple pairs.