Jaybird BlueBuds -- disconnecting a lot now

[digduggler]

Well, this thread is making it an easier decision for those wondering which to go with: Jaybirds or Power Beats...

Keep in mind Beats only pair with one device ...

 

[Bryan Bowler]

Keep in mind Beats only pair with one device ...

I didn't realize that. So you can't pair them with your iPhone and your Watch and then choose which one to use?

 

[fischersd]

I got a BS answer from the CS rep I was dealing with when I pressed for what they were doing in their testing to yield better results, so I've asked "Alex" to escalate this to their management. I explained that they had already lost a number of customers to powerbeats 2 and would be losing more if they didn't provide clear guidance what to do to avoid this issue, without sacrificing functionality. (i.e. No, I'm not selling my vehicles and my watch)

 

[fischersd]

To close the loop on this (maybe I'll update again once I finally do receive my watch), I've decided to keep the JayBirds. The exchange with Alex only demonstrated he really didn't understand technology, nor how development processes work (and, he's supposedly a supervisor in their customer support organization).
I have them paired with my mac mini as well as iPhone 5s and am very happy with their performance. Need to get an armband for running for my iPhone so I can try them out (or just wait for the watch to arrive sometime in the next few weeks).

I really couldn't bring myself to buy the PowerBeats2 after all I had read about how poor their mid-range was. I didn't find enough evidence on any other pair of headphones that suggested they were comparable to the BlueBuds. So, I'll see if I encounter the disconnect issue, then work from there. I don't think I'll try pairing them with either of my vehicles (it's illegal in Ontario to drive with headphones) .

 

[fischersd]

Well, I received my watch on Thursday afternoon. The next day, I went for my first walk with it. Today I did again, but this time with a playlist synced on the Apple Watch and the BlueBuds connected to the watch.
Well, I could only put up with it for about 5 minutes before I switched the connection to the iPhone for the headphones. They were constantly being interfered with by my arm swinging on my left side, but the control / antennae for bluetooth being on the right side of my head.

I've re-opened my case with JayBird. We'll see if they replace them.

Maybe they'll say this is entirely Apple's problem, as the headphones worked fine for the walk with my iPhone.

One weird thing though - anyone have issues with the BlueBuds near water? At the half-way point, I turn around by a light house. As I was approaching the water, they were really cutting out while being connected to the iPhone. Wonder why that would be.

There are also some cut-off's with the iPhone/BlueBud connection if I turn my head to the left with the iPhone in my back, left pocket.

 

[swandy]

I have the Bluebuds X from Jaybirds. And was experiencing the issue of them being attached to my iPhone 6 and occasionally disconnecting. But it seemed to happen only when I was walking/running/biking and using the Map My Run app at the same time. As soon as I started just using the Workout App on the Watch, the disconnects stopped.
But it was obviously not just that particular app as I never had a disconnect BEFORE getting the Watch (and using the same Bluebuds X and same iPhone 6 - only change was the Watch being connected to the iPhone 6).
But as I said, since not using Map My Run, the disconnects stopped completely.

 

[fischersd]

Other than the exercise app running on the watch, that was it. I didn't have anything running on the phone, but I did have the phone in my back pocket (both to enhance the accuracy of walking in the app as well as to have a backup if the BlueBuds didn't perform well with the watch). I didn't think about the bluetooth connection to the iPhone interfering with the watch to BlueBuds connection.

I'll go for another walk and leave the iPhone at home and see if it's fine then.

 

[fischersd]

Went for a 12 minute walk. The experience was much better, but they did still cut out many times. I'll have to try taking them by water and see if that increases the cutting out as well.

 

[wrxdrunkie]

Went for a 12 minute walk. The experience was much better, but they did still cut out many times. I'll have to try taking them by water and see if that increases the cutting out as well.

Since upgrading to iOS 8.4 my bluebuds haven't disconnected once. They were disconnecting 5 times an hour before the update.

 

[fischersd]

Since upgrading to iOS 8.4 my bluebuds haven't disconnected once. They were disconnecting 5 times an hour before the update.

I don't even have my phone with me now. It's the bluetooth stack on the watch that has the issue (per the support folks at JayBird). It doesn't do well with multiple connections. (e.g. bluebuds and iPhone). Or, at least with their device.
An hour with the bluebuds and just the watch yields about a couple dozen breaks in the music.

I've been asking JayBird support if my experience is typical - they're being a little evasive at the moment.

 

[fischersd]

Just closing the loop on this. Sending them back (with 6 days left in my return window). Even though BestBuy says they won't take open headphones back, they flagged them as defective and are giving me a refund.

Guess I'll give the PB2's a try...doesn't appear to be a better BT set for exercising (and having Apple as the manufacturer of both means there won't be any finger pointing)

Nathan at JayBird support said:
"It's spotty from what I've heard. People get better results with it just connected to the watch with downloaded music, but it's not consistent. Honestly you have to wait it out, Apple Watch is still very new and will have many bugs to work out before it works well."

That's the use case I've wanted from the beginning - leave my iPhone at home, so it's just the watch and the headphones, but no dice. They're just temperamental as all hell.

 

[digduggler]

I believe I said this upstream, but if I disable bluetooth on my phone while paired to my watch with the JB, I don't drop out at all. If I leave bluetooth on the phone on and come near the phone after being out of range, it drops out almost every time.

 

[fischersd]

@digduggler - two posts above - #35, I say the same thing. Even just the watch and the headphones, it's not reliable.

Now, they could have offered to replace them, but they didn't. They actually performed MUCH worse on a full charge. Day 3 and 4 they performed much better.

They've proven to be unreliable - inconsistent performance.

One last note here (and kicking myself for not trying this before sending them back). I should have tried the over-the-ear adapter with them - that moves the controller to the left side, the same side as my watch. That may have made all of the difference (but, it would also drastically change the sound of the BlueBirds, as they wouldn't be in-the-ear so much anymore).

Something for others to try if they want to have these working well with their apple watch (and, hey, maybe Apple will eventually make the BT stack on the watch better as JayBird suggests - and their disconnect issues will disappear).

 

[dglax]

@digduggler - two posts above - #35, I say the same thing. Even just the watch and the headphones, it's not reliable.

Now, they could have offered to replace them, but they didn't. They actually performed MUCH worse on a full charge. Day 3 and 4 they performed much better.

They've proven to be unreliable - inconsistent performance.

One last note here (and kicking myself for not trying this before sending them back). I should have tried the over-the-ear adapter with them - that moves the controller to the left side, the same side as my watch. That may have made all of the difference (but, it would also drastically change the sound of the BlueBirds, as they wouldn't be in-the-ear so much anymore).

Something for others to try if they want to have these working well with their apple watch (and, hey, maybe Apple will eventually make the BT stack on the watch better as JayBird suggests - and their disconnect issues will disappear).

Tried that, moving controller to left (by flipping and re-arranging h/w), and it (eventually) works great!... but let me back up and explain set-up history and how...

a) Pre iWatch, I had being using Jaybirds with iPod & Nike+ Transmitter (plus Withings Pulse to compare) and NO iPhone. Of course, no issues... oh, and controller on RIGHT (normal usage)!

b) Once I got iWatch, started doing the same as (a), only got rid of iPod and Nike+ Transmitter. Again, JayBird controller on right with Pulse and iOS 8.3... Still no drop-out issues.

Then, I heard I needed to calibrate my iWatch, and to do that, run with iPhone -- that's when the 'fun' started...

c) Ran with setup (b) plus ran with iPhone: I only ran about 1 min (of my normal 40 min run), and drop out, another 5 mins, and drop out, and drop out, etc.

d) Same as setup (c), but got rid of Withings Pulse (because I read about too many BT devices are not good), and moved controller to left side. Results same as (c), i.e, drop outs all the time! So i) left/right controller doesn't help drop-outs, nor does ii) getting rid of BT devices!

e) Same as setup (d), but now iOS 8.4. Reset iPhone, re-set Jaybirds, re-paired iWatch (and all permutations of this), and results same as (c) and (d), i.e., drop outs!

f) Yesterday, same as (e), but didn't do any resets, BUT, first turned iPhone completely off AND DID NOT run with iPhone either, i.e., only JayBirds and iWatch. Results: Perfect, no drop outs! Also, noticed that JayBirds hook-up with iWatch almost immediately, and sound clarity for my 40 min run seems better!

So in conclusion, if I run only with iWatch and JayBird, there are no drop out issues. However, if I run with my iPhone, drop outs happen regardless of what I try!

So far, I've been running with the JayBird controller on my left side ('cause iWatch is on that side too), so I'll give an update here when I change back to it to the right (normal) side. Also, I'll update when I go back to running with my Bluetooth Withings Pulse, although I may not do this as after iWatch calibration, running with/without the iPhone only shows 0.03 miles distance difference on iWatch in 40 min run, and I'm interested only in relative difference day to day on same setup (and absolute distance only to pick a route.)

I also believe that it has to do with the iWatch/iPhone interaction via Bluetooth. So I'll run with iPhone again, perhaps when an iWatch software update comes out (2.0?), or if somebody here on MacRumors wants me to as I've always run without the iPhone!

 

[fischersd]

...I also believe that it has to do with the iWatch/iPhone interaction via Bluetooth. So I'll run with iPhone again, perhaps when iWatch 2.0 software comes, or if somebody here on MacRumors wants me to as I've always run without the iPhone!

Originally JayBird support was telling me it was contention between the watch, iPhone and BlueBuds (that the BT stack on the watch isn't robust enough). Turned off the bluetooth and wifi (just to make damn sure) radios on the iPhone and waited until the watch showed the iPhone disconnected icon on the watch screen and I still had inconsistent performance. (this with the factory reset done on the BlueBuds, so the Watch was the only device they knew about).

Maybe JayBird is right - maybe the BT radio in the Watch is just too weak to drive the connection consistently to the other side of your body...pretty pathetic range if that's true. (of course, the PowerBeats2's that I have now are over the ear on the left, so THEY don't have that problem).

I have no doubt this will be one of the areas of improvement with watchOS 2.

Happy hunting!

 

[dglax]

Originally JayBird support was telling me it was contention between the watch, iPhone and BlueBuds (that the BT stack on the watch isn't robust enough). Turned off the bluetooth and wifi (just to make damn sure) radios on the iPhone and waited until the watch showed the iPhone disconnected icon on the watch screen and I still had inconsistent performance. (this with the factory reset done on the BlueBuds, so the Watch was the only device they knew about).

Maybe JayBird is right - maybe the BT radio in the Watch is just too weak to drive the connection consistently to the other side of your body...pretty pathetic range if that's true. (of course, the PowerBeats2's that I have now are over the ear on the left, so THEY don't have that problem).

I have no doubt this will be one of the areas of improvement with watchOS 2.

Happy hunting!

If you look at my case (b), I was running with my JayBird on right (normal) side with no issues. So, I don't think it's a weak radio signal/antenna issue, rather a s/w issue.

I'll do a couple more runs with my current setup, i.e., controller on left side, to make sure it's solid, then I'll move the controller back on the right side to see what happens and report back.

 

[x-evil-x]

had horrible drop outs for 2 hrs at the gym today. I was using my phone's apple music to stream to my jaybirds. Watch was doing the fitness app the whole time. Is there no way to turn off the connection between the watch and the phone so i can just use bluetooth from the phone to jaybirds?
Also i noticed if i turn off bluetooth on my phone so the phone isn't connected to the watch and use stored music on the watch there are no drop outs.

 

[x-evil-x]

you guys think with the bluetooth(4.1) update coming in september this would hopefully fix it? I can't listen to anything on my phone without it cutting out every few minutes.

 

[Jigga]

What a disaster. Just got mine replaced and within 30 seconds it was disconnected again.

I've been using my Bluebuds for over 2 years and this makes them unusable.

 

[digduggler]

It's not just the jay birds people.

The watch is buggy with this.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/beat-wireless-2-bt-issues-need-advice.1876890/

 

[x-evil-x]

You guys see the X2 version of jaybirds now? Maybe these play better with the watch and phone combo.

 

[TheAppleFairy]

You guys see the X2 version of jaybirds now? Maybe these play better with the watch and phone combo.

I like the color choices, mine work fine so I don't have a reason to spend $180 on the x2 until mine no longer work.

 

[x-evil-x]

mine worked fine before i got the watch. Now i can't have my phone connected at all because of cutouts. Its either i don't have my watch on me and my phone or my watch connected with bluetooth off on my phone. Went through another brand new pair of bluebudx and they both had the same problem. Hoping this new version has something fixed with its bluetooth.

 

[Itsedstech]

Picked up the x2 last week, havent cut out once, have them paired to both my iphone and apple watch.

 

[fischersd]

You guys see the X2 version of jaybirds now? Maybe these play better with the watch and phone combo.

The ones I was using WERE the X2's. Wish I would have used the over-the-ear connector on them in my testing before returning them.

Edit: Scratch that....it was just the BlueBuds X....misremembering.