I don’t know about you, but I can’t get on board with the AirPods Pro’s tailpipe design. If I’d participated in The Verge’s summer in / out list, they’d go firmly in the “out” column. But the Beats Fit Pro are a great alternative that you can often find on sale for significantly less, especially around events like Prime Day. Right now, for instance, Beats’ gym-friendly earbuds are matching their all-time low of $149.95 ($50 off) at Best Buy, Target, and Amazon (for Prime members).
What’s most appealing to me about the Beats Fit Pro are the fins that help the earbuds stay lodged in your ears — I personally can’t get the AirPods Pro to stay put in my canyon-sized canals, even when I’m stationary. Beats’ last-gen earbuds are also rated IPX4 for water resistance and offer better sound than Apple’s entry-level AirPods, with excellent active noise cancellation and a convincing transparency mode that’s far more natural.
You’re also getting some of the only earbuds that can match wits with AirPods in terms of Apple ecosystem integration, as the Fit Pro support head tracking spatial audio, automatic device switching, Find My, and even skin detection that reliably pauses playback when you take them out of your ears. (They also work great with most Android devices, but you won’t get Fast Pairing and other native Android features found on newer models like the Studio Buds Plus.) Now, if only they included a wireless charging case instead of relying on USB-C…