Anker Soundcore P30i Review

Background

I bought these earbuds as I got fed up with getting through Apple Earpods (the wired ones), and Lightning -> 3.5mm adapters at a rapid pace. Maybe I am just clumsy/careless but they rarely last more than a couple of months for me. I chose the P30i as they were cheap, from a brand I knew and had noise cancellation.

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Specs

• Active noise cancellation
• Wind noise reduction
• Bluetooth 5.4
• 45H battery life
• IP54 waterproof
• In-ear style

Review

Comfort

At first I found them uncomfortable but after about a week that has worn off. I can now wear them for hours without discomfort.
Note that the initial discomfort was likely due to having never used IEMs before, rather than these specific headphones. For someone used to IEMs, they likely wouldn't experience even the initial discomfort, although everyone's ears will be slightly different.

Sound

The sound quality seems very good, it's no worse than the Apple earphones I was using before, which I considered to have pretty good sound.
A problem with the sound is wind noise. If there is any wind at all, or even inside when you are walking quickly, you will hear the air rushing. Maybe this is just a feature of IEMs, but it's pretty annoying, and I end up wearing a buff around my head when out (which I did sometimes anyway so it's not a huge deal)

Battery Life

Initially the battery life was very good, I never measured it precisely but it was in the range of 5-7 hours per earbud. Over time this has degraded a bit, with the earbuds now giving about 4-5 hours of battery life each. Considering they have had 300+ charge cycles this is pretty decent.
Regarding the case, I normally use only one earbud at a time, and swapping them into the case, with about 10 hours of use a day, I can go for 3+ days without charging the case. A USB C connector is present on the case for charging.

Noise Cancelling

The noise cancelling is pretty good. As they are IEMs there is a default level of sound isolation/cancelling, due to the seal they form in your ears, and the ANC on top of that makes them a lot more usable on a loud bus for example, than my previous Apple wired Earpods. As mentioned earlier, the wind noise reduction doesn't seem to work at all however.

Other

The case itself is decent quality, the bottom of it is very scratched but that's inevitable with plastic, and I haven't been delicate with it. I did experience some charging problems a few months back, but I cleaned the contacts and it has been fine since. Regarding connectivity, the Bluetooth works well, I can walk across my house, or out of my Uni room and into the kitchen, and they will stay connected (to my iPhone 8 at least, other devices aren't quite as good).
I wear them in the shower but I always take them off before washing my hair/head, so they aren't in direct water. Been doing this for about a month and a half and they are still fine.