The IT Nerd

The final item out of my iStore goodie bag are the Moshi Mythro earbuds which earned a place on CNET’s best headphones for under $50 list. In short they are aimed at someone who wants to replace the stock earbuds that come with their iOS or Android device, and wants quality sound and construction without spending a ton of cash to get it. That sounds like a tall order. To find out if it delivers, I once again turned to registered massage therapist Mark Taylor who reviewed the Pencil by FiftyThree and the Two Hands by Felix. Let’s see what he thought of these ear buds:

The Moshi Mythro earbuds are very simplistic in design and its great that they’re affordable. Once taken out of the packaging I could immediately feel the quality engineered into the set. Comparing them to previous high end earbuds well in the $200.00 range that I’ve used in the past, they surprisingly work just as well, if not better. They seem to work well to casually listen to music on the subway and they cancel out any excess noise once fit into the ear canal. Trouble fitting your ears? Don’t worry- Moshi had covered that and has included three different sized ear tips. I tested them out in the gym, but I seemed to hit a limitation when it came to physical activities. I found that I wasn’t able to run or jump rope with them in as they would fall out and the music was muffled. I would suggest using Moshi’s Clarus as they wrap around the ear for a better fit. The mic button can be very sensitive if you’re wearing looser clothing. My zipper seemed to hit it and therefore turn off/on songs. Even though I cannot use them out for a run, or in my active lifestyle, Moshi’s Mythro are a great find for work, and casual use. I can definitely see why these headphones made CNET’s best headphones for under $50 list.

How much under $50 are they? They list for $29.95 USD. That’s a bargain given how well they work. Based on Mark’s recommendation, I’d put these on your shopping list if you’re in the market for new earbuds.

One interesting item in my goodie bag from iStore was this Moshi ionBank 5K With Lightning Cable. It’s a battery pack of a different sort that’s aimed at Apple users as you can see below:

It’s made of anodized aluminum and plastic. It looks very classy and will fit in with the other Apple gear in your bag. But it has a few tricks:

First of all, it has a built in USB cable for charging they ionBank 5K which is kind of on the short side. It can be stowed away by wrapping it around the ionBank 5K. You’ll have to supply your own USB to AC adapter though, or plug it into the USB port of a computer:

Slide back one of the aluminum panels and you see this Lightning cable. That way you always have a cable for use with your iDevices. The Lightning cable is not very long however. My guess is that it is about 3.5″ or so, It also means that when stored, the cable won’t get damaged. One thing to note is that you can charge a device via the Lightning cable and the USB port at the same time.

On this side of the ionBank 5K, there are four lights (though three are lit in this picture due to the fact that I had been using it to charge devices) which gives you an idea of how much charge is left in the battery pack. If you see four lights, the ionBank 5K is fully charged. It also has a USB port to allow you to plug any device into the ionBank 5K: You’ll need to supply your own cable though.

Inside the ionBank 5K is a 5000 mAh lithium polymer battery. That makes it light, and in theory it will provide a lot of charging power. The question is how much charging power. To find out, I charged it for ten hours to get it up to a full charge. Then I went about testing it in the following manner:

• I charged an iPhone 6 from 72% to a full charge in 47 minutes. I then checked the remaining life in the ionBank 5K and it was 3 dots which meant it had a charge level between 50% and 75%.
• I charged an iPhone 6 from 90% to a full charge in 45 minutes. I then checked the remaining life in the ionBank 5K and it was 3 dots which meant it had a charge level between 50% and 75%.
• I charged a ZTE Grand X 2 from 80% to a full charge in 20 minutes. I then checked the remaining life in the ionBank 5K and it was 3 dots which meant it had a charge level between 50% and 75%.
• I charged an iPhone 6 from 88% to a full charge in 45 minutes. I then checked the remaining life in the ionBank 5K and it was 3 dots which meant it had a charge level between 50% and 75%.
• I charged an iPhone 6 from 61% to a full charge in 55 minutes. I then checked the remaining life in the ionBank 5K and it was 3 dots which meant it had a charge level between 50% and 75%.
• I charged my BlueAnt T2 Bluetooth headset in 25 minutes.I then checked the remaining life in the ionBank 5K and it was 2 dots which meant it had a charge level between 25% and 50%.
• I charged an iPhone 6 from 87% to a full charge in 45 minutes. I then checked the remaining life in the ionBank 5K and it was 2 dots which meant it had a charge level between 25% and 50%.
• I charged an iPhone 6 from 78% to a full charge in 45 minutes. I then checked the remaining life in the ionBank 5K and it was 2 dots which meant it had a charge level between 25% and 50%.
• I charged an iPhone 6 from 46% but it didn’t get past 49% before it finally ran out of juice. It was weird that prior to this, it showed two dots which meant I should have had plenty of power left.

All of this was done over two and a half days. Clearly the ionBank 5K has the power to keep one or more devices fully charged while having power to spare. Its size and light weight make it perfect for taking on vacation or any situation where you might be away from an AC outlet, but you still need to keep your devices fully charged. But the fact that it ran out of power without waring was kind of weird. But that doesn’t stop me from saying that if you need a battery pack that will provide a lot of power, the ionBank 5K is worth looking at. It goes for $90 and you should consider it if you need to have extra power handy while you’re out and about.