Eco warriors and those conscious of their carbon footprint also need earphones, and Skullcandy's latest true wireless headset offers an environmentally-conscious solution for just that. The Skullcandy EcoBuds hope to send a message against lithium batteries by taking it out of the charging case altogether. The earphones themselves have batteries, of course, but you only use the case and its integrated USB Type-C cable to charge the earphones themselves directly. For that matter, the charging case doesn't even have a lid, and the cable neatly folds into the bottom when not in use.
Skullcandy promises up to eight hours of battery life from the compact earpieces, and fast charging promises two hours of listening with a 10-minute charge. Interestingly, you can also charge the earphones from your smartphone using reverse charging. This unique battery-free approach to the case is claimed to deliver a 50 percent lower carbon footprint than competing TWS products, thanks to the use of 65 percent recycled plastics and 57 percent less heavy metals.
Now while all of this might sound great for the polar bears and rainforests, it definitely comes across as a daring and wild approach to your listening needs. After all, you're limited to just about eight hours of listening between charges, and topping up the earpiece batteries on the go involves taking a bit of juice out of your smartphone or power bank. Of course, if you can get to a power outlet quickly enough, you might even like the compact form factor and low carbon footprint of it.
The Skullcandy EcoBuds headset is priced at $39.99 (approximately ₹3,300), and uses Bluetooth 5.2 for connectivity. It's also IPX4 water resistant, and has touch controls on the earpieces.