GeekDad Review: Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2 Headphones

I am hard on headphones. Really hard on headphones. In the past couple years, I’ve killed 2 sets of the Apple EarPods and 2 sets of the Samsung earbuds that came with my various iterations of the Note 7, though the last set is still going strong.  That, my friends, is the only good thing to come out of my Samsung Galaxy Note 7 debacle. I wound up with three pairs of their earbuds and they are really quality devices. But I digress. We’re here today to talk about the headphones that cannot be killed. At least not by me, and oooh boy howdy have I tried. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2 headphones.

Stats and Specifications for Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2 Headphones

Let’s go through the technical side of things. The BackBeat Pro 2 headphones feature:

• On-demand active noise canceling or open listening mode to hear your surroundings more clearly
• Up to 24 hours continuous wireless streaming
• Work at up to 300 ft distance from a Class 1 Bluetooth device
• High-res sound with very balanced bass, highs, and mid-tones for listening to music
• Over-the-ear cushioned design allows for more comfort when wearing for extended amounts of time
• Audible status alerts for connection and battery charge levels plus an LED battery level indicator as well
• Automatic pause feature when headphones are lifted off ears or placed on a flat surface
• Swivels flat for easy bag storage
• Bluetooth v4.0
• 3-hour full recharge
• Plantronics Hub application for desktop, iOS, and Android allows you to fine-tune your experience

And the specifications:

What’s Included With Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2 Headphones?

The packaging for these is very slick. There is an outer box with a picture of the headphones and inside a very well-enclosed gift wrapped bag that makes you feel like you’re opening a present as you unbox the contents. Inside that pretty packaging we have the following:

• Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2 headphones
• Travel/carrying bag with a large zippered pouch for the headphones and a smaller side zippered pouch for accessories
• Instruction manual
• USB mini charging cable
• Auxilliary cable

Using the Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2 In the Wild

How do I use the PLT BackBeat Pro 2 headphones? I use them in a lot of ways and places. Let’s go through a few of those.

At the Office

I use them to listen to music while I work at the office. I have an actual office with a door and such so I could probably just use a speaker but when I’m heads-down on a complicated data analysis project I like to turn up the tunes loud and drown out the entire outside world. That’s a teeny bit rude in an office setting if you don’t use headphones. The quality of sound I get while streaming one of my Pandora stations or queuing up my Amazon Music playlists is superb.

Around the House

I will often listen to audiobooks while I cook dinner or do dishes. I love the Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2 headphones for this task. They are comfortable for long-term wear and easy to pause when you probably don’t want to lift them off to use the auto-pause feature. I can just tap the conveniently placed pause/play button on the left earpiece with the back of a knuckle and I can interact without much of a break in my action. Another tap of the knuckle and we’re back in blissful book listening mode.

The easy access controls right on the ear-pieces is superb once you learn where they are. You can pause/play, increase or decrease volume, and even skip ahead or back with ease.

In the Yard

Now we’ve come to the crux of why I say these headphones are apparently invincible. I wear these with noise canceling on when I mow the grass. I bet you’re wondering why this would put my headphones in danger. I have about 3 acres of mowable grass at my house and I have a monster of a mower to handle that. The mower is loud and big. I’m able to tuck my cell phone onto my person somewhere, turn on the paired headset and now I can enjoy fast, high energy music to keep me going for hours all while protecting my ears from the noise of the mower.

The clincher in why I love these headphones are the trees. I have so many trees I need to mow around. The fruit trees alone? 21 of those and since they’re only about 25 years old they aren’t actually all that tall. That means low branches to contend with as I mow. It is downright embarrassing the number of times I have misjudged the distance between my head (plus the headphones) and one of those branches resulting in the headphones getting yanked right off my head and thrown or dropped hard on the mower or on the ground. It is at least a dozen times this summer alone. And they still work flawlessly when I stop the mower, retrieve them and put them back on my head. Thankfully I haven’t knocked them into the pond. Yet.

Final Take

I absolutely love these headphones. They get used just about every single day in some capacity for listening. They can be used to make phone calls with a built-in microphone but I don’t really use them for that. They work fine for the task but the only place I use a hands-free device to take cell phone calls is in my car and these headphones wouldn’t be a safe option to use while operating a motor vehicle, at least not with the noise canceling option enabled.

I have found the auto-pause to be a bit over eager with me at times. I noticed that if I tilted my head forward or to the left quickly it would think I had taken the headphones off and would pause. This would result in me having to move my head up or to the right to wake them up again. I had some other folks with larger heads test this and it turns out it is just my tiny head! So if you have a smaller head like I do you can turn off the auto-pause option using the app on your phone and simply use the button to pause/unpause. Have a big noggin? Then you’re going to love this feature!

Another tiny head issue for me is that I cannot wear these to do tasks that require a lot of bending down. They will slide off my head, and have several times. This also means I cannot wear them to exercise unless I’m just walking, as the headphones shift too much and slide forward or back and require constant adjustment.

I highly recommend you take a look at these headphones if you are currently in the market for great and affordable over-the-ear, noise canceling headphones. The sound quality is really great, they are very comfortable, and easy to operate.

If you’re interested in picking up a set, you can find them on Amazon. I have the Pro 2 set, and that is what I just linked. They sell for $199.99 currently but there is also a special edition you can get for $247.85. The special edition comes with a hard case for extra care in traveling and can support Android Pair as well as Bluetooth for connection. Also, the special edition comes in a sleek grey-scale color scheme. If you’re interested in the special edition set those are also available on Amazon.

Plantronics provided a set of BackBeat Pro 2 headphones to GeekDad for this review. No monetary compensation was received. The Amazon links are affiliate links and will provide a small amount of money to the author at no additional cost to you if you use these links to make a purchase on Amazon. Writers need to eat, too, and this helps us make that happen

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