Okay Geek Farm
Tenqa bluetooth wireless headphones (HP-109) review
Ricardo Trejo
Headphones are a dime dozen, and so for us here at Okay Geek a pair of cans needs to do something more than just produce sound. They either have to have a style all their own, practical value, or some sort of feature that puts them above the rest. The Tenqa bluetooth wireless headphones we’re going to take a look at have an advantage over most headphones, and that’s the ability to go without the use of wires. How do they feel, look, and sound?
Features
- Fully wireless bluetooth headphones
- Packaged with USB charging cable
- Doubles as handsfree bluetooth phone device
- Hosts play, pause, forward, rewind, and answer buttons on side
Our Impressions
The packaging is quite light; an easy to pop open clam-shell box with the headphones, USB cable, and instructions on how to pair your headphones to your Bluetooth enabled device. Right off the bat however, we got to let you know that the USB cable provided was faulty and would not connect to any USB port — either on a computer or USB outlet. So for the purpose of the rest of this review we just ended up using one of our many USB cables that we have laying around — though this isn’t a good start.
The headphones themselves are the kind that wrap around the back of your head, and I got to say they’re quite comfortable. The earphone drivers are wrapped up with the common black fabric you see on a pair of headphones you’d buy at a pharmacy, however these are thicker and won’t rip any time soon by our estimates.
On the right side of the headset is a control panel full of buttons for music control; play, pause, rewind, forward, volume up/down, and also a pick-up button for answering phone calls which also doubles as the device’s on/off switch. When we first received these we were unaware of the hands-free mode for phone calls which is a nice addition tucked into these lightweight headphones.
Now onto if they work or not. Well, after pairing them up to our iPhone, which is as easy as holding the on/off button for a few seconds and then connecting them via the iPhone’s bluetooth setting we were set. Charge time for first time use is around 3 hours, and so after we switched out the non-working, included mini-USB cable we were ready to give it a whirl. Right away there’s a big issue that continually rears its head no matter how many times you use the headphones, and that’s the problem with sound pop’s.
When you first want to listen to some music the earphones do this annoying pop, almost as if they’re engaging or something, but they do this right into your ear! This doesn’t stop either. Everytime you go between a phone call, a text message or email notification you’ll be getting this very annoying pop.
If you can get over that problem then the headphones actually work quite well. They do everything as advertised, even reaching further than the 33 foot range that the headphones can be away from its Bluetooth source — we got 35 - 40ft. The volume is a little hard to manage though, with a slider on the iPhone as well as volume buttons on the headphones themselves. So to get just the right balance you’ll need to fiddle around with them a bit, or otherwise you’re going to get a distorted sound with some crackle in the back.
And as for the hands-free mode for phone use …ehh… we’d recommend staying away from it. We kept getting a sound delay, and also our caller on the other side complained of hearing an echo.
The audio quality is sufficient but not anywhere near perfection or luxury, but what did you expect for a solid $30 bucks? Battery life isn’t a slouch either, giving us over 10 hours of consistent usage.
Overall
In the end the Tenqa (HP-109) Bluetooth wirelesss headphones are a nice and convenient idea but not meant for the tech savvy crowd who want crisp audio quality when listening to music or even talking on the phone. For everyone else, who can look over its minor faults, these pair of headphones do everything as advertised and can be used a whole number of occasions — though we’d probably stay away from exercising since the fabric on the earphones might absorb sweat secreted from the head — not to mention that they aren’t that secure when being worn, and so might unfortunately bounce off if you went jogging.
Pro’s
- Budget priced
- Work just as advertised
- Bluetooth range exceeds packaging details
Con’s
- Sound quality isn’t perfect
- Hands-free mode is delayed and gives an echo
- Sound ‘Pops’ are frequent and annoying
Where to buy
Tenqa / Amazon — MSRP: $29 w/ free shipping
This review was conducted by Ricardo Trejo, who provided HP-109 bluetooth headphones by Tenqa.
