Today I went to the supermarket, and spotted a deal on cheap earbuds.
I’ve been 50/50 on them, but a £40 pair for £20 was good enough for me to take a punt.
Are they great? No. Are they good enough? Yeah, sure, why not. They play music they take calls, and they act like earplugs when it’s noisy out. And they don’t get tangled up. Plus, if I like using them I’ll consider getting a pair which aren’t objectively e-waste when these inevitably die.
Can you change batteries in the buds themselves?
Yes. Buds and the case have replaceable batteries
It looks like this is actually the most common “repairable” part on earbuds, which is a little peverse. Ifixit has a few models which have replaceable cells (usually they take hearing aid batteries). The case which in my limited technical ability would appear to be theoretically easier to fix, seems to be a sticking point.
I guess that smooth lines and no screws is more important than keeping things going?
My cheap set looks to be glued down, strangely.