There’s a surge in open earbuds over the last 12 months, and I can see the allure; these buds are significantly easier to wear, and they deliver similar sound quality as regular earbuds. While you get several variations of open earbuds, the clip-on style is becoming popular because of its advantages.
Shokz is an early mover in this category, and its latest open earbuds, the OpenDots One, are easily among the best around. They debuted in April 2025 for $199, and are now getting their first major discount, bringing the price down to just $139 on Amazon — that’s a 30% discount from what they usually cost.
✅Recommended if: You need open earbuds that are comfortable to wear. As the buds don’t nuzzle into your ear canal, you don’t feel any pressure while wearing these at all, and they’re great for all-day use. On that note, the battery life is terrific, lasting up to nine hours between charges. They’re just as good in daily use as working out.
❌Skip this deal if: You want noise isolation. Because of the design, you don’t quite get the same level of noise isolation — these buds are meant to filter in sounds from your immediate vicinity. They don’t have AptX codecs, so you miss out on high-res audio.
I mostly wear open earbuds these days, as they’re just much more comfortable. The clip-on style of the OpenDots One means they do stand out quite a bit, but the upside is that you get a good fit that doesn’t cause any pressure even with all-day use. The buds are light, and as they’re positioned outside the ear canal, you can make out ambient sounds to an extent.
Other than noise isolation not being on the same level as the equivalent Bose and Sony earbuds, I don’t have any issues with the OpenDots One. The fit is great, the sound quality is astonishingly good thanks to dual audio drivers — it’s much better than I imagined — and they have a pronounced low-end that just adds to the vibrancy of the sound. You can also easily tweak the audio to your tastes, and there’s no sound leakage, so you won’t be disturbing anyone if you blast heavy metal during your commute.
(Image credit: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
Oh, and did I mention they’re light? The buds weigh just 6.5g, and most of the time, I didn’t even notice I was wearing these. While I was initially hesitant about the fit, I didn’t have any issues in this area — they stay put even while running or working out in general. You get IP54 dust and water resistance, and they’re ideally suited for workouts. While you don’t get the best noise isolation, I actually found it to be a good thing; I wouldn’t take these on a flight, but for every other situation, they’re pretty great.
The buds are interchangeable, so you can wear these on either ear, and they connect via Bluetooth 5.4. I didn’t see any issues pairing the buds with my Pixel 10 Pro and Find X9 Pro, and they connect to two devices at once. The case itself is easily pocketable, and it gets Qi charging as well in addition to USB-C. The only omission is AptX; you’re limited to SBC and AAC, so you miss out on high-res audio.
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(Image credit: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)(Image credit: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)(Image credit: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)(Image credit: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)(Image credit: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)(Image credit: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
You get just over nine hours from a single charge, and that’s honestly much better than most regular buds. There’s fast charging as well, giving you two hours of music playback with a 10-minute charge, and the case provides 30 hours worth of power — so you’ll only need to charge the case once a week (that’s what I did).
To sum up, the OpenDots One have been nothing short of wonderful. The comfortable fit is the main reason I like these so much, but that doesn’t take away from the great sound quality either. I like the battery life and IP54 ingress protection as well, and on the whole, these are among the best open earbuds I used until now. The fact that they’re on sale at $139 makes the earbuds a much more enticing choice.
