Beats PowerBeats 2 Pro: Does the Heart Rate Actually Work?

The new PowerBeats 2 Pro have a slate of new features for audio-related purposes. However, for sports-specific usage, they have one big new feature: Built-in heart rate sensing. This would not only be the first time Apple has created a non-watch heart rate sensor, but even more notably, the first time the company has enabled heart rate broadcasting over existing Bluetooth heart rate standards.

The question then becomes: Is it accurate?

Unfortunately, it turns out, that was not the question I should have started with.

The real question to start with is: Is the heart rate function (accuracy aside), even usable?

A lot of hours later, I have answers to both of those questions. And trust me, it’s a very mixed bag.

I’ve actually been a long-time fan of PowerBeats. There were the first Beats product I owned years ago, before eventually switching to the Beats Studio buds, then the AirPods Pro 2. But hey, I’m a fan of orange (as is every other company apparently), so a quick $249USD (299EUR in my case) purchase on Apple.com, and they arrived two days later.

Note that this review will focus exclusively on the heart rate features. This is not a review of the audio pieces (good or bad), the other new features, or the color orange. Cool? Good, let’s begin.

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