REVIEWED: Padmate PaMu Slide Mini
Travel-friendly true wireless earbuds going for a song
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‘True wireless’ earphones are the latest craze in earphones, but the market leader Apple sells its AirPods for a whopping US$199/UK£159. Cue a plethora of brands that are trying to catch the market for a cheaper pair of AirPod-like earphones that are just as good. For travelers looking for something lightweight and functional, Padmate’s PaMu Slide Mini look just the ticket.
Padmate PaMu Slide Mini: design
A super-slim charging case is what makes these earphones really stand out. Weighing just 39g (Apple’s charging case weighs 38g), the 70.2×33.2×30.5mm charging case is easy to store in a pocket when traveling. The 37.5x26x19.5mm earphones themselves are available in black, white, green or pink, but otherwise, they look very similar to AirPods. Also in the box are six pairs of silicone ear-tips so you can get the best fit, as well as a small carry bag. The earphones themselves weigh 7g each, while AirPods weigh 4g. The PaMu Slide Mini earphones are also rated as IPX6, which means they can resist high-pressure, heavy sprays of water.
Padmate PaMu Slide Mini: features
That charging case stores 400mAh when fully charged via a USB-C cable, which is enough to recharge each 85mAh earphone twice with something left over. However, the case itself also supports QI wireless charging, so you don’t actually have to use that USB-C cable at all. As for sound quality, the earphones use apt-X tech and use 6mm moving coil loudspeakers, attaching to a smartphone via Bluetooth 5.0.
Padmate PaMu Slide Mini: performance
The biggest problem with ‘true wireless’ earphones is that they run out of battery very quickly. In use the PaMu Slide Mini earphones lasted for about eight hours on a single charge, meaning that charging case carries inside of it an extra 20 hours+ listening time. So the earphones themselves last a little longer than AirPods, though the charging case is roughly the same. As they’re charging inside the case a red LED lights-up on the earphones, while four LED lights on the outside indicate how charged-up they are. TravGear got the earphones to hook-up to an iPhone easily to listen to music, but also to take hands-free calls and to use the Siri voice assistant.
Padmate PaMu Slide Mini: conclusion
Automatically pairing mode when taken out of their neat, travel-friendly charging case, the PaMu Slide Mini proved trouble-free during a recent long journey. There were no pairing errors of echo, the Bluetooth connection stayed steady, and there was no distortion during music playback, which is impressive. With just enough bass and some impressive treble detailing, all we missed on the PaMu Slide Mini was active noise canceling, but get the right ear tip and they’re pretty good at keeping out ambient noise, too.
