NextSense

I’ve been using the NextSense Smartbuds for about 4 months and honestly, I regret buying them. Comfort / Fit I’m mostly a side sleeper, and despite trying different tip sizes, these become uncomfortable after a while. Not “slightly annoying” uncomfortable. More like “why does it feel like there’s Legos in my ears?” uncomfortable. Connection Issues Getting both earbuds connected properly is weirdly frustrating. I’ll get the right side showing a good connection, leave it completely alone, adjust the left side, and suddenly the right side disconnects. Since you need both earbuds connected for full sleep tracking, it turns into a nightly mini-game I never wanted to play. Soundscape Problems When I first got them, the Soundscape feature worked pretty well. I’d play background noise and it would continue until I fell asleep, usually 20 minutes or so. Now? It shuts off after about 5 minutes because the app says “sleep detected.” Apparently blinking too slowly now counts as REM sleep. I restart it over and over, but same issue every time. If I force the Soundscape to play all night instead of stopping when it incorrectly thinks I’m asleep, the batteries don’t even last 7 hours anyway. Battery / Charging Charging is also oddly finicky. You have to position the earbuds in the case just right or they don’t charge properly. More than once I’ve gone to bed assuming they were charged, only to find one dead halfway through the night even though the case showed full charge. Sleep Tracking Accuracy The tracking feels wildly inaccurate. I recently had a migraine and know for a fact I only slept around 3 to 4 hours. The app proudly informed me I got 7 hours and 3 minutes of sleep. If that’s true, I’d also like the app to explain why I felt like roadkill all day. I’ve also gotten up in the middle of the night, walked to the bathroom, and the app still claimed I was asleep the whole time. Customer Support I contacted support, explained the issues, requested a refund, and so far… crickets. Subscription Pricing This part really annoyed me. They used to offer a monthly replacement/tip subscription around $15/month. Now they’ve “upgraded” it to: * 3 months for $59.99 * 6 months for $99.99 * 12 months for $149.99 For silicone ear tips. Silicone ear tips. I updated the app recently, so maybe something improves, but at this point I’m not optimistic. For the price, I expected something polished and reliable. Instead, I got uncomfortable earbuds, questionable sleep data, and an app that thinks I’m sleeping while walking around my house.

It’s 2:30 a.m. I am wide awake. I’m wondering why I don’t hear any sound lulling me back to sleep. I look at the app. It says , “active sleep detected.” I get up to go to the bathroom and it still says it’s detecting active asleep. Oh wow! I must be dreaming that I’m wide awake and writing this at 2:30 in the morning. Sending them back.

Amazing meditation feature now with brain adaptive music