Padmate Pamu Slide 2 Review: Back in Action
Indiegogo Price: $79.99
Disclaimer: Padmate sent us a unit of the Pamu Slide 2 free of charge to review, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own and were not discussed with the company prior to publishing.
For years now, Padmate has been competing in the budget earbud space with a lineup of high quality earphones for fairly affordable prices. The Pamu Slide 2 is the latest in Padmate’s product list that includes digital active noise cancellation, touch functionality and more. With Padmate’s constant evolution in affordable portable audio, is the Pamu Slide 2 the can’t miss earbud set to buy? Let’s take a look.
Big And Bold
Unboxing the Pamu Slide 2 is fairly easy and about as straightforward as gadget packaging comes nowadays. The Pamu Slide 2 comes with interchangeable ear tips, a drawstring pouch for transportation, the earbuds themselves, a USB-C to USB-A cable, and the charging case. Perhaps the biggest statement piece to Padmate’s design language yet, the carrying case on the Pamu Slide 2 is, for lack of a better word, absolutely huge. Meant to mimic the design of a camera and vinyl record, the case is thicker and larger than many of the other competitor cases I’ve encountered during my time reviewing earbuds here at The Sypnotix. And although the physical design definitely gets eyes on it as intended, I can’t help but think about how impractical it is to carry my earbuds in this case all day long in my purse or backpack. During summer, I rotate into a single pocket small purse that usually can handle my wallet, phone, hand sanitizer, earphones and whatever loose things I may have. The Pamu Slide 2 case adds a noticeable occupation of space compared to the oval shape of the Poco Buds Pro or the Google Pixel Buds A. Padmate tried to make the carrying case a statement piece when it came to the Slide 2, but in all honesty, I’d rather opt for something more subtle and minimal at this point. Practicality over style might be the better way to go for something meant to transport the main product (which is the earbuds themselves).
Despite its bulky plastic casing, Padmate maintains the same standards as previous products that we’ve seen from the likes of the PaMu Quiet Mini and original PaMu Slide. In fact, as someone who originally reviewed the first generation Slide, I would even say that there’s a noticeable refinement in quality that can be seen in how much more sportier Padmate tried to make its new second generation design. While the material is still a bit cheap feeling in quality, the earbuds themselves look less like AirPods now and have adjusted into a more original, active, shorter, and fitted look. There’s also more weight to both the carrying case and earbuds as well that makes them feel more fitted in the ear canal. I like how they sit in my ear and while the fit may seem initially tight, these are great for people playing sports or out on a run as they aren’t going anywhere with movement. I’ve noticed my ears adjusting to the fit over time to make it feel more comfortable, but if you’re not using them with intensive activities, you can probably size up on the ear tips if you’re planning on wearing them for longer than 30 minutes. It’ll help with the fatigue.
Product Specs +
- Active Noise Cancellation
- Transparency Mode
- Wireless Charging Case
- Bluetooth 5.2
- Low Latency Gaming Mode
- Touch and Slide Control
- IPX4 Water Resistance
- 10mm Dynamic Drivers
A Lot Of The Same Features
The Pamu Slide 2 uses Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity and has been a seamless experience when it comes to a quick and efficient connection. Pairing is speedy and I have yet to have any trouble connecting my Slide 2 earbuds to a device like my laptop or mobile phone. When you’re using the Slide 2 for voice purposes like phone calls, Padmate pushes an algorithm to recognize when you’re using it to speak in order to increase the sound of your voice. I don’t know how much clearer that really makes my voice as the other party that I asked for feedback on the line didn’t really notice much difference when I swapped between the Slide 2 and other earbuds in my drawer.
The Pamu Slide 2 also uses active noise cancellation (ANC) and can be turned on/off by simply pressing and holding the right earbud. I’ve actually been quite impressed with the ANC on these and can easily see them being used in a city setting on a subway or metropolitan area. So many earbuds nowadays advertise as having ANC, but not many of them follow through well with it in a functional aspect. Padmate has done a great job incorporating this feature into even their most affordable products for noticeable results. This is a solid mid-range ANC offering with up to 42dB.
In addition to ANC, the Pamu Slide 2 has 10mm drivers that help maintain strong and powerful bass. While some earbuds still have a rounder sounding bass than the Pamu Slide 2, it’s challenging to find earphones that can simultaneously emit good mids and highs in unison. The Pamu Slide 2 does exactly this and regardless of what genre of music or podcast you’re listening to, these earbuds find a strong medium between the sounds you hear. I find the audio to be well rounded and surprisingly full for earbud standards.
There’s also an accompanying Pamu app that is available on both iOS and Android. Here, you can customize settings like tap commands while making advanced adjustments to EQ sound effect, vocal enhancements, and transparency mode. To be honest, the app is definitely nice to have but on my iPhone SE, it is quite buggy. Despite listening to multiple genres of music and sound with it as well, I truly had trouble discerning the difference in altered settings. Nevertheless, I am pleased to see Padmate continue to improve on their product features and look forward to seeing more development with the app as well.
Another terrific function that works well is in-ear detection. Put the Pamu Slide 2 in your ear and it will automatically begin playback of whatever your media control was set to. Pull it off your ear and it’ll know to go to sleep to and pause that media. It also works really well with recognizing when you have one or both earbuds in. I’m constantly swapping between having both my ears listening to only having one bud in. I’ve used earbuds that don’t swap seamlessly and it’s not something I would want to use on a daily basis. Fortunately, Padmate has implemented multi-point recognition reliably on the Pamu Slide 2.
Touch Functionality
I love living in a world where touch functionality for my earbuds has become so normalized. The original version actually lacked the ability to quickly control playback of the previous track and I’m glad to see that feature added in the Slide 2. You can pick up and hang up calls, adjust the volume, and activate voice assistance as well. I find this to be the right amount of touch features that earbuds should have. Sometimes adding too many touch functions makes it confusing and ends up causing the user to incorrectly input motions. Just having the essentials in a cohesive manner is all that is necessary in my opinion. The Pamu Slide 2 will begin selling with early bird pricing of $79. While this price range isn’t necessarily expensive, it is a bit higher than the $49 that the original Slide was placed at. There’s also a lot more competition out there that Padmate faces now. While there are improvements here that I appreciate, I don’t know if they are enough to necessarily distinguish the Pamu Slide 2 from others in this price segment. While I am happy with the touch functions on the Pamu Slide 2, I find the $79 early bird price and eventually the retail price of $159 to be a little high if I’m being honest.
Great Battery Life
One of the worst feelings you can have is when you’re ready to study or hop on a Zoom call and find out that your earbuds are low on battery. The Pamu Slide 2 has had solid battery life ever since I first took them out of the box. Padmate advertises up to 26 hours of listening time with an additional six hours from the carrying case. This is a huge step up from the 10 hours the original Slide had. When it comes to charging, simply put your earbuds back in the carrying case and plug it in via USB-C with the provided cable or plop it onto a Qi charger. Having wireless charging on this is fantastic as I can just drop it on my desk while working. A neat LED bar light on the bottom of the case emits a progressing beam to represent the charge level to let you visualize the charge status. Here at The Sypnotix, we’ve been pleased with the battery life on all Padmate products thus far and the Slide 2 continues that trend. While I still recommend charging the case every few days in case you need extra juice, the Slide 2 earbuds have surprisingly been reliable and have lasted through many hours of listening and talk time.
Should You Back IT?
As of publishing of this review, Padmate is currently running their Indiegogo campaign to launch the Slide 2. They can be backed on the crowdfunding site right for $79 before eventually selling at an MSRP of $159. I’m quite pleased to see Padmate experimenting with different designs and shapes on the Slide 2. While I am personally not a big fan of the newly designed carrying case due to its bulky nature, I love seeing brands experiment and try new things. The Slide 2 is by no means revolutionary in a stagnating earbud field, but in terms of battery life and touch features, they’re big improvements from its predecessor. Nevertheless, I find the $79 price point a bit high, especially as Padmate sees more competitors in this budget earbud space. It would have been great to see additional features on the Slide 2 or a slightly better build material in order to elevate it above competitors. Regardless, if you’re looking for a reliable and long-lasting set of earbuds, the Pamu Slide 2 is still a reliable and affordable set.
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Lida
Always the number cruncher, the former narrative journalist turned data scientist, can’t help but find herself bursting with excitement with each new generation of tech gadgets. After all, predicting future trends is Lida’s forte. Any gadget that survives Lida’s torturous, adult working woman itinerary of over 700 notifications a day deserves praise!