Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I received a set of these to review compared to the BTH220's that I purchased (and still use, BTW). The little tweaks to the BTH240 were just what the doctor ordered. I used these for running and heavy yard work like mowing the lawn. First tweak: I think they made them just a touch smaller or tighter fitting, because these seem to fit better on my head. The 220's had a tendency to move a little bit and I would adjust them during a run. After 45 minutes on a "fire road" run (cross-country), I realized that they didn't budge. I wear a 7 1/8 hat. In other words I have a little head. I was also sweating like the proverbial pig since the humidity was up around 70 percent due to days of thunderstorms and unseasonably warm weather. Not a drop of sweat went under the ear pads! All of my sweat ran down my face and neck and none of it ended up inside the headset. With the 220's, after about 1 hour of wearing the tops of my ears where the earpiece slides over felt "raw". They must have fixed that issue, since I wore the 240's for over 2 hours mowing a huge lawn and they never bothered me at all. Still, adding a little padding on the over-the-ear part would be nice. Tweak 2: I liked the stereo sound better than the 220's. The 220's had stereo, but it didn't seem to be as "specific". For example, even listening through one ear piece, you could still hear the other "half" of the stereo sound, albeit quieter. With the 240's, if you only wear one side, you only get half the music (if it is recorded in true stereo). Sometimes I will remove just one side so I can have a quick conversation with someone, letting the music continue rather than hitting pause. This is where I really noticed the difference. Tweak 3: the obvious difference. The Playskool type buttons are gone. So is the occasional rattle you got from them. It was never that big of a deal for me, but with the 240's, no rattle at all. The buttons are in the exact same configuration as the 220's, but there is no real "button". Now it is a smooth surface that, when pressed, just presses in on the plastic cover. There is no question that you are pressing a button; it's not like on a microwave where you need the telltale "beep" or you can't tell if you did anything. You can easily feel if you are on the volume or playback buttons by using the center "bar" as your guide. As with the 220's, the multifunction button is right in the middle and super easy to locate. Tweak 4: New power cord! The new cord for the 240 is just like my cell phone power cord. Even the manual for the 240 states that you can use a cell phone charger for them. So now if I forget to bring my charge cord for the 240, I won't be without a way to charge them since I ALWAYS have my phone charger cord. Also, the newer cord folds up nicer and will easily fit in the bag with the headphones so maybe I won't have to use my cell phone charger. Tweak 5: Better manual. The new manual goes into greater detail. The 220 manual was just bare bones and didn't cover things like low battery notification. You just had to figure it out. New manual has better troubleshooting guide and FAQ section. Tweak 6: Longer run time before charging. I have been using the 240's for about 2 weeks at over 1 hour a day of actual music listening and I still have not charged it since the initial charging. BTW, the 220's will still hold a charge perfectly. I haven't noticed any decreased time between charges. Tweak 7: Standby time. When you have the 240's on but inactive, they go into a "standby" mode. All you have to do is push a button or start listening to music, etc. and they wake right up. Helps with that longer run time. Something different: When I first start my run and listening to music, it seems like the 240's have trouble "connecting". For only about the first 20 seconds, the music will "skip" and I get dead spaces. But here's the funny thing. After the 20 second "connection", I can put the headphones and my phone just about anywhere and it never skips again. With the 220's I had to move the phone so it was closer to the antenna. With the 240's, I can put the phone anywhere except in my backpack and it never loses signal. It seems like they have definitely worked the bugs out of these, at least for my use. The 220's and 240's are both great headphones. Some of the similarities between the two are call quality, loudness, music quality, battery life, and easy pairing with Bluetooth items. Call quality-Hubby called me during a run and he thought that I was on pavement since he couldn't hear the gravel road crunching under my feet. Said it was crystal clear even though I was pretty much gasping for air! Just use a normal tone of voice. You don't need to let everyone around you know you are on the phone. Loudness-If you want to hear what's going on around you (I know I do), they both go low enough in volume to accommodate. I don't want sound deadening headphones when I run and these are just right. The music quality is still right on even at low volumes. But if you wanna rock out, they will do that too. They go loud enough to wear while mowing a lawn without sounding like the speakers are gonna blow. Music quality-I'm no audiophile, but I know how music should sound and both models are very crisp and clear at any volume. Battery life-220's still lasting 8+ hours before charging (actively listening to music, not just standby). I haven't used the 240's long enough to need another charge, even after 14+ hours. Bluetooth pairing-I only paired both sets with a Samsung R355C phone. They both paired easily and have never needed re-pairing during use, even when I forget my phone and walk away. BTW, they beep at you when you are getting out of range. Overall, I would say Kinivo has made some needed changes to their headphones and turn out an even better product. BUT, I'm still waiting for the day when they make that "around the head" style adjustable so I can take out some of the unnecessary "loop". Like I said above, I have a small head so I don't need that big loop around the back of my head. Not a REAL issue for me but it would be nice if it was adjustable. I've only had the 240's for about 2 weeks now, so if I run across anything else I'll be back to update.