The wings on these twist to lock into your ear, and after a few sessions you stop thinking about whether they’ll stay in, which is the entire point of a sports earbud. The JBL Endurance Race 2 lists at $79.95 and carries an IP68 rating on the buds themselves, meaning dustproof and submersible, though the case is only IPX2 so don’t drop that in anything. Battery is 12 hours a charge and up to 48 with the case, and ten minutes of charging buys four hours. Bluetooth 5.3 with multipoint, four mics, and both noise cancelling and an ambient mode.
Sound is JBL’s Pure Bass house style from 6.8mm drivers, and this is the weakest part of the product. The sound is underwhelming and the cancelling is weak next to pricier earbuds, and the bigger problem is that they simply aren’t very loud, so in a busy gym you’ll still hear the room over your music. Plenty of cheaper budget buds sound better. For running with a podcast or a driving playlist it’s perfectly adequate. For anything where the music is the point, it isn’t the strength.
Fit and durability are why these exist and both deliver. I could not shake the Twistlock wings loose, even sweating hard, and stay put through the kind of thing that walks other buds out of your ears, and the transparency mode is genuinely useful for hearing traffic on an outdoor run. IP68 on the buds means you can rinse them properly. Two real annoyances. Sweat and water on the touch controls can trigger them accidentally, so you’ll find yourself flipping noise modes mid-run without meaning to. And with the buds rated IP68 but the case only IPX2, the weak link is the thing you’re carrying.
Bluetooth 5.3 with multipoint to two devices, so a phone and a watch can both stay connected. The JBL Headphones app has six default sports presets plus custom modes, which is more configuration than this category usually offers. Call quality is solid, helped by the four microphones. There’s no wireless charging on the case. Worth knowing before you order: the noise cancelling here is present but modest, so treat it as taking the edge off rather than creating silence.
Get these if you need earbuds that stay in and survive whatever you do to them, and you mostly listen to podcasts or high-energy music while moving. On fit and durability at this price they’re one of the safer picks. Skip them if you want them loud, if you want real noise cancelling, or if you listen closely. The framing of good value sports buds that cost considerably less than the premium options is fair. Just buy them for the wings, not the drivers.
Pros
• Twistlock wings hold through heavy sweat
• IP68 on the buds, so you can rinse them
• 12 hours a charge, 48 with the case
• Multipoint and a genuinely useful ambient mode
Cons
• Not very loud, so a busy gym overwhelms them
• Noise cancelling is weak
• Sweat triggers the touch controls accidentally
• Case is only IPX2 while the buds are IP68
Our score: 7.2/10