What do you do when you come back from CES with swag galore? More often than not, you leave it in your hotel room for the hotel staff to enjoy, because there is only so much you can fit in your luggage. But this year, it seemed to be the year of audio, and the year of True Wireless buds to be more specific. Perhaps it was again Apple that started the trend, with their Airpods and the removal of the previously-ubiquitous 3.5 mm audio jack on phone creating another venue of cash income for audio companies, and also phone makers. We've seen quite a few companies jump aboard this train to various degrees of success, and we will cover some of them in our Quick Look format that we debuted with the HyperX replacement keycaps. What better way to begin than via a $29.99 set of true wireless earpods from Altec Lansing?

Yeah, you read that right. We received two sets of these, in different colors, for visiting the company at CES. They had a plethora of gaming products to show off as part of a new business unit launching this year, and these Nano Pods are part of their TWS (true wireless) earphone lineup. There were three other entries debuting at the trade show, all of which were more expensive too, but no doubt these colorful, inexpensive earphones were what I wanted to start this series with. Read past the break for our quick thoughts and comments on the Altec Lansing Nano Pods!The compact MZX559 Nano Pods from Altec Lansing are claimed to be the world's smallest TWS earphones by the company, and they are colorful with six finishes to choose from. The earphones come packaged inside the carry case, which also doubles as a battery charger as tends to be the case with these TWS solutions, and we get them in a plastic wrap only. This is no doubt where the company saves money, which in turn helps keep the price point low. The mint green version above is functionally identical to the others, with a soft touch finish and the Altec Lansing logo on the top of the rounded case. There are four indicator LEDs on the side in a white accent trim, which show the battery status of the case (550 mAh total), but also when it is charging the earbuds via a blinking light. On the back are certification and technical specs, which also tells us the earbuds themselves have a 50 mAh battery each, so the case can charge them another 4-5 times. Charging happens via a USB Type-C port on the case with a max charging rate of 2.75 W (5 V, 550 mA) for some slow, slow charging. The quick start guide suggests the retail packaging may come with a cable included.A crevice in the case helps open it to reveal color-coordinated compact earbuds inside. They may well be the smallest such TWS earphones, but I've also seen others at the trade show that may compete for that title. The earbuds have a glossy plastic construction which feels fine, especially considering the asking price, and have more Altec Lansing logos on them just in case you decide to be a free ad for the company. They are held in place via magnetic pins which also enable charging, and the less-than-100% efficient charging here means you are more likely to get 4 charges out of the case than the potential five. You do not get different ear tips to choose from, and the default medium size is one you best hope works out, just in case the retail version does not come with different sets. For what it is worth, the quick start guide does suggest the inclusion of small, medium, and large size tips. The default medium ones did work decent enough for me and my colleague at CES, but that does not really say much without knowing the shape and size of our ear canals.

The rated battery life is 4 hours, and they did come close to 4 more often than not, with an average of 3 hr 40 min across ten separate use cycles. Battery life no doubt depends on the volume the drivers have to output, and your mileage may vary. The Nano Pods connect via Bluetooth 4.0 with a rated wireless range of up to 50', so again in theory you could leave your phone in a gym locker and then go work out. It is good then that these are also rated for IPX5 water resistance, so you are good to go with sweat. Indeed, I've used these in the gym myself without issues. The bigger deal, however, is that the audio output is just.. okay at best? My colleague reported audio crackling from time to time, and I often found the two earbuds out of sync for a few seconds each time, which in turn caused a stereo audio signal to be attempted to come out of one earpod and then another at varying volume levels. The audio signature is also marginally acceptable, with a decent bass output but nothing to write home about when it comes to the mids and highs. Vocals were an especially weak point here, and again I had to keep reminding myself these are $30 TWS earpods.What is impressive is there is still some form of touch control implementation here at all. The outer surface of the earpods have a touch sensor, and they also pair/unpair automatically to a previously paired device when taken out of the case or put back in. A manual reset did also help with the audio desync issue for now, and the soft touch controls on both the left and right buds allows for volume and media control, and often better than some of the more expensive such TWS earbuds I also took back with me from CES. Support for the voice assistant (Siri or Google Assistant) is nice as well, but do not use these as a replacement for a headset. If the audio from the drivers was mediocre at best, the microphones are even worse. This is a general issue across the vast majority of these devices, but the Altec Lansing Nano Pods make the rest look better in this regard. Still, for $30 and a release in different colors coming this spring, these will make for excellent gifts without breaking the bank, and even as a gateway into the TWS world.