Razer Hammerhead True Wireless – Earbuds – Mercury – RZ12-02970500-R3M1

It did not come charged, so upon opening it I plugged it into my PC to start charging. When the earbuds are in the case and the case is plugged in, both the case and the earbuds should be charging. After leaving it plugged in with the computer on for about 2 hours, I came back to find the green light on signaling that the case was fully charged. However, when I turned on the earbuds and connected it via Bluetooth, the virtual assistant notified me that they were low battery. Within a couple of minutes, they shut off. I figured that the earbuds just needed more time perhaps. Later, I plugged the case into the wall socket via USB adapter. I left it plugged in for another couple of hours in hopes that it would be charged by then. Most of my other wireless headphones like my Bose Soundlink or Bose Soundsports charged within a few hours of being plugged into the wall. When I attempted to play a game of valorant on my computer, about 15 minutes in, the right earbud said it had low battery. Within a couple of minutes, it turned off again. Somehow the two earbuds did not charge evenly. Perhaps this is the fault of the case not being built well to where the actual charging parts of the case do not make good contact with the stem of the earbuds. This was very disappointing since the only indicator of charge is for the case and not the earbuds themselves. I tried to see if my computer’s Bluetooth settings would tell me the charge while using it, but it did not. It is also unfortunate that Synapse is not compatible with these earbuds. I did some more research and found out that there is a Razer Audio app. The app was simple and worked to connect to the earbuds, but it gave off very off readings. Upon connecting it would say 80/60 for L/R and then if I closed the case and reopened it, it would say 90/50 for L/R, respectively. Not being able to reliably see what the actual charge of the earbuds is difficult to say where the problem lies. It could be just one earbud that has trouble charging, or it could be both. Without a proper way of checking the charge, it is impossible to do so. I am going to just try using it and measure how long they last in one session even though I have seen reviews that it has a battery life of only a few hours. I will likely be returning it. If your pair charges well then I think these earbuds are fine for the price point. Personally, I would’ve been happy with the battery life as is. I don’t think that I would have been needing to play games for super long without time to charge between sessions. Sadly, this was not the case. I hope that it gets better with future generations (like even better than they already are with 4 hours per charge which is not super impressive).

When I first got it I was reasonably happy. Now it won’t hold a charge. It initially would only drop out for a few seconds. Now I can barely get it connected before it alerts me to the low battery. I am attempting to see if there is any warranty. Doesn’t seem to be any warranty. I had to buy a pair of Xiaomi ones anyway & they are great & not such a rip off as the $80 I paid for this garbage

Managed to snag this set for $80 during the Prime Day sale, but have owned the black versions of these since that product launched. What can I say? These are probably my favorite true wireless Bluetooth headset to date, and the only ones I have purchased twice. But as the title implies there are a few minor but nagging annoyances that prevent these from being perfect.

Sound quality is excellent for the price, with a powerful bass and fairly detailed mids with somewhat bright highs (these can be just a tiny intense for my liking, but can be helped quite a bit with an equalizer). If you have Dolby Atmos integrated into your phone (or an Apple device) the headphones truly reach the maximum potential in their budget bracket, and I prefer the Razer’s sound signature over higher priced competitors like AirPods. As a very large man with similarly large ears the comfort and fit is great, especially with the silicone ear tip covers but this is obviously different for everyone. I could see these being uncomfortable for a smaller person. As a really quick mention, the touch controls generally work well and I don’t have any complaints.

Battery life is great for me. However this is coming from a person who usually doesn’t listen to music for more than 3-4 hours at a time; I’ve had them die on me a small number of times but like my listening habits, these usually last for at least 3-4 hours of moderately high volume. Durability is great too: I am 6’3” and have dropped them multiple times when fumbling to take them out of my ears, and even after way more falls than they were probably designed for they’re still going strong.

On the subject of downsides, a minor caveat is that these use the SBC sound codec so you’ll be stuck with a lower theoretical maximum audio quality because Razer was too cheap to license other, much better audio codecs (come on guys, really?). To be fair, unless you are a hardcore audiophile I’m doubtful that you would notice, especially since this issue is somewhat remedied by the large, high-quality drivers inside. Also seeing as though these are in direct competition with AirPods it would have been nice to see more features like ear detection/ auto pause when taken off.

Case quality is also hot, hot garbage. Like, bad enough to warrant its own paragraph. The construction is that of the cheapest, lightest, most hollow feeling plastic that you could imagine, and can be easily scratched with a fingernail. The case on my first pair did not age well; after being transported in a backpack over the past year they look as if I had rolled them around in a pile of rocks. It’s quite ugly looking now. My first pair’s case hinge is also starting to get a little wobbly, due in no small part to the cheap and nasty plastic. I was willing to look past the other annoyances but I’m taking a star off for this one.

Other reviews mentioned pairing issues but I have not experienced anything of the sort, so I would chalk those up to a combination of lemons, hardware/ software incompatibility, and possibly some lack of technical know-how. These paired up with my PC just fine and I have used them across a multitude of devices across all platforms. Just make sure you have a Bluetooth 5.0 device and you should be just fine (though I have managed to pair these to a Bluetooth 4.2 laptop without any issues but your mileage may vary). Just to note: when switching between phones/ tablets/ computers I had to unpair them and then pair them to the new device, but as far as I know this is pretty standard.

Overall despite their flaws, I’d highly recommend the Razers! I’ve been using them heavily over the past year and aside from the downsides listed I really love these things. If there ever is a Gen 2 I’d like to see a much better case, better Bluetooth codec support, and maybe in-ear detection.

4/5

*Primarily tested on Razer Phone 2, iPad Pro 2020, Xiaomi Mi Note 10, and a Ryzen-based custom PC