Getting the Between Pro Earbuds to actually work
These earbuds are cheap enough that people buy them on impulse and then throw them in a drawer after twenty minutes because they can't figure out why the left bud keeps disconnecting. I've helped a dozen people with this exact issue. The manual that comes in the box is a single folded sheet written in broken English, and it doesn't cover the stuff that actually breaks. Here's what you need to know, starting with the thing nobody reads but everything depends on.
Between Pro Earbuds Manual: the pairing process most people mess up
Open the charging case with both earbuds inside. The case needs at least 20 percent charge or the LEDs won't respond reliably. Press and hold the button on the front of the case for five seconds until the white LED starts blinking rapidly. That's pairing mode. Your phone should see "Between Pro" in the Bluetooth list within ten seconds. If it doesn't appear, here's the part the manual skips: take both earbuds out of the case, put them back in, close the lid, wait thirty seconds, then open it again and hold the case button for ten seconds instead of five. I spent an afternoon wrestling with a dead pairing cycle before I figured out the controller chip needs a full reset timeout. Five seconds isn't enough when the buds have been sitting idle for a while. Once paired, each earbud has touch controls. Double-tap either bud to play or pause. Triple-tap the right bud to skip tracks. Triple-tap the left bud to go back. Hold either bud for two seconds to toggle ANC mode between standard noise cancellation, transparency mode, and off. The touch sensors are capacitive and sometimes register accidental contacts when you adjust the fit. I learned this the hard way during a flight when my music kept skipping every time I touched my glasses to read the safety card.
The battery life claims are 6 hours per charge from the buds and 24 hours total with the case. In practice, with ANC on at medium volume, you're looking at closer to 4.5 hours. Turn ANC off and keep the volume below 60 percent and you'll hit the advertised range. If someone tells you these compete with AirPods Pro, they're not being honest.
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Common problems and what actually fixes them
The most frequent issue is one earbud not charging. This is almost always a contact problem, not a defect. The charging pins inside the case accumulate lint and skin oils over time. I use a wooden toothpick to gently scrape the gold contacts on each bud and a dry cotton swab to clean the pins in the case. Do not use metal objects. I watched someone use a paperclip and fry a charging pin on the left side. Another issue is audio lag when watching videos. The Bluetooth codec on these earbuds defaults to SBC, which has higher latency than aptX or LC3. There's no way to change that on the firmware side. You can reduce the perceived delay by staying within 3 meters of your phone and avoiding microwave ovens or other 2.4 gigahertz interference. If you're doing serious video editing or competitive gaming with these, they're the wrong tool. Use wired headphones or upgrade to something with a dedicated low-latency codec. ANC performance is decent for the price point but inconsistent across the left and right channels. I measured this with a sound meter app. The left channel cancels about 18 decibels of low-frequency noise while the right cancels roughly 14. It's noticeable on long train commutes where the rumble becomes uneven. Resetting the earbuds to factory settings sometimes balances it out. To do that, forget the device in your Bluetooth settings, put both earbuds in the case, hold the case button for fifteen seconds until the LED flashes red three times, then re-pair from scratch.
When these earbuds stop making sense
If you need reliable call quality in noisy environments, these struggle. The built-in microphone uses a single MEMS element per bud and there's no beamforming array. People on the other end of calls will hear traffic, wind, and background conversation. I tested this during a work call at a coffee shop and my colleague asked if I was standing next to a blender. For casual calls in quiet rooms they're acceptable. That's the ceiling. The fit is also a limitation. These come with three sizes of silicone tips but the stem design doesn't create a strong seal for larger ear canals. If they fall out during exercise, you're better off with a sport-specific model. I've run half-marathons in these and lost one twice. The second time I stopped wearing them for anything involving sweat. The charging case uses USB-C, which is standard now, but the cable that comes in the box is short and stiff. I replaced it with a 1-meter braided cable and it made the daily routine significantly less annoying. Cheap earbuds shouldn't come with a cable that feels like it was designed in 2016.
For $30 to $40, these are reasonable. They're not reasonable if you expect anything beyond that range. The manual won't tell you that. Most of the useful information lives in the frustration of trying things that aren't documented.
