With improved battery life, Samsung's upgraded Gear IconX is a solid pair of wire-free fitness earphones. The buds fit perfectly (in my experience), sound great and now can last for a few days' worth of workouts on a charge. The deep Galaxy smartphone integration is a bonus for Galaxy owners.

Better battery life than the original IconX; Comfortable fit; Local music storage

Inaccurate workout tracking; No streaming music integration

The Samsung Gear IconX (2018) are a great pair of wireless earbuds. The sound is good, especially considering their size, and the battery life isn't too shabby either. Beyond just being earbuds for listening to music, you can use them when exercising to track your workout and get some motivation in...

A well-rounded pair of truly wireless earbuds

Great sound; Bountiful battery life; Useful run tracking features

You lose some features on other phones; Tricky touch interface; Occasional audio dropouts

Samsung's Gear IconX shows the maturity of a second-generation product from a company with a strong reputation for innovation in mobile devices. Samsung's choice to add fitness features and integrated memory for standalone playback wouldn't necessarily convince you to buy an inferior product.

The first generation Gear IconX had won me over, and now it seems that this second generation is following the same trend. Samsung has apparently corrected the main problem of its Bluetooth earphones by increasing the battery life while adding some new fitness and musical features, which will be...

The first Gear IconX weren't very good wireless earbuds. While it was a good first attempt on Samsung's part at a pair of wireless earbuds, the original IconX had limited battery life, not to mention other niggling issues like iffy wireless performance.

I originally purchased the 1st generation Gear Icon ear buds and was not satisfied. They were a great concept but didn't stay connected. I returned them to Samsung (while still under warranty) and they were not able to fix the issue and gave me a great refund.

While the Gear IconX 2018 brings better battery life than its predecessor, it still has problems that prevent it from being a truly outstanding audio product.

Onboard storage; Better battery life

Average audio quality; Poor iOS compatibility; Overly snug fit

In Samsung's efforts to lean into everything that worked about the original IconX, they've pivoted away from everything the product could be. They're successful in that they improve upon the original, but every step of the way it's clear that Samsung took the road of least resistance in achieving...

On-board storage still good; Improved ergonomics

Not a huge improvement over original buds

With the asking price varying between about $200 and $250 depending on your place of purchase, Samsung's Gear IconX 2018 really aren't super expensive for what they offer. Pretty good audio quality in a tiny, comfortable package that you can wear quite easily for hours on end.