Xiaomi Mi AirDots, After Three Months

Xiaomi Air Dots, my thoughts after two months of extensive use.

There is no beating around the bush, the Xiaomi Mi AirDots have stunned the market by being able to bridge the gap between aesthetically clean and unoffensive and not being an Apple Airpods clone.

Upon First inspection you will see that the Xiaomi MI AirDots come packaged in a flimsy cardboard box which was easily beaten and dented during shipping. Inside the actual box we are greeted by the Xiaomi Mi AirDots, Case, Micro USB Cable, and extra ear tips for customized fit.

Here are my initial impressions from them. Cheap feeling case, with premium feeling headphones. The headphone earpieces themselves are quite solid feeling and feel like they could take quite a bit of use. The case on the other hand feels incredibly cheap. The magnetic lid is less than stellar, and the micro usb connection does not inspire confidence. We will get to more of this later.

The sound these units produce is quite bass heavy and very "thumpy". They sound great with electronic music while Hip-Hop vocals can be often overshadowed and muddy. Much of this can be changed with a simple change to the EQ and you can clean up sound. Once you have tweaked the EQ the Xiaomi Mi AirDots are capable of producing a very pleasing sound. Although the Xiaomi Mi AirDots might not be the most accurate sounding headphone it doesn't make them any less pleasant.

From this point I'd like to talk about how they have handled over 2 months of strenuous use. This is to say that by and large they didn't survive. At least the case didn't survive more than a month. Aseries of minor drops onto tabletops, out of pockets and onto carpets killed my battery case. Tha's right, with regular use i was able to kill the case of my Xiaomi Mi AirDots in LESS THAN A MONTH.


At this point I decided to take the case apart and use my misfortune to fuel more Youtube videos on the subject. Needless to say i was slightly disappointed by the over the design of the case. It's clear Xiaomi was making a budget product when they engineered these. This is unfortunate since the charging case is an integral part of using truly wireless bluetooth headphones.

With the case quality aside you might be thinking that there is some type of hugely redeeming quality in the Xiaomi Mi AirDots and this is where you'd be wrong. They have horrendous touch controls as outlined in my youtube videos, their microphone is atrocious and can't be relied on for calls or even voice commands, and the playback controls are far behind their competitors. The reality of living with these headphones is that they ultimately fail have a quality that puts them ahead of other comparably priced offerings.

In a vacuum the Xaiomi Mi AirDots aren't a bad product. They sound good, fit in your ears well, offer a secure fit and ultimately are a 5/10 on most categories. Here is ultimately where the problem lies. The Xiaomi Mi AirDots do enough things competently enough to be an entertaining purchase but they fail to be astounding at the nearly $40 pricepoint they are available for outside of China.

The QCY T1 Pro is a far better option and I will do a follow up review on it on my blog.

Sigma 56MM 1.4 For Sony APS-C E-Mount

The sony 56mm 1.4 is an absolutely fantastic lens. I have been using this lens for a little more than a week and I love it. Here are a set of sample photos I have taken with it.

Purchase the Sigma 56mm 1.4mm E Mount Here

3 And A Half Scams To Avoid When Traveling In Vietnam

1 Ladies with hats offering donuts: they will give you donuts and over charge you for them. For locals these donuts might be 20k for you with a camera and obviously a tourist 100k

2 Cabs: They are everywhere and they are a headache. Use uber or grab ad it solves 2 issues. First is the language barrier, most don't speak English and explaining to them is a hassle. The second is getting ripped off. It sucks and they will take advantage of you.

3 Motorcycle rentals: If you are only going to be in Vietnam for a few weeks just pay for grabs, motorcycles cost anywhere from 5-7 dollars a day to rent if you are going to be here long term buy a bike, they are cheap and I have done videos about this previously

3 1/2. Parking: This one is trickier since you want to pay for parking in Vietnam. Bike thieves are numerous and leaving your bike unattended can get your bike stolen. Parking should cost between 5-20k vnd. A general rule of thumb, if you are parking directly in front of the store or establishment you intend to visit your fine for less than an hour. More… go at your own risk

I Finally Ate Dog

Dog meat is an extremely controversial subject but living in Southeast Asia the reality is that eating dog is pretty common. Although I don't personally support the consumption of dogs as food I believe that if I am going to be a meat eater I should have no moral quandary  with eating dog meat. 

I was really lucky to be accompanied by 2 others who were mature and adult enough to really open up and talk about this as a subject. Most westerners would shy away from doing this but I think it's an important and necessary experience to have if given the opportunity. 

Traveling around the world you're often exposed to a variety of weird and interesting food. I truly believe that part of traveling the world should be stepping out of your comfort zone and doing new and scary things. Eating new and crazy food is one of them and I hope you enjoyed my video. 

5 Things I Learned About Flying A Drone In Vietnam

1: It's a communist country be aware of government buildings: I know this might sound like a "no shit Sherlock" but unlike in western countries where the government is an entity that generally defends your rights the Vietnamese government couldn't be further from that. 7/10 times police in Vietnam care as much about your drone as a dog taking a crap down the street unless you are flying near a government building or a military base. Out along a stunning coastline or flying over open rice patties? don't worry, the police will probably try and chat you up and take a look at your screen.
2: Expect a crowd: While flying in Thailand I noticed a distinct difference in the type of attention I received when compared to Vietnam. Due to the increase boom in tourism recently in Thailand most locals have seen a drone before. Other than showing interest in me personally they couldn't care less about my drone. NOT THE CASE in Vietnam. Expect a crowd of locals who wants to see, touch, taste, and smell everything about your "flycam" before, after, and during your time in the air. This can often create safety concerns when landing and taking off because the last thing you want is someone to get injured by your careless flying.
3: Rooftops are your friend: In America the FCC is quite stringent about which frequencies consumer products can run on and reception and interference are generally quite predictable in that if you're in an area of high interference expect signal interruptions to be quite predictable. In Vietnam I've noticed my signal quality to jump all over the place. The best solution I've found for this is flying from rooftops and waiting for double digit satellite reception.
4: Understand it's still illegal to fly without proper permitting: In the same way locals blatantly defy police without fear of repercussion in areas ranging from driving without a license to domestic violence (live here long enough and you will see a violent domestic dispute in public) don't consider the laws to be more than basic guidelines that may or may not apply to you because of your skin color and country of origin. Like a wide variety of laws and regulations in Vietnam, the regulations for flying legally are expensive and an absolute bureaucratic nightmare. I have yet to meet any local drone pilots, commercial or hobbyist, who have actually obtained the necessary permits.
5: "Tay gotta Pay": In Vietnam there is a saying "Tay gotta pay". Tay is Vietnamese for Western and in Vietnam if any damage or harm is done to a local a foreigner is expected to pay. I was recently clipped by a girl on an electric scooter while walking down the street. She hit me going nearly 30K/h and sent $3,000 of Nikon equipment flying through the air to land lens down on the asphalt. Her response was to lie about having a sick family, attempt to drive off on me, refuse to give me her information and within 5 minutes there was a crowd of locals telling her just to drive off and leave. Needless to say, I would never advocate harming someone with a UAV, but understand that if anything happens the foreigner will always be responsible.

With all that out of the way Vietnam is an absolutely beautiful place to fly and I would highly recommend it. Understand that if you do decide to fly without a permit use extreme caution and commonsense. There have been multiple people deported from Hanoi over the last year for flying in areas they weren't supposed.