Cillso H97

Incredible battery life and a shockingly good mic make the Cillso H97 a budget call champion, but the cheap build quality is a ticking clock. Buy them for the gym, not for the long haul.

The 13mm drivers pump out a fun, bass-forward sound that's more than acceptable for podcasts and playlists. It's not audiophile-grade, but it's well above average for budget buds. What actually surprised us was the microphone quality. In our database, the call clarity lands in the 92nd percentile, which is frankly ridiculous for something this cheap. Your voice comes through clean and clear, even with a bit of background noise. The ANC, on the other hand, is more of a marketing checkbox. It takes the edge off a humming fridge but won't silence a busy commute. The real performance letdown is the connectivity, where some users in our data report random dropouts and volume fluctuations that can get annoying fast.

The Cillso H97 goes head-to-head with the Soundcore P31i and the JLab JBuds Pods ANC. The Soundcore has a more polished app and a more secure in-ear fit with better passive isolation, making it the smarter pick if comfort and a custom EQ are priorities. The JLab offers a more rugged build quality and a bass-heavy sound signature that's more consistent. The Cillso's main win is its incredible mic performance and that IPX7 rating, which the others can't always match. If you take a lot of calls and need something sweat-proof, the H97 is a dark horse. For pure music listening, the Soundcore is the safer bet.

At around $18, the value proposition is strong if you get a good unit. That's the catch. The price spread across vendors is comically wide, from $18 all the way up to $4750, so just ignore the crazy listings and stick to the standard retail price. For less than a pizza dinner, you're getting killer battery life and a top-tier mic. Just know that the low price comes with a gamble on long-term reliability.

The Cillso H97 is a budget earbud that gets the basics right and throws in a few surprises you wouldn't expect for the price. The real headline here is the sheer stamina: 40 hours of total battery life with the case and a solid 8 hours in the buds themselves. That's best-in-class territory for this price bracket. You also get a surprisingly capable mic setup for calls, which is a rare win on cheap earbuds. But you need to know what you're signing up for. The semi-in-ear design is a love-it-or-hate-it affair, and the build quality feels exactly like what it costs. If you're rough on your gear, these might not survive the year.

If you're looking for a reliable daily driver with a secure fit and solid build, this isn't it. Go get the Soundcore P31i instead. The Cillso H97 is for someone who needs a cheap, waterproof backup pair with a great mic, not their one and only set of earbuds.

The Cillso H97 is a classic diamond-in-the-rough budget pick with one glaring flaw. The battery life and call quality are genuinely impressive, making them a fantastic cheap headset for work calls or podcasts. But the flimsy build and reported reliability issues mean you're rolling the dice. If you need a disposable pair for the gym that won't die mid-week and can survive your sweatiest workout, grab them. If you want a daily driver that will last more than a year, spend a bit more on something from Soundcore or JLab.