I wrote off the airpods when they first came out, but then received a pair as a gift. They ended up being one of my must have items. I wish they wouldn't automatically switch to the lower bit rate when they connect to a mac or that I could tell the mac to never use them as a microphone.
However, I also see little reason to upgrade.
Strange that they switch to a lower bit-rate on the Mac for you. I use mine all the time with my MacBook, only when an application starts using the mic will it downgrade to a lower bit-rate. Do you have any software running that continuously claims the microphone?
I only have that happen when I use Siri (accidentally). Perhaps there's some setting related to that.
I've had mine for just under two years now, and I love them, but the battery life is just about halved from the original 8 hours on a charge and the charging case still only seems to provide 3-4 full charges.
But given the price I'm pretty sure I'll keep them around until they only last 1-2 hours on a charge.
Wait... yours lasted a full 8 hours? Mine lasted 4 hours when new!
Same here. Was expecting more. I’ll probably end up upgrading if/when mine die, otherwise will wait for the next release.