Page 4: Arctic Sound P311 Case, Battery Life
Arctic Sound P311 Case
As with the E361 and E352 earbuds, the P311 comes with its own carrying case.
Similar to the ARCTIC In-Ear Case, the carrying case for the P311 is a hardbound clamshell case that is wrapped in a Nylon weave with a gold Arctic Cooling logo engraved in a metal badge on the front. The case for the P311 is a bit more heavy-duty then the In-Ear case. It has a thicker construction and two zippers for opening and closing it rather than just one.
The inside of the case is pretty much the same as the In-Ear case and has the same felt-like substance covering the entire interior. The circular raised portion in the top of the interior is the inset that the Arctic Cooling badge is mounted in and it doesn't get in the way when the headset is being stored.
While we were once again impressed with the quality put into what is usually considered a throwaway item, we were less impressed with the case when it was actually in use. The headset is designed to fold up and the speaker cups designed to rotate to fit into the case.
While the case did its job well, the way the headset folds up when traveling with them seems to be a bit inelegant of a solution. It seems like it takes up more room when folded up than it should and, as a consequence of this, the case has to be larger in order to hold them when they are being transported in it. This is far from a serious problem, however. It also represents our only issue in regards to the design of the P311.
Battery Life
We had no established number to go by for battery life testing while playing music alone other than the 20 hour talk time quoted on the box. Our testing methodology included running the battery to the warning period three times (the first time being the initial charge of the unit out of the box) and then charging it fully three times, then taking the average of both. Before charging the unit, we made sure to drain the battery completely, as one should when breaking in new rechargeable batteries.
With those methods in mind, we were impressed with the battery life that the P311 displayed. Not only did it match the quoted battery life, but all three of our tests actually surpassed it, leaving us with a three way average of a little over 21 hours of straight music playing. Keep in mind that this time wasn't actually to the point the unit stopped functioning, but rather to the point where the warning light and sound began running, so the 21 hour number is all the more notable. Also of note is that distance from the transmitter didn't seem to effect the battery life that much. A fourth test was run near the outside of the determined usable range (about 40 feet away), and the battery life was close enough to the average to be considered within the margin of error.
We were similarly impressed with the charge times of the unit. The box specifically states that the P311 has a charge time of up to four hours, but none of our three charge times exceeded 3 hours and 30 minutes. The average actually turned out to be just a little over 3 hours and 25 minutes. Furthermore, our testing showed that the unit could be charged with any USB Mini-B cable which is a great design decision in a sea of proprietary cables and connectors.
As with the E361 and E352 earbuds, the P311 comes with its own carrying case.
Similar to the ARCTIC In-Ear Case, the carrying case for the P311 is a hardbound clamshell case that is wrapped in a Nylon weave with a gold Arctic Cooling logo engraved in a metal badge on the front. The case for the P311 is a bit more heavy-duty then the In-Ear case. It has a thicker construction and two zippers for opening and closing it rather than just one.
The inside of the case is pretty much the same as the In-Ear case and has the same felt-like substance covering the entire interior. The circular raised portion in the top of the interior is the inset that the Arctic Cooling badge is mounted in and it doesn't get in the way when the headset is being stored.
While we were once again impressed with the quality put into what is usually considered a throwaway item, we were less impressed with the case when it was actually in use. The headset is designed to fold up and the speaker cups designed to rotate to fit into the case.
While the case did its job well, the way the headset folds up when traveling with them seems to be a bit inelegant of a solution. It seems like it takes up more room when folded up than it should and, as a consequence of this, the case has to be larger in order to hold them when they are being transported in it. This is far from a serious problem, however. It also represents our only issue in regards to the design of the P311.
Battery Life
We had no established number to go by for battery life testing while playing music alone other than the 20 hour talk time quoted on the box. Our testing methodology included running the battery to the warning period three times (the first time being the initial charge of the unit out of the box) and then charging it fully three times, then taking the average of both. Before charging the unit, we made sure to drain the battery completely, as one should when breaking in new rechargeable batteries.
With those methods in mind, we were impressed with the battery life that the P311 displayed. Not only did it match the quoted battery life, but all three of our tests actually surpassed it, leaving us with a three way average of a little over 21 hours of straight music playing. Keep in mind that this time wasn't actually to the point the unit stopped functioning, but rather to the point where the warning light and sound began running, so the 21 hour number is all the more notable. Also of note is that distance from the transmitter didn't seem to effect the battery life that much. A fourth test was run near the outside of the determined usable range (about 40 feet away), and the battery life was close enough to the average to be considered within the margin of error.
We were similarly impressed with the charge times of the unit. The box specifically states that the P311 has a charge time of up to four hours, but none of our three charge times exceeded 3 hours and 30 minutes. The average actually turned out to be just a little over 3 hours and 25 minutes. Furthermore, our testing showed that the unit could be charged with any USB Mini-B cable which is a great design decision in a sea of proprietary cables and connectors.