I picked up a pair of the Sentry HM300 earbuds with mic at my local Odd Lots/Big Lots store. I was transporting a more expensive pair of earbuds back and forth from home to work a lot and I misplaced them several times in the process. So, I thought a set I could leave at work would be ideal and with the $5 price on the Sentry set, it was hard to pass up.My first impression of the earbuds... I got what I paid for. Unlike many earbuds, they only came with one set of rubber ear pieces so if they weren't the right size, you have no choice unless you are like myself and have extra ear pieces from other headsets. Second, the wire attached to the earbuds is really flimsy and probably easy to kink or break. Third, the metal cap on the plug was loose and not fastened to plug very well.
The last and most important note is the sound quality. Very thin and lacking in bass and mid-bass. Often, this can be improved with better fitting ear pieces which I tried. The larger ear pieces somewhat improved the low end response but, nothing like what I am used to hearing. Any audiophile would likely be very disappointed in these earbuds. Any youngster that likes to listen to bass heavy rap would really be disappointed.
What's not disappointing about these earbuds? The price... especially if you loose them or decide to leave them in your pants pocket during laundry day. The button to activate mic and other cell features works as expected and mic works well enough to be heard ok but, that is pretty much the only benefits to owning these earbuds vs. a better brand. This is definitely one instance where you get what you pay for.
