The picture you see above is my third V-Moda Vibe Duo headset. It most likely be the last product I buy from V-Moda.
Let’s start from the beginning.
I bought my first generation iPhone in late January 2008. Knowing well the shitty quality of Apple’s included earbuds, I decided to get the only other headset that (at the time) had an inline microphone – the V-Moda Vibe Duo. Having a headset with a microphone is crucial when you have an iPhone as the iPhone doesn’t have the loudest speaker and it’s not comfortable to hold to your ear (what mobile phone is for that matter?).
Let me note that I read through a few dozen reviews on the Apple Store website prior to making my purchase. There were five or six reviews describing V-Moda headsets that broke after a short time. I decided I’d give V-Moda the benefit of the doubt and buy their product (that’s how much I hated Apple’s included earbuds). Perhaps these people got a bad batch.
My first pair of V-Moda’s lasted about three months before they stopped working for me. What I mean by this is that they stopped producing sound. Completely.
When this happened I went onto the V-Moda website and followed all the instructions for returns (I’m OCD about keeping recipes and boxes, especially for electronics). I wasn’t happy I had to pay for shipping, but other than that, it was cake. My new headset was delivered to me within about three weeks. Perfect. Great job taking care of your customers V-Moda.
This second headset only lasted about a month before one of the earbuds came apart, only the wire holding the speaker to the earbud base. Also, there seemed to be a short in the base of the cord where the headset jack connects to the iPhone. Depending on how I bent the wire, it would flicker from stereo to mono sound from the left earbud only.
I repeated the return process above and received another pair promptly.
I’m a few months into my newest headset and everything is working fine, but I don’t think I have the trust in the V-Moda brand to buy another product from them. I respect V-Moda for doing the right thing and not arguing my return issues. They were real and don’t seem to have been the only one with issues.
I wish V-Moda the best and hope they resolve their quality issues. When they’re working, the Vibe Duo headset is a great product.