From affordable everyday wristwatches to eyewear, bags, perfumes, fitness trackers, and audio products, the Titan-owned Fastrack brand has an impressive portfolio of products targeted at young buyers. It entered the audio segment relatively recently, and going into 2022, Fastrack has launched its first true wireless earphones as part of its Reflex Tunes range. Here, I’m reviewing the second and more expensive of the two new TWS products launched, the Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4 true wireless earphones.
Priced at Rs. 4,495 in India, the Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4 is quite interesting to look at thanks to some adventurous colour options. it features Qualcomm aptX Bluetooth codec support and environmental noise cancellation, and claims impressive battery life. Is this the best true wireless headset you can buy for less than Rs. 5,000? Find out in this review.
Bright colours and a long-lasting battery on the Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4
The Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4 headset is quite eye-catching, particularly the pink unit sent to me for review. Even looking past the obvious conspicuousness of the colour itself, this is an interesting-looking pair of earphones, with a smooth, candy-like finish and curves, and a rather distinct Fastrack logo on each earpiece. These earphones are also available in black and white, in case the pink is a bit much for you.
The Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4 earpieces have a proper in-canal fit. Three colour-matched pairs of silicone ear tips of different sizes are included in the box. The long stems do make the earpieces a bit large, but the use of plastic keeps them light and comfortable. The fit was secure and reasonably noise-isolating, in my experience. A USB Type-C charging cable is also included.
Compared to most other true wireless headsets, the charging case of the Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4 is quite large. It’s the same colour as the earpieces – bright pink, in the case of my review unit. It’s a bit less pocketable than the cases you’d get with similarly priced options such as the OnePlus Buds Z2, but this wasn’t an inconvenience. There is a rubber flap covering the USB Type-C charging port, but I found the lid to be a bit worryingly flimsy. There is no indicator light on the charging case, but the earpieces have LEDs.
There are touch controls on the earpieces of the Fastrack FT4 earphones, with tap and long-touch gestures to control various functions. A single-tap on the left or right earpieces lowers or increases the volume respectively; a double-tap on either side plays or pauses music; a triple-tap on the left or right skips to the previous or next track respectively; and a long-press on either side invokes the default voice assistant on your smartphone.
If the bright pink colour is a bit much for you, the Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4 is also available in black and white
These controls can’t be customised, since there is no companion app for the Fastrack FT4 earphones. While I appreciated being able to control volume from the earpieces, the single-tap gesture was quite easy to engage accidentally, due to which I faced many unintended volume adjustments.
The Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4 earphones support the SBC, AAC, and Qualcomm’s aptX Bluetooth codecs. The presence of aptX support gives the FT4 a considerable edge over other similarly priced products. The earpieces are IPX4 rated for water resistance, and have 6mm dynamic drivers. There is environmental noise cancellation for better voice pickup from the microphones on phone calls.
Battery life on the Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4 true wireless earphones is very impressive, with each earpiece sporting a 70mAh battery and the charging case having an 800mAh capacity of its own Although it has a claimed runtime of 40 hours in total, I managed to exceed this figure during real-world usage. I was able to use the earpieces for nine hours per charge, with the case adding an additional four charges, for an exceptional runtime of 45 hours per charge cycle. While your experience will depend on how you use this headset, and more voice calls would proportionately reduce the runtime per charge, this is still the highlight of the Reflex Tunes FT4.
Bass sounds a bit too boomy on the Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4
It’s possible to buy a pair of true wireless earphones with active noise cancellation and app support, such as the Realme Buds Q2, for less than Rs. 2,500 today. This naturally makes the Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4 seem a bit expensive given the lack of these features, despite its excellent battery life and aptX Bluetooth codec support.
I hoped the Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4 would make up for this with sound quality, it didn’t particularly go above and beyond what other TWS earphones priced around Rs. 3,000 can deliver. Using the earphones with an Android phone and the aptX codec in operation did seem to improve detail a bit when listening to music, but the Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4 is somewhat let down by boomy sound. The lack of ANC means it can’t make up for such shortcomings.
The Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4 has environmental noise cancellation, but no active noise cancellation
Listening to Supalonely by Benee on a Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ with the aptX Bluetooth codec in operation, I was happy with the level of detail on offer. The soft rhythm in this gentle, upbeat track sounded enjoyable, and there was enough nuance and character to be heard in the mids and highs. However, the lows sounded a bit too eager with this track, and that didn’t help balance the otherwise enjoyable sound.
In more aggressive and bass-driven tracks, such as Aerodynamic (Daft Punk Remix) by Daft Punk, this made for an attack that was often overbearing and fatiguing. While many might appreciate this punchy and energetic approach to the sound, I usually found it to have a bit too much rumble, particularly at high volumes. Bass-driven tracks such as Boom by Tiesto gave me listener fatigue very quickly.
I also found the sound to be a bit closed and dull at times, with the Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4 not offering much by way of soundstage. There is no active noise cancellation, but the in-canal fit did ensure adequate passive noise isolation. Listening outdoors or in a noisy space wasn’t really a problem, although audio wasn’t as immersive as with the OnePlus Buds Z2.
Call quality on the Fastrack FT4 was decent enough, with good sound on both ends of the call even in somewhat noisy outdoor environments. Most of the time, the connection was stable at distances of up to 4m between the earphones and the source device, but I did experience some odd connectivity issues with certain devices.
Battery life on the Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4 is excellent, with the earphones running for around 45 hours per charge cycle
When connected to a OnePlus 9, there were constant stability issues that distorted sound and made it virtually impossible to listen to anything even with less than 1m between the earphones and smartphone. I didn’t experience these issues with the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ or an iPhone 13, so it’s hard to pinpoint the problem.
Verdict
The Fastrack Reflex Tunes FT4 true wireless headset is a bit of an outlier in its price segment, and might come across as a bit underwhelming. It offers good design, adventurous colour options, Qualcomm aptX Bluetooth codec support, and excellent battery life. However, it’s lacking in features such as active noise cancellation and app support, and its sound quality isn’t very convincing.
I found the sound a bit boomy and dull on the whole. You could consider this headset if you’re looking for something that looks good and has excellent battery life, but I should point out that the OnePlus Buds Z2 would be more suitable if you need active noise cancellation, app support, and better audio tuning.