AirPods are a case where I broke my rule of thumb with Apple, not to buy in to a new product line until the fourth iteration. And sure enough, they've been a little flaky, my first-gen not-Pros developed a terrible crackle and had to be replaced.

But fixing flakiness with Apple stuff by buying a new one works more than you might think. They do actually iterate on reliability (not you macOS).

Man, finding them in the cushions might be worth the cash all by itself. The ones I have do the one-ear thing like one in ten (?) times, and I swear quietly and stick them back in the case. Reboot them a few times a month.

So, fine really, could be better. If they were a bit worse I'd run out and get the new ones.