A crowdfunding campaign has successfully raised enough money for the production of a tiny washing machine for Apple AirPods, AirPods Pro, and other earbuds. Few people will have considered cleaning a pair of earbuds taxing enough to warrant such a device, but apparently others do. In fact, nearly a thousand people have pledged at the time of writing.
The Cardlax EarBuds Washer (EBW) project launched on Kickstarter on April 6 with pledges for the device starting at $33 a pop. The project had hit its target of £3,639 reached by the next day and the total now pledged stands at nearly £30,000 ($41,200). What's more, there are still 56 days to go before the crowdfunding campaign closes.
Cardlax's EBW is intended to provide a solution for the pocket grime and ear wax that can build up on AirPods and earbuds. Reminiscent of a top-loading washing machine, it has a central rotating cylindrical sponge that rolls a user's earbuds against the sponge-covered inner walls of the device. When sprayed with a little alcohol cleaning fluid, this process is said to shine earbuds up like new. A small rotating brush, meanwhile, can be used to remove debris from AirPod or earbud gauzes.
AirPods & Earbuds Cleaning: Is A Washer Necessary?
The Cardlax EBW is certainly a cool little gadget and a nicely executed concept. It could be argued, though, that it should have stayed as a concept. It seems drastically overengineered for what it does — which is part of its charm to be fair — but more importantly one has to wonder if the EBW can clean a set of AirPods or other earbuds any better than someone with their own two hands.
Take the AirPods, given they are the main devices around which the EBW is based, and consider their shape. While there's little doubt the EBW could shine them up well, can it really reach into the tucked-away corners of their AirPods' necks or work hard-to-remove dirt any more effectively than dextrous human fingers can? And is its rotating brush any more effective than someone using a cleaning brush themselves and targeting areas that need specific attention?
Apple says to simply clean AirPods or AirPods Pro with a soft and dry lint-free cloth and to clean their gauzes with a cotton bud. Doubtless, a resourceful individual could cautiously go a step or two further if needed, but whether that should extend as far as buying a mini earbuds washing machine that will sit on a shelf before eventually being consigned to landfill is doubtful.
Source: Cardlax/Kickstarter