Class 1 has 100mw of power and gives you up to 100ft / 30m of range while Class 2, which is the most common, is 10ft / 3m and then Class 3 which is 3ft / 1m.
so many products are hindered by it’s Class 2 spec and is so annoying!
well…answering this made me realize what the primary reason is…battery life, which would likely be followed by cost. but is cost really that high?
cant be, trekz uses class 1 and they are around 100$ each and have 10 hour batteries. of course they are larger then earbuds. so i would guess battery life vs over all need.
There will be predominantly 3 reasons.
Power as you pointed out will be the big one, Bluetooth was designed to be nearfield, low power. Once you get into needing decent range Wifi starts to make more sense.
Cost difference is likely marginal, maybe a couple of $ difference.
Size and packaging are also going to restrict usage, class 1 devices will need to be larger, both because of the antenna, and because they have to dissipate the additional heat from the Tx device.
you have some points, but at the same time, many products effectively negate those as reasons.
first, Bt was designed for nearfield use originally, but it’s proven itself to be more versatile and capable than what was originally imagined. proof of this is the fact there are class 1 devices.
power isn’t as much of a concern as if small / compact headsets like the Logitech Zone Wireless has multi day use on a single charge.
size may be a concern on very small Bt devices, but if y ou check out just how compact / small the Zone Wireless is, the Bt radio isn’t that big. and take a look at the size of the Bt dongle it comes with…smaller than a dime.