Best bluetooth headset?
 

I just lost my Bluetooth headset in JFK (switching from Emirates to painfully incompetent Delta/ComAir flight to Boston yesterday). I use a Blackberry 7100t and will likely switch soon to a Blackberry Pearl. What are the highest quality bluetooth headsets? Sound quality is obviously the most important criterion. Does Digital Signal Processing really improve performance? Signal volume -- I gather that a lot of Motorola models are just not loud enough. Any other criteria that you use (e.g., comfortable fit, battery life)?

Which headsets do you like best?

To me, it's been a tradeoff. The larger bluetooths (that wrap around your whole ear) seem to be the best quality, but it looks like you work for Jerry Lewis' telethon.

plantronics
 

I have been very happy with the latest pt discovery, 655
Nice form factor, VERY light, great sound and people say it sounds much better with ambient noise

Actually, it looks like your name is "Seven of Nine."

The one that uses the same charging cable as one of my existing devices.

Really. I don't need another cable in this life. :td:

I always liked the Jabra 250 for sound quality, but I hated how big it was and how it was always breaking apart on me (plastic part that connects the ear piece to the rest of the rubber headset). I have tried three of the Motorola-type headsets, but never liked any of them. I may go back to the Jabra, even if I have to buy an extra for when the first one breaks.

nmenaker, are there problems with charging this unit? I seem to recall in reading the reviews that you plug it into a holster to charge and that its fit in the holster is not terrific. Do you have that issue? Otherwise, it looks perfect.

I agree with this, but doubt that I can realize this aspiration. There are the Juice/igo chargers that can give you an extra tip for each device, I think, but I'm not sure this solves the problem. I'd actually like a car charger for my Bluetooth headset as well as some way of charging while I am in the house/hotel/office.

I also have a pt 655. I think it is terrific. it is the first headset I can hear. mechanics of ear install are similar to a shure headphone. very light. i do not notice a delay. some of the earlier models had delay complaints.

i have had no trouble plugging into the charger, once i learned right side up from upside down.

i've gone through just about every top of the line headset in the past 4 or so years. had a plantronics m3000. the m3000 will not work as a doorstop.

I also have a Plantronics Discovery 655. Since it is my first headset, I have nothing to compare it to.

That said:

- the cylinder that you put the earpiece into is secure ... as long as you turn the earpiece in the right direction.

- volume was my main concern, and this set is plenty loud enough. I often have to turn it down a notch.

- there is a bit of delay, but I have no idea if this is the headset or the phone or their particular characteristics of meeting each other. The phone I use is a Samsung SGH D820 - also chosen for good ear volume.

- I like the size of the unit.

- There is a behind the ear "stabilizing" wire that you can put on. You take the silicone ear tip off, place a hoop in the wire piece over the ear tip post, then replace the eartip. The biggest hassle I have had so far with the unit is that ear tip can rotate quite easily to "unlock-remove" positions leading to it and the wire falling off in my briefcase or pocket ... or onto the ground.

- I do like that it is small.

The Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970 looks good. I am going to be getting it this week...

http://www.mobile-review.com/review/...ds970-en.shtml

The last BT headset thread here had a lot good comments about the Plantronics 640 unit. So I got one and can only say there must be a reasonable unit to unit variation. I can only refer to my unit as a useless piece of junk. Probably the single most useless piece of gadgetry I have ever purchased. It is possibly the most disappointing purchase I have ever made, I get more value from Chinatown fake watches than from that headset.

The reason is the issue you refer to with the charging holster. Mine will not stay in the holster. Even if it is pointing downward, with gravity pushing in the direction of a good connection it pops loose so it doesnt charge. I have to brace it and weight the unit down to hold it in the holster. As a result I never use mine.

I went to a good Shure wired unit. I look like a dork, but then again, I always do so what does it matter, but the sound is fantastic. In my car I have a Moto Speaker unit (HF820), not on the ear but speaker on the dash, that works great. I have also really been fairly happy with a Moto HS850 headset but I dont use it as much due to the fact that I am now blessedly free of Moto phones and I dont carry that charger as a result.

The Plantronics 655 looks to be a completely different design. Im guessing they figured out the problems. I also notice that the place I got mine now sells all of the components separately, cases, adaptors and earpieces. Perhaps because of the thing popping out.

Edited to add:

At the same time as I got myself a Plantronics 640 I got one for my wife. I knew she never used it but it turns out it isnt because of the charging. I got hers and checked and it goes in the holder perfectly and seems quite snug. Im charging it up now. If I havent thrown mine out and can find it I will check with hers and see if it is the holder, the earpiece or both that dont work right with mine. I might try to resolve it then. I probably should have sent it back when I got it but was so annoyed that I just ordered the Shure instead.

Another thing I have noticed is that some sites say that both the 640 and 655 have a lot of compatibility issues, including Treos with both units being a problem and HTCs with the 655. Have people used the 655 with Treos (700w in particular) or HTCs (TMo SDA and TyTN in particular). Thanks for any info on the compatibility. I will post an update if I can figure out the charging holster issue.

In my research today, I discovered that the 640 or 645 is the unit with the charging problem. The 655 seems to have fixed that problem.

For Blackberries, the 655 has a several second delay in answering calls. However, there is a specific Blackberry version that is supposed to come out shortly from RIM that fixes this problem. I may wait for it.

It seems that Motorola's have volume and other problems but that there is a lot of variability -- some units connect to a specific phone well and some don't. I haven't seen any logical explanation as to why that might be the case.

Has anybody used the Plantronics 510? It is a somewhat older, bigger model, but seems to have gotten good reviews.

Thanks for that additional info. Also the 655 supposedly will not work with any Treo.

I have a SoundPort. It's actually a custom earpiece where they take a mold of your ear so it fits perfect and it so comfortable. It helps to cut out a lot of background noise as it fits in your ear so much better. I use it with both my RAZR and my Blackberry 7100.

I sat next to a musician named Seal on a flight from DC to SFO and he showed me a set of custom fit earbuds that he used in the studio to listen to what he needed to listen to while he was recording and avoid the other stuff. He also used them on the plane IIRC. I thought they were a few hundred dollars each. Is that true?

I had a huge crush on her. Played by Jeri Ryan (who was married to an alleged perv in Jack Ryan).

I want to say it the cost was just under $200 but that included the Bluetooth as well and now they have my molds to remake new ear pieces when ever I need. You don't need any clips around your ear or anything to hold it in place.

I got mine at a hearing aid store.

I had this problem. I figured out a workaround in about 5 seconds. Just scare up a wide rubberband and use it to hold the earpiece firmly in place in the charger.

I agree it's a little silly and shouldn't have to be done...but frankly it's such a great headset that I'm more than willing to deal with this small issue.

i have a couple of different ones and flip flop because i'm not really happy with either of them. I like the Plantronics 655 as mentioned earlier. Stopped by my Staples store and saw the 640 model for like $130. Used google and saw the 655 for like 70-80. i'll be purchasing it online definately. It's a 100% markup at staples on that model based on wholesale pricing. Guess there's a big market for that model or unit? hmmm.

I'm not a big fan of most Plantronics BT headsets, because I feel like I should be asking you what options you would like on your Dell when wearing it.

Two coworkers had the Jabra JX-10. One said the charger connection broke within a few weeks. The other said that he quit using it because the people he called kept complaining about not being able to hear him.

I've used the Moto HS-850 for a long time, and I've recently switched to the Moto H700. The H700 is about 30% smaller, and it has a much better fit. However, I've had a few people complain about not being able to hear me very well.

Great thread - which has reminded me that I need to go back to the well after my ill-fated experience with the pathetic Cardo Scala 500. :mad:

I'm going to wait a week and then place an Amazon order for both the Motorola HS 850 and the plantronics discovery 655. Plenty of time to test them out as all purchases after Nov. 1 can be returned until 1/31/2007. ^

I have experience with just two, but here you are:

a) Cardo Scala 500 from about a year ago. Clients kept asking me why I sounded so muffled and scratchy on the phone, so I quit using that one about two weeks after I got it. This unit may have had Bluetooth 1.0. Don't remember. The charger was also stupid (I bent the little charging wires) and the device didn't hang on my ear very well. At the time I think this one was $55 or so from AMZN.

b) Plantronics Discovery 510. Seems like a pretty good unit after less than a week of use. Comfortable and clear. No complaints from callees. This one was about $45, also from AMZN.

That "musician named Seal" is married to Heidi Klum.

Yummy.





Her. Not him. :D :D

Yes. He mentioned the complexity of a bicoastal marriage and called her when the flight landed.

The RIM HS-655 was supposed to have been available today (October 27), but now it says November 14.

Got one of these today:

http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?...p4_1&pid=10394

Pretty sweet :D

I don't know the answer to the question in the OP.

I post here to beg everyone, whatever you choose, please - don't be THIS GUY!

I see this guy a hundred times a day as it is. I recently had to do an intervention with a friend because of this. He honestly thought it was cool, hip. :(

It wasn't cool in '82 and it aint cool now.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Wearing your headset all day does NOT make you cool.
Wearing your headset all day does NOT make you look important.

In fact, if you walk around all day long with that thing on your head, you look silly. You look like a call center employee who forgot to take their work headset off. Nobody is that important that they need to wear a headset from morning till evening.

You know when it was cool? In 2000 when the very first Bluetooth headset was released. It was cool for whopping 8 minutes :D

Interesting sociology, or maybe anthropology, here in the cultural assessment here.

It seems to be generally fine to wear iPod like ear buds, including something like the SE HBH-DS970, which has the full phone support function, but if you wear the ear mounted headset, ewww!

Maybe Steve Jobs needs to be on the design team for headsets to rescue them from the land of self-importance or terminal tech-weenie-ness.

I am using my second Cardo Scala 500 (stepped on the 1st one :( ) with my Q phone and haven't had any complaints at all with the sound quality. They are priced right and IMHO are as good as the rest out there.

Here's a watchout for the Plantronics 655: if it goes in and out of pocket, including briefcase pocket the silicone ear piece can easily turn to the unlocked position and fall off.

It seems that the locking mechanism is much better in the beginning of use and becomes less secure as it gets worn in.

It's a PITA. I don't like walking around with the thing in my ear, but in and out of jacket pocket means once in every 3 - 5 times I come up with the unit minus the ear piece.

send it back for waranty replacement.

I have an H3 and while it works okay it doesn't fit my ear too well. I suggest you try before you buy.

What ever happened to the Motorola H5? It was to be an in-ear only headset.

There seems to be some speculation that exposure to cell phone radio waves may cause brain cancer.

Any such speculation on Bluetooth radiation? Seems that if a BT device is hooked to your head non-stop for hours you may wind up getting more radiation than if you're holding a phone to your ear intermittently.

Anyone have info on this?

Good idea. I will call Plantronics today. I must say that it seems to be a design flaw rather than a production fault.

Did call. They acknowledged the design flaw, had no solution, but are sending me a free packet of extra earpieces.

The power level is so low it won't be an issue IMO. Wireless phones transmit at significant power levels (200mW to 2W). BT outputs a maximum of (IIRC) 2.5mW. No concern at all. If anything it's MUCH safer than using a cellphone clamped to your ear. No hardwire connection to the phone as with a wired earpiece so RF energy can't radiate and you get the antenna away from sensitive bodyparts. I don't think it's an issue anyway; if you do, BT is the way to go.

Best Bluetooth headset? Jabra JX10 - Works Excellent!

I should have done that. I checked a second unit and it was fine. In swapping pieces it is the earset itself that is the problem. The one I had did not work in the second sleeve either. I may give them another try. The multi-charging is soooo nice, especially the battery option.