Best Bluetooth Headset?

June 25, 2007 8:02 AM

Best bluetooth headset?

Over the past several years my wife and I have owned a couple of Motorola headsets (one good and one total crap), two Sony-Ericssons (both the 608 and 835 worked great, but neither fit my ear well), Jabra (very tinny sound), Plantronics (total crap), Logitech boom model (worked great, but overly large and discontinued), Samsung (worked well but fit poorly), and a cheapo Nokia (fit well and sounded like crap).

I've read a ton of reviews but it's all a mixed bag, and many reviewers seem to have limited experience with Bluetooth headsets. I really like the build-quality and performance of Sony-Ericsson products, but my current one (the 835) falls out of my ear no matter which ear-gel I use, and I had to press the 608 in to hear it since it didn't fit right. I liked my old Motorola with the folding boom, but I bought one of those Razr models and the thing barely worked at all (best feature was standard USB charging) so I'm a bit leery of Moto.

No in-ear types seem to fit me securely, and almost all the others aren't quite loud enough. Fit, volume, build-quality, and voice quality/clarity are what I'm looking for. I'm not too concerned with range...noise cancellation is a nice feature but not a must. Ditto with battery life - 2+ hours is great, but slightly less is not a deal-breaker.

I did search on this topic, because I'm sure this has been asked/answered before...however the first few hits were from 2005 and I couldn't see how to order the results by date...I ran in circles with DAPs until MeFiers steered me in the right direction with the Cowon G3 (excellent!); hopefully you'll have similar insight for Bluetooth headsets!

posted by jjsonp to technology (8 comments total)

This may not be what you're looking for, but ... have you considered building your own? Seems like you have a lot of parts that you might be able to cobble together to fit your needs.

Otherwise, you mention that the in-ear ones aren't secure enough; a headset that takes custom ear molds might be what you want, although it would be a bit more expensive.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 8:38 AM on June 25, 2007

Take your phone into one of those specialty phone accessory stores and ask to try out the various headsets with your phone. The markup on BT headsets is high so most reps in those stores working commission will be more than happy to let you test a few.

Personally, I like Motorola brands but that's because they always give me free demos working in marketing for a large wireless company. I have found that your handset impacts the quality of the headset as well.
posted by Octoparrot at 9:00 AM on June 25, 2007

Honestly, the Plantronics 510 is the best one I've used. While it is large, the sound and battery life can't be beat. Stay away from Blutrek at all costs. I'm using a Samsung WEP 200 at the moment, which is great.
posted by Phoenix42 at 9:14 AM on June 25, 2007

I absolutely love my Jawbone (apologies for the flash website). I had to buy mine in the US, and bring it home to the UK but its superb.

The ear fitting is slightly 'different' to others I have used, and the noise cancelling facility makes it feel 'louder' or certainly clearer.
posted by mattr at 9:39 AM on June 25, 2007

I'm using and like the Moto H700C, but it is a little quiet in a noisy area.
posted by The Bellman at 9:50 AM on June 25, 2007

Jawbone.

I've tried the others (about 5 of them, motorola's, palm, plantronics.)

Jawbone is the best hands down.
posted by filmgeek at 11:15 AM on June 25, 2007

When I bought my headset the salesperson said that fit was infinitely more important than technology. A cheaper headset that truly fits your ear will sound much better than the most expensive headset that doesn't fit. If the volume seems too soft, then it's probably not a snug fit.

I tried on all the headsets and ended up buying one of the cheaper Motorolas.
posted by 26.2 at 12:26 PM on June 25, 2007

nthing Jawbone, works fantastic, even in a very very noisy datacenter
posted by iamabot at 2:45 PM on June 25, 2007