bluetooth for the whole family?
April 10, 2008 3:51 PM Subscribe
Seeking bluetooth headset advice: something that will work with two different phones, good durability & sound quality, w/out breaking the bank? I am overwhelmed by the options....
I have an MDA; mr. epersonae has a Motorola V195.
I'd like to buy us both bluetooth headsets. I have a hunch that it would help both of us if we had the same model, but there are so many billions of headsets that I'm not sure where to start.
(I already bought one headset for myself; a stereo set for listening to music. It's pretty crummy, because I bought the cheapest one. I don't want to make that mistake again!!!!!)
He wants to talk while driving/biking, so ease of use & durability are important. My phone sux for talking on the phone, and I often have trouble understanding conversations in noisy environments, so sound quality is important.
Any suggestions for either good headsets, the kinds of things to look for, or places to get good reviews? I find Amazon a little overwhelming for this sort of thing.
Bonus points for something that will also talk to our MacBook. :)
I have an MDA; mr. epersonae has a Motorola V195.
I'd like to buy us both bluetooth headsets. I have a hunch that it would help both of us if we had the same model, but there are so many billions of headsets that I'm not sure where to start.
(I already bought one headset for myself; a stereo set for listening to music. It's pretty crummy, because I bought the cheapest one. I don't want to make that mistake again!!!!!)
He wants to talk while driving/biking, so ease of use & durability are important. My phone sux for talking on the phone, and I often have trouble understanding conversations in noisy environments, so sound quality is important.
Any suggestions for either good headsets, the kinds of things to look for, or places to get good reviews? I find Amazon a little overwhelming for this sort of thing.
Bonus points for something that will also talk to our MacBook. :)
Response by poster: (ah, clarifying: will be buying two identical headsets, one for each of us. just want the ease of both of us knowing how each other's gear works. this has been an issue in the past.)
posted by epersonae at 3:55 PM on April 10, 2008
posted by epersonae at 3:55 PM on April 10, 2008
I'm currently looking for a new BT headset myself as well - the Jabra BT8040 has caught my eye. It's going for around 60 bucks.
posted by bigmusic at 3:58 PM on April 10, 2008
posted by bigmusic at 3:58 PM on April 10, 2008
I've had/used a bunch, here's my take, YMMV:
Motorola H500 = bunk (bad pickup on microphone)
Motorola H700 = updated shinier bunk
Plantronics 910 = great sound both ways, nice battery life, but controls are tiny and the fuzzy earpiece cover wears out quick
GN Netcom 6210 = bulky, but perfect paired with my desk phone/sometimes with my mobile (occaisional complaints about how I sounded)
Haven't had one, but the Jawbone seems to win all tests and get raves.
Now do you want stereo? Those are all mono.
Motorola HT820 = huge, but awesome for stereo. pickup on mic still not great, but good.
Motorola S9 = small er but doesn't fold up, perfect for workouts. comfy, sweatproof, great sound. I got one used for cheap which might explain why I still had some microphone problems. (notice a trend?)
Currently I'm using a Jabra BT8010, which I really like. Looks like you're wearing 2 headsets - one can be used alone, to control the phone; the 2nd, slightly smaller, detachable one lets you have stereo when/if you want. Can paired with multiple devices, allows you to choose priority. Good sound both ways, and stereo is good. Might not be comfortable on everyone.
A MeFite in an unrelated post turned me on to the existence of the Jabra BT3030, which is a "dog tag" that you can plug any regular headphones into - mic is in the dogtag. WANT!
posted by bartleby at 4:46 PM on April 10, 2008
Motorola H500 = bunk (bad pickup on microphone)
Motorola H700 = updated shinier bunk
Plantronics 910 = great sound both ways, nice battery life, but controls are tiny and the fuzzy earpiece cover wears out quick
GN Netcom 6210 = bulky, but perfect paired with my desk phone/sometimes with my mobile (occaisional complaints about how I sounded)
Haven't had one, but the Jawbone seems to win all tests and get raves.
Now do you want stereo? Those are all mono.
Motorola HT820 = huge, but awesome for stereo. pickup on mic still not great, but good.
Motorola S9 = small er but doesn't fold up, perfect for workouts. comfy, sweatproof, great sound. I got one used for cheap which might explain why I still had some microphone problems. (notice a trend?)
Currently I'm using a Jabra BT8010, which I really like. Looks like you're wearing 2 headsets - one can be used alone, to control the phone; the 2nd, slightly smaller, detachable one lets you have stereo when/if you want. Can paired with multiple devices, allows you to choose priority. Good sound both ways, and stereo is good. Might not be comfortable on everyone.
A MeFite in an unrelated post turned me on to the existence of the Jabra BT3030, which is a "dog tag" that you can plug any regular headphones into - mic is in the dogtag. WANT!
posted by bartleby at 4:46 PM on April 10, 2008
oh, and all of them more or less worked fine with an older G4 mac, for skype, etc; but there wasn't support for Bluetooth Stereo (called A2DP) . This may or may not have been remedied in Leopard/newer macs.
posted by bartleby at 5:21 PM on April 10, 2008
posted by bartleby at 5:21 PM on April 10, 2008
I have a Plantronics Voyager 510, as do a lot of the BT users I know. It does a nice job across the board. I'm not sure any of them will be that good on a bike because of the wind.
I also like the Motorolas with the flip out mike. It turns the headset on and off, so it's not wasting battery while it's sitting there idle.
I know it's weird but I have 3 BT headsets. #3 is an LG, which I like as well. It's at the office, I'll post the model # when I go to work tomorrow.
Overall, I have to recommend the Plantronics based on my own and a bunch of other people's experience.
posted by altcountryman at 7:23 PM on April 10, 2008
I also like the Motorolas with the flip out mike. It turns the headset on and off, so it's not wasting battery while it's sitting there idle.
I know it's weird but I have 3 BT headsets. #3 is an LG, which I like as well. It's at the office, I'll post the model # when I go to work tomorrow.
Overall, I have to recommend the Plantronics based on my own and a bunch of other people's experience.
posted by altcountryman at 7:23 PM on April 10, 2008
My Motorola S9 has great sound, but my connection is super-spotty unless the battery is fully charged. This may actually be the subject of an AskMe in a minute, as it's a new headset and I can't figure out if this is "normal" or not.
posted by Shepherd at 6:50 AM on April 11, 2008
posted by Shepherd at 6:50 AM on April 11, 2008
@Shepherd: with your S9 problems; are there any old devices in the device history of what your S9 is paired with? I had the same problem until it was explained to me that my phone was still seeking connection with all the other headsets that had been paired with my phone in the past, and that was using up/interrupting the signal with the S9. I cleared the device history completly, re-set and re-paired the S9, and got a big jump in performance. You could try that.
posted by bartleby at 12:56 PM on April 11, 2008
posted by bartleby at 12:56 PM on April 11, 2008
Response by poster: Lo these many months later, we bought a pair of Plantronics Voyager 510s, and so far, so good. Paired up really easily with our various phones, they're reasonably comfortable, can talk on the bus & while biking (not great but waaaay better than before), and didn't cost too much. mr. epersonae finds the battery life somewhat lacking, otherwise no complaints. (it was one of the top-selling headsets on Amazon.)
posted by epersonae at 3:16 PM on January 1, 2009
posted by epersonae at 3:16 PM on January 1, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by iamabot at 3:52 PM on April 10, 2008