[Seca]

Wow, took awhile to read through most of this stuff. But I decided to go with the Plantronics Discobery 640. I am glad I did!! I had a pairing issue but it was my mistake. THis thing sounds great. After seeing ericboo got his at compusa I took a short drive to my local compusa and picked one up for $89 also!

[barjohn]

Just completed my initial review of the new Custom AX2 headset. It is a real winner, go check it out!

[srl7741]

Originally Posted by Seca

Wow, took awhile to read through most of this stuff. But I decided to go with the Plantronics Discobery 640. I am glad I did!! I had a pairing issue but it was my mistake. THis thing sounds great. After seeing ericboo got his at compusa I took a short drive to my local compusa and picked one up for $89 also!

I too switched over to the 640. It works much better than the others i had tried to use. The 640 give me better sound in my ear and i have not had any complaints from others not being able to hear me. Indoors, outdoors, or in a vehicle screeming down the road.

I did not have any sync issues, but maybe i was lucky?

[barjohn]

The D640 is a great headset. So is this custom AX2 that I have just reviewed. The maker is willing to make some for people that are interested.

[semmel]

I got it and had nearly a week now to test it.

I have to fully agree with what has already been said about the M3000:
Excellent sound and amazing noise cancellation!
I tried it in a work cantina where with any other headset you can hardly hear my voice through the background noise. You can still hear some louder noise with the M3500, but as soon as I start talking the background noise completely fades out (according to my wife), and the voice comes through perfectly clear.

So if you are looking for good sound, this has got to be the one, and for me it's 10 out of 10 for sound.

Goodies:
It comes with a regular charger AND a car charger, and also with a belt clip which I find very useful.

There's a few minor things and one major negative one.
The big one:
Comfort.
It comes with two hard plastic earshaped loops, two sizes, both with a rubberized area on top. A small loop hooks up to the earpiece, and this pushes the earpiece nice and close to the earcanal.
Unfortunately even the large size is just a bit too small for my ear.
Also, the little ring that holds the headset is positioned just a bit too close to the outer ring, so I am having a hard time getting the piece exactly into my ear canal. After a while I have to change positions. Definitely not good for keeping on the whole day, at least for my ear.
I will try to find a place that can custom-make plastic parts, and I'll ask them to make the same loop but with the inner ring further apart - that should make it a perfect fit.

Smaller ones:
It seems to me that the little speaker is always on and receiving very quiet radio waves of some sort. If I sit close to my laptop, the sound (while not using the phone) becomes just a bit louder. It's still very quiet, but I have very good ears. It's a tiny buzz, nothing I would return the headset over, and I only notice when it's really quiet around me.

Battery life is pretty short. I had it run out on my recently on a day when I maybe used to for 2 hours spread throughout the day.
Good news is that it comes with a car charger.

Not sure if this is my Blackberry or the headset, but once I disabled the connection to save battery on the headset and put it into my belt case. Half an hour later the phone rang and I picked it up and couldn't hear anything, later realizing that my headset must have connected again. I know I disconnected it before...

Summary:
Best sound I could imagine.
Not so good comfort - I'll try to find ways to deal with this because the sound is worth it in my opinion.
Comes with car charger and belt case.

I bought mine on www.thenerds.net, partially because of their return policy.

BTW: If anyone knows a place that can customize plastic pieces, please send me a PM

[barjohn]

I would bet that you would love the noise cancellation on the Custom AX2 I reviewed as it is smaller, more comfortable and has better noise cancellation than the M3000 or V510.

[barjohn]

I just added some more information to my web site and some additional sound comparisons including the Boom, the ety*com headsets and a standard AX2.

[barjohn]

I posted the following in the 8700 section but thought readers might want to know that don't have an 8700.

I have been testing a wide range of headsets on the 8700. In my now 7 (actually 8) headset shoot out you can compare sound on a variety of headsets including two wired headsets the ety*com and theBoom.



Frankly, theBoom is the gold standard in sound quality and noise cancelling under virtually every condition. I have noticed one anomally on theBoom and that is that it picks up the GSM buzz from the handset occasionally. None of the other headsets I have tested does this and it does not have active electronics so I'm not sure why.



I have now added wind noise testing sound recordings after having a nice windy day today in which to test them all under similar conditions. You will notice that you cannot hear anything but wind noise on some of the headsets (not good candidates for a convertible) and while you can hear some wind noise with others you can still clearly hear the conversation. The Custom AX2 or AX2 Pro as the builder likes to call it is a clear winner in all categories.

[Danjo]

Philips VOX 150.

I bought this from CompUSA for my 7250. I used it for a grand total of 24 hours before I had enough complaints about echo and background noise that I picked up an Ericsson HBH-610.

I wouldn't recommend the Philips 150 to my ex-wife. It's that bad.

I really like the sound of the Ericsson, though. I believe if they made the boom able to expand, it would be about perfect.

Not near as in depth as the others, but that should give you an idea of my views. I live on the phone for telecons and such and comfort is second to sound clarity for importance.

DanH

[PingGuy]

Well i'm back in the BT Headset market again, my HS-850 is dying. The initial 4 months were weak until the August update for the 7520 which fixed the volume issues. From then until now it worked amazingly. But recently it's developed static on the other end even though my end is still crystal clear. On top of that a plastic piece broke off a few weeks ago and exposed a wire which is pretty crappy. I finally pulled it apart tonight to look inside and see if the connections to the mic were messed up.. but they weren't.

Anyway I got caught up on this thread and stopped by BarJohn's site and now I'm all undecided again. Right now the Plantronics D640 and the Gennum xZEN 5500 are leading my thoughts but a replacement HS850 is tempting too. So let me make it easy for the BT headset developers to corner the market:

PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SOMEBODY MAKE A BT HEADSET WITH THE QUALITY OF THE V510 AND THE FLIP FUNCTIONALITY OF THE MOTO HS SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't stress enough that a crappy flip headset still beats everything else for those of us who don't want to wear the thing all day. Maybe this problem is unique to those of us with Brickberry's but who knows. I'm still researching and such but I'll let you know what I end up with when it happens.

[barjohn]

Well, the D640 doesn't flip but you get a similar functionality. In its holder which you can clip in your shirt pocket it vibrates on a call. You pull it out of the holster (charging tube) to insert it in your ear and it answers the call. You don't need to push a button or anything else.

[Scotty_T]

Originally Posted by PingGuy

Well i'm back in the BT Headset market again, my HS-850 is dying.

PingGuy, pick up the Motorola H700. This is what I am using, it is the next generation of the HS-850 headset. It is same flip style (only smaller) and it has improved volume.

In fact, this is now the first headset that I have been able to walk outside in windy conditions and still be able to have a conversation.

I have used about 10 or more bluetooth headsets, I am a BT junkie.

[gadgtman]

Originally Posted by Scotty_T

PingGuy, pick up the Motorola H700. This is what I am using, it is the next generation of the HS-850 headset. It is same flip style (only smaller) and it has improved volume.

In fact, this is now the first headset that I have been able to walk outside in windy conditions and still be able to have a conversation.

I have used about 10 or more bluetooth headsets, I am a BT junkie.

Beware that the person on the other end of the H700 will think you're talking into a tin can. You can hear them OK, but the sound is really awful for such an expensive headset. This thing should have been priced alot less for the "quality" you get.

On the other hand, it's very comfortable, if that's of primary concern. I went with the Plantronics 510 (for now) - best overall value on the market for alot of reasons.

[PingGuy]

Thanks BarJohn and Scotty_T, I will definately consider those options. If the D640 is quick and easy to attach to the ear then that may be the winner. I did look at the H700 briefly but I've always felt the 850's mic was as short as I was comfortable with so the H700 may not work for me. Still I will take another look at it just in case.

I really want to order something right now but I'm about to make an offer on a house and I need all the cash on hand I can get to keep my flexibility up. Sadly even ~$100 could make a difference so I'm holding off. I guess that just gives me more time to research the whole thing. ;)

[PingGuy]

Originally Posted by barjohn

Well, the D640 doesn't flip but you get a similar functionality. In its holder which you can clip in your shirt pocket it vibrates on a call. You pull it out of the holster (charging tube) to insert it in your ear and it answers the call. You don't need to push a button or anything else.

I just had a thought and figured I'd ask.. Does the AAA battery part need to be connected for the vibrate and "answer on removal" functions to work? I had planned on just carrying the upper part with the headset minus the lower battery part.

[barjohn]

You don't need the AAA battery part for the vibrate and answer on removal to work. It is for charging only.

[PingGuy]

Excellent, thanks for the response. I should be picking one up around the end of the month.

[TravelinMan]

Well after a failed attempt with the Moto 700, I had high hopes for the D640 from the reviews.

First off, I could not get any of the earpieces to fit but with the over ear holder it fit and was very comfortable. The incoming volume was great compared to the Moto 700 but I liked the Moto's flip design better. Big issue I had was call quality. Under normal (quite) conditions it sounded fine but I made several test calls to VM while driving and the sound quality was terrible. When I replayed the VM, I could barely make out what I was saying. Also did not like having another charger. Why isn’t USB charging ubiquitous? So this too will get returned and my search for the perfect BT headset will continue. Any suggestions.

Needed Specs:
Small
Comfortable
Easy on
USB charging
High quality sound
Loud

Thanks,
T

[NJJ]

Quick question - I have a Blackberry 7520 and have just purchased the Netcom GN 6210 bluetooth headset. I've paired the devices successfully, however, when I try to connect them, the cell phone pairs with the headset and then immediately drops the connection.

Does anyone know of what might be causing this?
BTW - I also have the phoned paired with a Plantronics headset.

[kennethbokor]

Picked up the 7130e (Bell Mobility network in Canada) and sold my BB7250.

As you may have read in my past posts, I had alot of problems finding the best BT headset for the 7250 but finally settled on the Plantronics Voyager last fall. Worked pretty well except with the occasional pairing drop and slow call answer delay.

However, with the 7130e it works WAY BETTER! Calls answer in about 1/2 second and no dropped pairing. Even the range is better. Must be the version of BT on the new phone (2.1 I believe).

Anyway, this is a great device and the Voyager works excellent with it. Don't spend your money on the more expensive BT headsets if you have a 71xx, get the Voyager.

Ken