Customer Reviews

BlueAnt Z9 Bluetooth Headset with Voice Isolation Technology

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(26)
1 star:		(25)

 

 

Just got the Z9 and have used it for about 10 hours under different conditions. Like others that have posted, I had other Bluetooth devices and they were poor performers. (Frankly, I think the Bluetooth designers could have done a much better job - but until something else comes along we're stuck with the Bluetooth standard.) I especially liked that the company (BlueAnt) stood behind this headset with a two year guarantee -- almost unheard of for any electronic product. They also encourage calling their support line if you experience any problems. This also shows how much they want the customer to be happy. Very rare and very welcome by me.

So far, I am extremely happy with the Z9. People on the other end say the sound is "near-land-line" quality. I've used it in the car with a loud muffler, outside with mild wind, and in a quite location. It was not a problem anywhere. I have yet to put it through extremes.

If you really want to use all of the features, there are many different ways to press the buttons and you need to learn them. But if you just need the basics, it's a breeze. Most people will not need all of the features anyway. It paired very easily to a Samsung phone. It comes in a very fancy package and I had a little trouble getting it off it's little stand because I didn't want to break any parts. The only negative so far is that my ear gets a little sore when I wear it for a long time. I don't think I have it adjusted properly and the ear piece is hard plastic, so that could also cause fatigue.

The design is well done, the sound quality is excellent and it works flawlessly. This is an outstanding product. Glad I didn't get the Jawbone -- be careful, they only honor their return policy if you order it though them. They also seemed to have a lot of problems with them. They can keep their supposed cool design. Give me fuction over form when it comes to electronics anyday. There's nothing worse than having a good looking electronic item that doesn't work. Unless you're a museum it makes no sense. I very highly recommend this product and the company behind it. I will update this review as I have more experience with the Z9.

I have tried almost every brand of Bluetooth Headset on the market, but have not found one that meets my requirements until now. The Blueant Z9 is extremely lightweight and small. This makes it very comfortable, feels secure and does not flop around. The sound is loud enough that you do not have to increase the volume. The voice quality is clear and consistent. I have it paired with a Nokia 6555.

Now for some details. The Jawbone is by far the best for handling noise cancellation. However, the voice would sometimes be garbled or breakup. The Z9 does a good job on noise cancellation and the voice stays clear and does not breakup.

There are three buttons. The function button handles most features. There are two volume buttons for up and down. The volume buttons also have functions such as holding down the volume up button for three seconds actives the redial feature. This may sound confusing, but it really is not. You just need to read the instructions. The buttons are easy to press with little resistance.

The Z9 has a large speaker so there was no need in the design for an ear bud that directs the sound into the ear. It also has two microphones that help improve voice quality for the person you are talking too.

The noise cancellation defaults at minimum. In noisy environments, simply click the function button. A voice tells you that it is set to maximum noise cancellation. That is really a cool feature because you do not have to figure out what the beeps mean.

The range is as advertised. I walked away from my phone by about thirty feet and still had a clear connection. Therefore, you do not have to place the headset on the same side or close to your phone.

I looked at my phones paired devices and noticed I had firmware version 3.1. I went to the Blueant site and downloaded the instructions and installation program for firmware version 3.4. I could not get the installation to work, so I called tech support. He told me that the instructions online were for Windows XP and I had Vista. He said that they have not posted the instructions for Vista online yet. He promptly emailed me the Vista instructions. They were detailed and precise. I upgraded the firmware within a few minutes without any problem.

Helpful hint: To get the best sound qualities, speak in a normal voice, not too loud. In addition, update the firmware to the latest version.

I highly recommend you try this headset for yourself.

Update: I have read that the ear hook is made of stiff plastic that cannot be bent. This is not entirely true. If you want a tighter and more secure fit then do the following. While holding the hook in the bent position you want, hold a hot hairdryer about two inches from it for about five seconds. The hook will stay in that bent position. Just be careful not to bend it too far or the hairdryer is too hot or too close to the hook. I did this with my hook and it fits much better, even with my glasses on.

I have both the Jawbone and Z9 with the latest firmware version (3.3) and have to say that the Jawbone's sound quality and noise cancellation is better than the Z9. However, I think that the Z9 has decent incoming and outgoing voice quality in a tiny package. I am keeping both - I use jawbone in the car and at airports but use Z9 everywhere else.

I've tried all of the high end Bluetooth headsets from the Motorola's to the Jawbone. I liked the Moto's but the slightest bit of noise makes your side of the conversation inaudible to the person you talking with. Jawbone did a decent job of noise canceling, but controlling its levels was awkward as well as how it fit on your ear. Not that it didn't work, but it took some effort to get a decent fit, and compared to the BlueAnt it's huge.

The BlueAnt Z9 is awesome. It fits lightly but snug on your ear, and you couldn't shake it off or make it wiggle, without giving yourself a whiplash. It's so small and light you actually forget it's there. Its voice isolation technology works beautifully, and setting it takes only one button, AND it tells you the setting. It fits easily on the ear with no problem. My biggest problem would be keeping track of it, except it has a built-in clip to attach it to your shirt or clothing. I don't know about any negative reviews. I've tried all the biggies, and this one's the best so far.

I have mixed feelings about this headset.

First the bad news: It can't handle any wind at all, even the slightest breeze kills the conversation. Doesn't matter what setting I use, it's just awful. Secondly it keeps dropping out of Bluetooth, out of nowhere I get the descending tones that mean it's turning off, then it dies. Afterwards I restart it and it's fine. The speaker volume for the headset is pathetically low at it's highest setting: If you're hard of hearing you won't be happy with this.

On the good side, it cancels out background noise wonderfully. I've used it when I've been in a noisy car and while standing next to a noisy construction site and people could hear me just fine.

I'm going to contact Blue Ant and see if they have any fixes for the problems and I'll update this post after that.

I received the Z9 earlier today and messed with it for a bit. It does as advertised. I charged the Z9 and quickly paired it with my KRAZOR. I tested the unit by calling and leaving a message on my office voicemail. I found out in short notice that the MAXX setting on the voice isolation works very well. I did not notice much of a change in the way my voice sounded. I did notice one thing that every user needs to be careful of. This thing is sensitive to voice volume. Which is good, but may require the user to get used to talking very quietly. When talking in normal to loud voice, it seemed to distort the sound of my voice to the listener... but when I spoke softly... even to a whisper it was quite clear. I have years of experience in music production and recognized a distorted voice sound due to too much volume. This is something they could improve on, however, it seems to me that the days of speaking loudly when talking on a headset are over. The fit and weight are excellent; I hardly know I have it on. I can see where it might become uncomfortable after a while of wear, if it is pressed firmly to the ear canal but you can even leave it on without it being pressed firmly to the ear canal, so this handles that issue. Received the item within a week after purchase. All in all I am very pleased with this purchase.

I'm a grizzled veteran of the BT headset wars, and I'm always changing to find the "perfect" headset. This is the closest I've come so far.

Here's the good:
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* By far, the best thing about it is the noise-cancelling feature. I'm on the road a lot, and the "max" setting almost eliminates road and background noise on the other end...my daughter said she hated talking to me when I was on the road before I bought this headset. This is a MAJOR plus, and the main reason I bought it to begin with. It simply works!

* Volume is LOUD! In those noisy environments, this is a plus, and I usually have to turn it down to mid-range, even in noisy areas.

* Unlike some, it is very comfortable to me, for long periods of time, and I wear mine for hours at a time. Lighweight and small...compared to my Motorola H700, it's heaven. I forget it's even on sometimes.

* I love the quick disconnect, reconnect feature using the volume up/down buttons. I use it with two phones (Motorola V325 for work and Blackberry 8700c for personal), and this makes it a breeze to switch from one to the other without having to fumble through the phone menus. (If you use it with a Blackberry, be sure to turn off the "Echo Control" setting in the BT menu for this headset.)

* Clip for your shirt or pocket.

* The price is very reasonable for a headset with these advanced features.

So, what kept it from being 5-stars?
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* Proprietary charger (why not mini-USB, except to make more money?)

* Slippery plastic ear hook, though they do include extras.

* Talk time is okay, but not great. I can get maybe 4-5 hours out of it, putting it squarely in the average range based on my experiences.

But these are minor, nitpicking complaints. Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who wants a small, lightweight, comfortable, noise-reducing headset.

I've been using a cellphone for a long time and have used lots of corded headsets with varying results. I had a few bad experiences with Bluetooth early on and felt that it just wasn't ready for the prime time. A friend got an older Jabra headset and it was terrible to talk on--static, breaking up, muddy speech--I basically REFUSED to talk to him while using it.

So it was not without trepidation that I pulled trigger on this little fella. I am impressed! The highest praise I can give is to say: IT. JUST. WORKS. You take it out, charge it and pair it with your phone (Palm Centro, no problem at all). In seconds I was using it and it sounded GREAT. Both my wife (an occasional Luddite) and good friend said that it was actually BETTER than when I was talking on the handset regularly. What more can you say?

Very comfortable to wear, the buttons are easy and intuitive to press, and it seems sturdy (in part because it is so light, I dropped it but was not worried at all). Yes, it is a little confusing to know when to "click" a button and when to "hold" a button for 3 seconds and which combinations you need to press, but for the basic functions it's pretty straightforward and only for fancier things do you need to memorize (or look up in the handy guide) the buttons to press.

What about background noise? It did a nice job on a windy Boston day and when you which to maximum voice isolation it does a remarkable job with cutting out background noise and music.

In sum, this is a remarkable headset. It is small, light, affordable, and really does the job. With a 2 year warranty and upgradable firmware (mine came with 3.4 the newest available), I'd say it is a pretty sweet device and worth picking up.

Pros:
1. Very small and lightweight. Rubber earpiece is very comfortable, you may forget you are wearing it.
2. Stylish and attractive.
3. Calls USUALLY are clear and crisp. Other party seems to hear me fine as well.
4. Voice Isolation feature works incredibly well.
5. Company stands behind products with frequent upgrades with USB
6. Quality built and feel when pressing the buttons.

Con:
1. Rubber earpiece starts to degrade after a few months from oils/sweat and heat from your ear.
2. Updating to latest version is a bit confusing which may turn away some buyers.
3. Turning on and off Voice Isolation is the button as hanging up/picking up phone calls, which can be tricky to control.
4. Seems to lose connection to my phone quite often. (T-Mobile Shadow, Nokia 6133, Samsung U600 and D900.)

Well basically I used this for about a few months. In the first couple months the headset worked great. My callers heard me clear and crisp. The voice isolation feature worked as stated. But everything went downhill after that. First my rubber ear piece started to deform which caused the headset to not fit properly in my ear. I do not use the hook as it interferes with my glasses. Calls I made and received started to lose reception. Clear and crispness was no longer there. I updated the software hoping it would help but that seem to screw up the button features. It started not pick up calls when I pressed the main button and instead would activate or deactivate the Voice isolation feature. It would disconnect with my phone and I would have to reset it by turning it off. A couple of times it totally lost pairing with my phone where I then had to pair it up again. Basically, when the headset worked it worked exceptionally but when it started to act up it was horrendous. It is a good headset but comes down to the reliability of it which I feel is not there. The 3 stars is for when it did worked.

My wife is using the BlueAnt Z9 v3.3 paired with a Nokia N95-3. The sound quality is fantastic and the noise reduction is incredible. During our initial testing the noise reduction cut-out the background noise so completely that I had to ask if she was still there. The voice quality is natural and clear on both the high and low noise reduction setting. Even when she is calling from her very noisy car the low noise reduction setting complete eliminates all sounds except for her voice.

The Z9 is very comfortable to wear. It is small, light, and doesn't intrude into the ear canal. After we discovered that the sound was great, she wore it all day to see how it felt. She said it is so light and unobtrusive that it seemed to disappear.

Using the Z9 is pretty simple. There is one big multifunction button for on/off, noise reduction high/low and for other functions such as voice dial. There is also a volume up and a volume down button that together function as the LED on/off mode selector. BlueAnt includes a credit card size folded paper cheat sheet to help as you learn to use the headset.

The only complaint I have is that the USB cable is not a standard mini-USB. So although it charges from USB you need to use the cable provided.

I have to note that the Z9 shipped with firmware v1.0, and with v1.0 the sound quality was pretty bad. It was amazing that the firmware upgrade to v3.3 could improve it so much. (It may help that the headset is paired to a very high end phone.) Also the firmware upgrade procedure has excellent instructions but the process is tedious. I am just thankful that BlueAnt incorporated the ability to upgrade the firmware.

So we are thrilled with the Z9, and now I am looking to get a new cell phone with Bluetooth so that I too can get a Z9 headset.