Customer Reviews

Etymotic Research etyBLU Dual-Mode Noise-Isolating Bluetooth Headset

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I have been trying unsuccessfully to find a bluetooth head set that worked well for 3 years. My problem during this time is that most of my phone calls are long i.e. 10-20 minutes and some longer. I have found a few headsets including three Plantronics units that work great but either drop the call or the connection with the phone after being on a call for over 5-10 minutes. To date, I have tried 7 headsets from three manufacturers with no success. None of them will last longer than 20 continuous minutes and most don't sound very good.

I saw the etyBLU unit was coming out and was eager to try it since I love my ER4p's that I have owned for 5 years now. They were finally available and I purchased one hoping that someone got it right. Boy, did Etymotic get this right. This headset is GREAT! My second call using them lasted 40 minutes and the headset worked just fine. Also, I used the extended boom with the noise canceling and the other conference call participants thought I sounded much better than when I used my other headsets. I was also driving at the time which I usually wasn't when I used the other headsets. My hats off to the engineers at Etymotic for this headset.

I have tried the unit with and without the boom and found that it works best with the boom. I also had to swap out the blue ear flange for the larger grey since it fit my ear better. I haven't needed to use ear hook so I obviously have no experience to relate. Battery life is good to great. I have been able to be on several calls lasting over 2 hours without the battery giving out. This is not something I could say about the Motorola or the Plantronics devices. All of the units state that they have many hours of talk time but usually it translates to 2-3 hours at best. The Plantronics was the weakest at under 2 hours. I haven't run the Etymotic until its battery is dead so I can't provide total talk time but it is at least 3 hours.

I love driving ragtops - the wind in your hair, the sun on your face - but if you use a cell phone and need a headset - you are pretty much out of luck. I got a great response out of the Shure Quietspot earpiece - but it was wired and had no control button on the earpiece itself - all calls had to be generated through the phone. It was a decent compromise. I tried a variety of Bluetooth earpieces but they either were too quiet on my end to hear through the wind noise, or the person on the other end of the call couldn't hear me. The Etyblu fixed that! The boom mic is clear as a bell and people don't realize I'm calling from a convertible. The sound quality on my end is great. I did have some problems getting it to fit right. Frankly I had to use the soft rubber insert with the earclip to get it to stay in right - the flanged in-ear adapters just didn't cut it for me. However, it is easy enough to put on and it is worth the extra second to use it. There is occasionally a slight bit of static noise, but not much. Battery life seems really good so far. I am really pleased with this device! If it wasn't for the fit issues I'd give it a solid "5" but it's really better than a Four in my book!

My primary goal in getting this headset was to find a convertible-friendly headset which I could hear clearly and talk on with reasonable clarity. The etyBLU, as an isolating, in-ear headset with a variety of flanged and foamed ear-pieces, worked beautifully for hearing, and using the boom mic with the wind-screen foam allowed callers to hear me, even when driving my rumbly-mufflered Miata with the roof down.

But it's not all perfect. The device is horribly expensive, the in-ear flange makes it a very large and odd shape (the ear-hook makes it even more huge and awkward), there is no noise cancellation without the boom mic, there is no wind negation without that rather bulky foam mic-guard, the Bluetooth range is a pathetic 4 feet, and the charging interface uses the same interface as the boom mic. It's very hard to transport it, unless you have a multitude of pockets or a purse/satchel of some kind, due to the shape, and the foam mic-guard constantly pops right off. Alas, due to the odd shape, I lost the device after only a month of use. I will not be purchasing another.

OK, here's the deal. I need a blue tooth because I'm either writing or on the run and wires just get in my way. I've had my Etyblu for two days now and it has mostly met my high expectations. I initially went through all of the various ear pieces, after watching the video "how to" insert your ear piece on Ety's website. So I knew how to install. And right up front I'll tell you that the only shortcoming that I have found is the insertion of the ear piece. I did after many different config's find an acceptable match. The smallest ear insert partially inserted using the over the ear hook. I'd give it about a 7 out of 10 for comfort but you do lose a little audio quality compared to the deep insertion ear piece.

I simply couldn't stand having the thing jammed in my ear. It was uncomfortable and you definitely lose half of your hearing. That said, if I need it in high noise environments, I can stand it for around 30 minutes. I could hear clearly standing in a 40 mph wind with higher gusts.

Now for the really great part. Your callers will be able to hear you perfectly. Standing in a 40 mph wind and with the foam wind hood installed on the boom mic my callers said that they could barely hear the wind noise and that it did not impede our conversation. And I didn't have to scream into the mic. Excellent and just what I want. I spend a lot of time in airports and with the Ety I can have private conversations for a change.

I tried and returned the Jawbone 2 after three days. It would not fit and the sound on both ends was poor. I will not be returning my Ety. It may not be perfect but it is the best out right now. PS-in regard to those who have said that the outgoing sound quality and volume is poor. You must have the noise cancellation hole facing your mouth and the mic hole facing away from you. Outgoing sound quality and volume is a 9.9 out 10. You'll love it, with the boom mic installed!

After charging overnight, I paired this with my HTC 8525 PDA phone from Cingular (AT&T). Unless I am willing to hold the phone next to the headset, the Bluetooth connection gets very noisy and will likely drop/disconnect. This not only looks ridiculous, but doesn't qualify as hands-free.

It doesn't matter how good the sound quality of the headset might be if the device can't maintain a wireless connection.

To be fair, I paired the headset with other (different) phones and my Apple MacBook Pro. (All of the tested phones and my laptop have worked with other headsets from Jawbone (I & II), Blue Ant (Z9 & Z9i), Motorola (H12), and Plantronics (925)--most at distances of 20 feet or more.)

I may try another unit in a few months, hoping that I just received a defective one or that a software upgrade may improve the radio range.

I've waited quite a while to write this review, but this product has been around for a while, so I'm going to keep it short(ish).

First off, this is very much the kind of listening device that you have to *shove* into your ear. It is not only an acquired skill, but an acquired experience. I use high-end earbuds (Shure and Etymotic), and drive a convertible (necessitating the use), so I'm used to it and like it. There are about three depths into your ear that you can insert this. The deepest is the best. It takes practice to angle, twist, and turn the headset to get it in, but once it's in, it's very secure. You should be able to turn the side of your head to the floor, headbang a little, and still have the headset firmly in place.

A quick tip-- try the flanged fitting first. Lick your finger, then rub the saliva around the flange. Now insert. Twist and push until it's really in there. You've probably got it in as far as it will go if all outside sounds to that ear are totally muted. You can do the saliva thing as necessary, but after a while, you'll build up some wax on the flange, and it will go in easier.

PERFORMANCE:

I tested this against a few other products in a relatively controlled environment. I have a large air filter that blows a hard current of air and emits a loud rumbling mechanical noise. Putting my face (with a headset on) right in the air current (and close to the machine) is a pretty accurate substitute for being in a convertible. I call my Google voicemail (which is pretty high-quality), then listen to the results on my stereo hooked up to my computer. For comparison mediocre and average BT headsets fail this test completely; wind static and mechanical noise is ALL that is heard.

One thing I've learned over years of using headsets in a convertible: Even the most expensive, fancy "high tech" "military grade" noise-canceling doesn't work with wind. However, wind noise is easily minimized or eliminated on most headset by FOAM (or other material, like denim). I've tried a LOT of expensive headsets (Jawbones, Motorola, Plantronics, etc-- inlcuding Jawbone Prime and Plantranics Voyager Pro). NONE of them perform against my air filter test or in the real world as well as a boom mic with foam. Not even close. However, most of them perform very well if you find a way to put foam on it (easy with the Plantronics Voyager Pro, not so much with the others).

The best headset for super-loud environments is something that uses bone conduction (like Motorola HX1, NOT Jawbone). However, these sound pretty crappy (you sound like an drunk robot under water).

The Next best thing, suitable for use in crowds, convertibles, and elsewhere, is a wired headset with a boom mic and foam (or, surprisingly, earbuds with an in-line microphone worn under your shirt, or wrapped in foam). These include the Shure Quietspot and the Etymotic wired boom headset (and probably "theBoom" as well, but I haven't tried it). These block all wind noise, and block or cancel almost all external noise. I have literally had hour-long conversations with people while I was driving on the freeway with the top down, and the person didn't even know I was using a headset, much less driving. And, to boot, you don't have to charge them. They're also relatively cheap and require no pairing. The only disadvantage is that darned wire.

Now the EtyBLU does a very good job of emulating a wired headset. With the small foam piece attached, nearly all wind is eliminated (this foam piece comes off easily, but you can wrap a rubber band or twist tie around it at the base to keep it secured).

After being impressed with the results of my test, I took it out on the freeway with the top down. My friend said the voice quality was excellent, nearly as good as the Shure Quietspot wired headset.

I also tested the Bluetooth range of the EtyBLU, and it's not as bad as people say. Line-of-sight, I can go a good 20 feet away. Turned away, it's maybe half that. However, I've gone so far away that the sound gets garbled (maybe 30 feet), and it didn't disconnect. Also, the pop/click noise you hear is only heard on your side (at least, I never heard it in any of the recordings I made). That's good enough for me; I can deal with a few clicks on my side, if the other person isn't hearing it.

Overall, it's a fantastic product. Without the boom, it's one of the best looking headsets, and with the boom, it's one of the best performing. In summary, I'm fairly sure this will be replacing my Shure Quietspot wired headset, and I won't be upgrading until Shure makes a Bluetooth Quietspot (I prefer the Shure ear fitting, but that's a personal preference).

The only thing I'll say I disapprove of is the charger. You have to remove the boom to plug in the charger. I certainly would have been willing to live with an extra millimeter of size if they would have used micro- or mini-USB for charging, instead of a proprietary connector. However, since pretty much all manufacturers are dumba$$es about power connector standards, I'll let it slide.

This is a great BT headset with one BIG exception: it has a proprietary USB cable. Why do we have USB standards when many BT vendors make their own. This device would be perfect if it supported mini-USB on the headset side.

This is the third ER product I have owned, and while I am am usually very pleased, with this one I am completely disappointed. The headset has a very poor range, even from a few feet away from my phone there is a lot of static coming through the earpiece (ie phone in my shirt pocket, headset in my ear). I can barely hear the person I am talking to. The person says they can hear me ok until I get approximately 10 feet from the phone, then the static in the earpiece is so bad I cannot hear anything and the person on the other end says they can make out every other word at best. Within tens of seconds at this distance, the headset eventually disconnects from the phone. I don't know if I got a faulty model, but I am very disappointed with this >$100 useless piece of electronics. I will be in contact with ER to see if they have a solution to offer... maybe (I hope) I just got a faulty unit.

This is the best noise canceling bluetooth I have tried, but the static when your phone is on your belt or if you get more than a few feet away is unacceptable. I have paired this with several phones with the same resulting static. I'm rma'ing it to etymotics for replacement. Crossing my fingers, I wan't this to work. Everyone I talk to when my phone is on the dash in front of me in a noisy truck say it sounds better than even my wired Shure quietspot, which was the best noise canceling unit so far.

Etymotic makes some of the best headphones around, so when I saw they made a bluetooth headset I had to try it. As expected the sound quality was exceptional and it paired quickly and easily with my phone. It can be charged through a USB port which makes it great for travel. Unfortunately I found that it doesn't wear easily or comfortably. Putting it on was awkward and it was too heavy with the boom microphone to keep it on. I ended up buying a Plantronics Voyager 510 that is excellent.