Customer Reviews

IO Gear Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Headphone Kit

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The first set of headphones I received didn't work at all, my suspicion was that the transmitter didn't work, but I'm unsure of that. The replacement policy at Amazon is good, so the second set of headphones was on the way even before I got the first set back into the mail.

The second set works fine with the provided transmitter and works with my T40 bluetooth but not at top quality. I also have found that the signal interferes with my home wireless network which can be annoying when I'm trying to play a file off the NAS drive in the other room. Doesn't really sound too good with all the re-buffering due to the network interference.

Also, a little disappointing is that I have to finagle the connecting jack on both my computer and on a stereo receiver to get the sound right. If I just plug the jack in completely and without jiggling the sound is very substandard.

Lastly, I find that wearing them for long periods very uncomfortable as the behind the head design places a lot of pressure on the bones right behind the ear.

Overall, they work and do what I want, just wish the quality was a little better and the fit a little more ergonomic.

I had been using the Logitech bluetooth headphones with my Treo 650 when I experienced the cracked headband that has plagued many customers. I bought the IO Gear headphones as a replacement and have been very satisfied. My main complaint is the "neck band" isn't terribly comfortable, but the Logitech headphones made my ears ache after a half an hour - the IO Gear headphones are much better. Pros of the IO Gear kit are:

-The headphones fold up (I didn't realize how convenient that was until I had a pair that didn't fold),

-IO Gear includes everthing you could need, including a carrying case, extension cables, power adapters, & phono plug adapters,

-You can use the heaphones as a hand-free kit to make calls with the included plug-in boom mic,

-The charger can plug into an A/C outlet or a USB port (great if the batteries die while you're on the road)

-If you are using a Treo or another Palm OS device, you can download Softick Audio Gateway and eliminate the transmitter unit. Additionally, if you are using NormSoft's Pocket Tunes, you can select tracks using the buttons on the headphones.

I realize $100+ is a lot to pay for headphones, but I love to use them at work (I am crawling around racks of equipment all day, and traditional headphone cords were always getting caught or tangled) and for exercise. The build quality could be a little better with the IO Gear kit, so I will be interested to see how it holds up, but so far they are the only bluetooth headphones I have found that have all the functionality I want.

I bought a set of these a couple of weeks ago to use with my Siemens SX-66 (XDA III / Blue Angel). I tested them with my phone sitting on my desk and they seemed to work fine.

The good:

- Paired up right away with the phone.
- Liked the feel. They were fairly light and did fold up and fit into a small felt bag provided with the unit.
- Came with an AC charger and a microphone that screwed into the earpiece.
- Sound was excellent if the unit was a few feet away from you face in your hand.

The bad:

- The volume control (buttons integrated into the shape of the right earpiece) was very difficult to locate by touch. There are four buttons total, set in a circle around the rim of the earpiece. Two were for volume and two were for forward/back functionality if your devices supports it. Additionally, you have to press the button down each time you want to go up/down a level on volume. You can't simply hold the button and the sound will go down smoothly. So when the volume comes blasting out, you end up punching yourself in the head multiple times to get it down.
- Volume level between the phone and Windows media player were very different. If you turned the phone up to where you could hear it, when the call ended, the player would come blasting back and ear damaging levels. Back to the head punching thing again.
- I put my phone in a holster on my left side. The unit cuts out completely. Now I'm no slim jim, but I don't think it is 30' between my ears and my waist, even if you take the long way around. I had the same problem when I got more than about 20' away from the unit lying on my desk. The signal started breaking up.

I can't report on comfort or battery life as I never kept them on long enough to find out. Now granted, I have 802.11 wireless and 2.4 ghz phones, so that may have been an issue, but so do most offices now. I ended up returning the unit.

[...] After using it for a week, well, here's what I thought...

Pros:
Great Price
Good Sound Quality
Lots of extras

Cons:
Poor Design (actually painful)
Microphone inconvenient
Answering phone, slow to respond to button presses.
Pointless forward and reverse buttons.

I received this product just over a week ago. I've been trying to find some good deals on bluetooth and been going back and forth on a few different designs, including the logitech and the motorola ht820. I have to say, that even tho the designs are similar, the ht820 is far more comfortable. In addition, it has a built in mic, which has a very good pickup on it. The mic that comes with the IO Gear kit is one that has to be plugged in separately and is large and ungainly (I looked like I should be working for customer support somewhere). The headphones also have forward and reverse buttons that I assume are meant to be used with a music enabled phone, mine can play music but just not via headphones since it has a MS OS, so the buttons were pointless.

This is definitely a good deal as far as price, maybe if they offered an adjustable option to the sizing, and an integrated mic, I'd consider buying again. The other thing that's rather annoying is the short usage time. Motorola spoiled me, and if they had a dongle that would play from my mp3 player, I'd drop kick this thing in a second, but since they don't, I purchased this in an attempt to find something that would work. Motorola's HT820 has a usage time of 14 hours, while this one has a max of 6. Considering their relatively similar, it's hard to imagine why they couldn't get a longer time out of theirs.

On the upside, they give you multiple adapters to attach to your stereo and lots of other wires and whatnot. It's a great product for someone who doesn't mind the less than maximum amount of play time that you can get out of them, or the fact that you have to attach a boom mic, which was apparently hard to hear me on, and I speak very loud.

I received these headphones on Thurs. They worked great out of the box with the included 3.5 mm to bluetooth transmitter. Sound was very good but I am not an audiophile, I just like to listen to music in the office. I didn't have any problems with interference but I don't have any other bluetooth devices. I do have a 2.4 Gz phone but did not try to use both simultaneously. In my office I was able to move into different rooms and up to 30-40 feet away with no problems.

I did have to do some tweaking to get the headphones to work with my Acer TMC 310 Tablet PCs built in bluetooth. But my problem was that Acer did not have the Bluetooth audio drivers on the computer and did not include them on their website. I had to do some searching on the internet but I found the generic widcom bluetooth software for my chipset and installed that. Then I had no problem pairing. If you plan to use these to listen to music using a built in bluetooth transmitter, make sure your device has the bluetooth audio drivers installed. (Check under your device manager in Control Panel - under Sounds, video and game controllers - if you see bluetooth audio listed there your are probably okay)

I agree with the first reviewer, that the buttons for volume on the headset are a bit difficult to work but I generally adjust the sound at my computer. The mute/pause does work great and that is very convenient.

I haven't tried these with a cell phone.

Overall, I liked this product and plan to buy a second set for my husband. I suggest getting the Kit which includes both the head phones and the transmitter because then you can be sure you will be able to use them despite any bluetooth issues with your devices.

I was quite impressed when I opened the package. IOGear throws in everything except the kitchen sink. Plus, it includes a microphone so you can actually use it to listen AND speak on cell phone calls (if your phone is AD2P compatible.)

The problem is that the sound quality is Gawd-awful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have a Logitech bluetooth stereo headphone with the infamous cracking headband and I have been fortunate that the headband has not yet broken. The sound quality on that one is normal (meaning it sounds good.)

These are junk! What's the point of including all kinds of connectors if the underlying quality is horrible? I so badly regret having dropped the money on these!

The most common negative people seem to have with these headphones are the sound quality. While I admit they're not the greatest I've ever heard, they're easily as good as most others I've had. If you're looking for a high quality set of headphones with super high quality, these aren't for you.

If you're looking for an all around great set of headphones, then I recommend them. I've already went over the sound quality, so we'll talk about features. These headphones are wireless/bluetooth and come with the bluetooth adapter so you can listen do all your favorite devices wirelessly (mp3 player, TV, laptop, ect.) and you can even connect it to your bluetooth enabled phone. When you receive a phone call, the headphones automatically switch to the phone, then switch back to whatever you were listening to before when the phone call ends. Very nice.

As for comfortably, they're not the best out there. I had a cheap pair of Philips behind-the-neck headphones and they were much more comfortable. These aren't too bad, but you'll probably need to adjust them/take them off for a few seconds every 30 minutes or so.

Sound quality - 3/5
Features 5/5
Functionality - 5/5
Accessories - 5/5
Overall - 4/5

These ratings are based on the price I got them at, which was under $30. I really couldn't see spending over $50-$60 on them.

the device works fine as a stereo headset. I have tried it with my motorola cell phone, pick up noise, no so smooth talking, But the design of the headset is the least comfortable I have ever seen. it is unbearable for half hour, it even make headache.
I received this product just one day ago. I've decide to return it. I didnot try logitech and the motorola ht820, the mic is pluggable in separately and is large and ungainly, I tried it with skype, it come with more noise even cann't talk, I won't use it anymore.
one good thing is the adapters can deliver a good music but not 66feet as claim, the distance is ok up to 33feet.the batery is ok for me 4.5hours.
over all, this product preformace is not good, it is no a good design as other new tech stuff.

1 easily set-up with cellphone, computer or the transmitter

2 Sound quality is excellent as a bluetooth headset

3 it is uncormfortable to wear the headset. the design is poor. It should be improved!

I've read a number of reviews where people said the headphones are too small. People, they go over your ears and hang around the back of your neck, NOT on the top of your head like normal headphones. And yes, they're comfortable for longer wear times. I suppose if your head is very wide from ear-to-ear they might press against your ears, but that's the exception.

I had no problem with kit. Installation on my Mac PowerBook (via the transmitter) works fine. The headphones paired immediately with the transmitter which means you just plug-in to a mini-jack, turn on the transmitter and phones and you're ready to go. If you get intermittant output, it's not the mini-jacks fault - perhaps the plug on your device is loose. You can always try another min-jack cable that might be slightly fatter due to manufacturing differences.

You can pair the phones with the transmitter and ONE other device without re-pairing. I paired to my Nokia E61 mobile phone, no problem. The only oddity on the cell phone was I had to tell the Nokia when I turned on the phones - they didn't automatically connect as they should. But I've only tried it twice.

Sound quality from the phones are good. I'm not an audiophile so I'm quite happy. If I were an audiophile I wouldn't bother with these or any other headphones since anyone with strong feelings and high expectations about their technology will always be disappointed. These are inexpensive phones and sound good enough for the price.

IOGear throws a lot of stuff into the package:

Transmitter
Phones
Mini-jack cable b/t transmitter and jack
USB power adapter to charge transmitter and phones at once
A/C power adapter for the above (including a UK plug adapter)
Second set of foam ear pads
Mini-jack to RCA out cable
Mini-jack to phono adapter
Microphone for mobile use
Convenient carry sack for the above

I didn't try the microphone so can't comment on its quality with the mobile phone or Skype. It's a gooseneck style so shouldn't get in the way and is properly positioned in front of your mouth.

Keep in mind your devices must have the Bluetooth A2DP profile to get stereo. My Nokia doesn't so it uses the mono headset profile. Mac OS X Tiger (10.4) doesn't have the profile either although Leopard (10.5) is said to include it. No worries, just use the transmitter for now.

The headphones can control track playback (next, prev, pause) and volume control. Music will mute (and/or pause) when an incoming mobile call occurs. Full use of these features is dependent on your device's Bluetooth support.

I've been pleased with the product thus far, however I got it for $40 after a sale and rebates from another on-line retailer. I wouldn't have spent $180 (retail) for this or any other Bluetooth headphones.

The transmitter and headphones are powered on/off by press and holding the power buttons. It seems you need to press down a number of seconds (3-6) to get them on/off. Same buttons are used to pair but the long button press doesn't seem to interfere with on/off or pairing. In short, press Power until the blue LED lights up and you're ready to go.