Customer Reviews

Jabra BT620s - Bluetooth® stereo headset for mobile phones, music players, PCs and other Bluetooth devices

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I got these, at considerably greater expense than here I might add, from my cell phone vendor. Much has been said in other reviews so I will not repeat that here; instead I will focus on my experience with them using my Smartphone and Windows Vista to listen to music on them.

I patiently waited for them to charge (two hours) before trying them out. It was then a few minutes work to get it to talk to my Cingular 3125 Smartphone (press and hold the home button, Comm Manager, Settings, Bluetooth settings, Menu, Devices, Menu, New).

My phone will play music and uses the external screen to display the track etc. so that was the first thing I tried out - worked perfectly the first time I clicked play on a song on my phone: the sound just came out of the headphones, wirelessly! I was able to skip back and forwards, pause and play using the buttons on the right side of the headphones and adjust the volume using the left side.

The quality was not the best I've heard - not as good as my iPod for example, even though I had just ripped it from the CD at 256Kbit so I loaded the song onto my PC and tried listening to it there. I am running the final, released version of Windows Vista and was able to add the headphones as a Bluetooth device ok but then was unable to use them as Vista didn't have any drivers for them (even though it knew what it was). So I tried plugging them in via the USB cable that came with them and it found drivers for that ok and seemed prepared to work. However playing the file I had just played on my phone didn't result in sound coming out of the headphones...? A browse of the manual told me I needed to press and hold both the left and right side buttons after waiting 10 seconds after plugging them in. Once I did that, they changed colour from their red "charging and dead" colour to the "I'm doing something" blue. As soon as I did this all sound from my PC came through the headphones just fine!

They sounded much better when getting sound over the wire then they did wirelessly over Bluetooth so clearly the sound quality is degraded by the Bluetooth connection somehow. When listening wired, there is lots of bass and the treble was clear and overall I was surprised how good they sounded. Fairly loud but you won't go deaf with them.

To get a comparison, I plugged in my Sony MDR-V300 headphones, which are a very nice sounding pair of the regular wired kind that plug into the headphone socket, and listened to the same song again on my PC. The Jabra's are definitely not as good-sounding as the Sony's. I also noticed the song didn't sound as good as it does when I listen to it on my iPod using those headphones so the audio circuitry of my notebook is apparently not as good as the iPod which I don't think is very surprising.

They are light and comfortable and in summary, it is good being able to listen to music on your phone without the hassle of wires or of having to reach for a player to skip songs you don't like but the experience, in terms of music quality, is way short of that when using an iPod and high-end headphones.

Jabra did nothing wrong with these. They are solidly build and beautifully designed. They have paired easily with every device I've tried, and even work very well as a hands free headset for a bluetooth cell phone. However, they don't work with my Mac, and contrary to the insinuation by the other reviewer, this is in no way Jabra's fault. Bluetooth is bluetooth, and it's up to the computer manufacturer to support the "profiles" supported by various devices. In the case of the Mac, Apple's Bluetooth support is incomplete; they don't handle the advanced audio profile required for stereo headsets, and so this headset (or ANY other stereo bluetooth headset, for that matter) will not work with a Mac until Apple decides to fix this. This is completely out of Jabra's control, and this is a very well engineered device. If you own a Window's XP computer, this will work very well.

The only negative I can find is that the headset is not adjustable and thus may not fit everybody comfortably. (My wife, for example, can't get these to sit well.)

I am not an audiophile but I do like listening to music and cords between headphones and my portable music player have been driving me nuts. So when I saw that the Motorola Q (also an excellent product) supported both my Windows Media Audio (WMA) collection as well as all of the cool new bluetooth stereo headsets, I had to get it and these headphones. All I can say is that they work beautifully with my Q, the sound quality is much better than I was expecting and the cool bonus features such as pausing music when a phone call comes in and resuming when it ends is just awesome! Come on everyone, it's the year 2006, you should go wireless!

EDIT: After using these products with my Motorola Q for a bit (as with other reviewers) I noticed that whenever music is paused, the headset drops the audio profile forcing you to reconnect on the phone with it before continuing listening. This was a major cool feature for me, so I contacted Jabra support and they unfortunately had no idea how to help me. It was clear that had done little to no testing with the Q so unfortunately, I ended up returning them to amazon. I purchased the motorola equivalent headset instead (the 820s) and have had no problems. It's sad because the sound quality on the Jabra set was better but I can't stand having to reconnect the profile all the time.

I am very pleased with the Jabra BT620s headphones so far, which I use with my Motorola Q and laptop via the A320s adapter (thank you J. Vella. Your recommendation helped a lot). As mentioned, the stereo sound quality is excellent, though not as good as my wired HIFI headphones (Sennheiser HD555's). Then again, I can't walk around the house or out on the porch tethered by 6' of cord... BT freedom, does have it's joys!

As for those minor caveats, here are a few:
My phone is far too eager to drop the connection with the BT stereo profile if I pause or stop play for very long, and it doesn't reconnect automatically when I resume play, as I think it should. The hands-free profile reconnects automatically if I leave the BT620s' in the car, and then return. The stereo profile doesn't do this. It would be nice if it did.

The answer/end button on the BT620s is very easy to bump accidentally with my shoulder or hand. I can't tell you how many times I have had to cancel the voice recognition program because of this. One little shrug and it likes to start uninvited. Rude!, I'm telling ya.

I'm not totally thrilled with the behind-the-neck neckband concept. I know it's the rage, but I'm still not convinced. Personal choice there, I guess.

I like the lights, especially when the headphones are charging. It's very easy to see when they have a full charge. Light turns green, they are done. As for the blue strobes... cool at first, but they do invite strange looks when I forget to turn them off in public places. And then my more-than-kind girlfriend giggled and said I looked a little bit like Princess Lea with police lights going. Thanks, dear!

And last, but not least, my ears do get warm after an hour or more of groovin' and movin' (could be a good thing on a cold day)!

Besides these few entertaining caveats, I do recommend this headphones/headset. They work well, and more than one friend who has seen and tried them has said "I want one of those!"

These headphones are great in every aspect except for comfort. They're the behind-the-head style that's oh-so-popular these days, but the fit is far worse than the comfortable (but breakage-prone) Logitech Wireless Headphones for iPod that I had before. These pair easily with my bluetooth-enabled Thinkpad, which is nice, and also with my phone (at the same time) so I can take calls and it will switch from the music, then switch back when my call is over. The built-in mic works surprisingly well, for a really hassle-free bluetooth experience.

Now for the bad: I feel like these headphones were designed for kids. They're so small (I was really shocked when I opened the packaging at how small they are) that they pinch my ears hard. The headband just simply isn't big enough for a normal-sized head. Another minor thing is that they have a mind of their own when you put them down. If you sit them down with the earpieces facing up (which you invariably will when you have to take your hourly break from the pain they cause), they "walk" themselves off of the desk if you put them down the wrong way.

Great combination. I am thrilled with the being able to work, answer my cell without switching headphones. I especially like the fact that I can connect to the MP3 player and the cell at the same time. Bought two, one for son and one for me.

I DISLIKE the fact the whole ring on both sides blink blue when it's on. You have to hold both sides main buttons down for 6 seconds to turn them off. The lights blinks again after a recharge (reset to normal). I like the play time (up to 16 hrs) says Jabra.

UPDATE: using the headphones with my laptop using USB port: plug in usb cable between BT620s and pc. wait 10 seconds, push and hold both main buttons until left sid flashes red led. Start your Windows media player. sound transfers to headphone. right side controls start/stop and forward or reverse one track.

Problem: if I pair headset to phone and to a A120 BT adaptor connected to MP3 player, I have to REMOVE from phone and re-PAIR the BT620 to the cell if I want to use the BT620 for both LG VX8300 cell and media player capability. Nature of the beast, I guess.

Comments from son, Sam (19). Likes the headset so he do his job(he works for a tyre company), be tuned in, answer his phone and NOT be wired to his iPod and phone.

This thing is perfect for fellows that have "strange ears" like I have. I use this thing only for hands-free phone calls. All these one-ear hang-ons don't work for me and I was happy to find this device. Receiver sound is perfect, and I ask everyone if they can hear I'm hands-free. No-one notices. So, for what it is supposed to do, this thing is great. You may have noticed that I call it "this thing". It is quite bulky, so for trendy people I wouldn't suggest to wear it anywhere else than in the safe environment of your car (unless you want to set a new trend). Unlike the manual, charging this thing takes 3 to 4 hours. To me the "lightshows" on both ears should be off by default end evenly difficult to turn on. That's another thing: turning on and off is some kind of a hassle and you need your phone to figure out if it is off (when light shows are disabled).
So bottom line, this thing would get five stars from me if it would be more elegant, would not have flashy lights on by default, would have a power-is-on indicator (very small LED of course) and/or would just have a simple on/off switch. But as said, for hands-free phone calls, this is the best device I've seen so far.

After reading some of the other reviews that were not so favorable, I was pleasantly surprised with this headset after taking advantage of a really good deal recently. The sound quality is excellent with really impressive bass response. Now I am pairing this with an LG VX8700 and perhaps that makes some difference. There are some minor issues though. Placing the phones properly on your head can mean that they are comfortable for a time, but eventually after about 2 hours they do seem to pinch. But even then it is not unbearable. I have cycled with them, music stops when you answer and then resumes. I have jogged with them, ear pieces pop off so you can rinse if necessary. Occasionally either the phone or the headset gets confused if you are trying to do something too fast. Flipping through songs, and you have to re-pair the device. Sound quality is pretty good through the microphone considering the distance. Very slightly muffled, but still clear enough to not be a limiting factor. A cool feature is that tap the right ear piece and it opens the music player on the phone and starts playing. Jabra should consider putting a locking button at an appropriate location because it is easy to inadvertently push one of the many buttons when you are taking off or adjusting the phones. Eventually you do learn how to handle to avoid this, but it is quirky. I would so recommend this headset for those looking for something to pair with one of the newer phones that support a2d over bluetooth. Excellent for cycling!

Update 8/22/07 This headset continues to operate great, despite being dropped numerous times. As a side note, I found as I was riding today that the pairing between my lg vx 8700 was fouled as the music was intermittent. While there is the occasional stumble in the otherwise smooth streaming, this was different. I ended up removing the device from my 8700 and re-pairing it. Fixed. The only thing I can think of is that I had recently unplugged my phone while it was docked in usb mode to my pc and you are not supposed to do that without ending via the menu first.

I use this headset to run with too and found a little floss can go along way. Yep, I tied a bit of floss between the ear pieces leaving one side with a simple knot. Then with the floss in position across the top of my head I pulled the ear pieces down until the plastic pieces which normally end up pinching the tops of the ears were just above the tops. I then double knotted the simple knot again and voila, the floss helps support the headset while you are running and the pinching that I noted in my original review is reduced greatly. I am actually sitting typing this listening to some Petty. Great stuff...

Make sure it works with your phone, and if your phone is a motorola it probably won't work. As motorola puts out very few audio bluetooth phones, in fact none that I have seen.

It works with an LG Chocolate. It's the only phone that I actually know that this unit plays music with.

If you buy this and it doesn't work with your phone this company will NOT allow you to return it. In fact, they won't let you return this headset for ANY reason.

I purchased these a month ago, together with the Jabra Bluetooth adapter, to use with both my Zune and Razr V3 cell phone. I love them! They work well and the headphones are comfortable enough provided you don't want to wear them for 8 straight hours. I'm not an audiophile so the sound quality is fine for me. Then again, if you're looking for something to block out noise and give you a great audio experience, these aren't designed for that purpose. You can still hear clearly when you have them on, even with music playing as long as it's not too loud. The best part is that the music automatically shuts off when the phone rings. One touch to the left headphone and you can answer the call and, because they're a lot more visible, you might not look like every other psycho who's talking to his/her invisible friend. The music will come back on when the call ends. I haven't had one complaint about the sound quality of the microphone when I make calls. They'll feel a lot more clunky to people who like using those little Bluetooth pieces (which I've never found comfortable enough to use) but if you're looking for a good mp3/cell phone combination, these are a really great buy.