Customer Reviews

Jabra STONE Bluetooth Headset with Extreme-Noise Blocking

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(37)
2 star:		(31)
1 star:		(45)

 

 

Well, I spent some time with this headset and I can definitely say that it is NOT for power users who run down batteries and spend hours each day using the Bluetooth headsets. The problem is that this headset would have to spend about half the day sitting in its charger. (I added an update with a quick battery life test.)

I, on the other hand, consider myself a normal or even light cell phone user. My usage includes one Bluetooth headset in the office that I use for meetings that total around 3-4 hours per week. There is another headset in my truck that I only use for answering incoming calls as well as calling people using the voice-dial feature of my BlackBerry phone. The headset in my truck is turned off 99% of the time so the batteries tend to last for weeks on end. Rarely do I go over 900 minutes on my cell phone in any given month.

Given that usage model, this headset actually works OK. Here are the things I like about it:
1) The outgoing call quality is excellent! I've never had a headset that worked as well as this one for voice dialing while driving. With my previous headsets, I could only effectively use the voice-dial feature when I was either stopped or idling at a constant speed. With this headset, I can voice-dial in traffic and don't even have to turn the radio off!
2) This headset only takes around 3 seconds to connect to my BlackBerry phone once it is removed from the charger. Both my Plantronics headsets take closer to 7 seconds - and that is after holding the power button for a couple of seconds to turn them on. This makes a big difference when answering incoming calls in the car where I typically don't wear the headset until my phone rings.
3) The 'Stone' charger is a great idea for someone like me who leaves the headset in the car with no charger for weeks at a time. I like that the headset turns itself off automatically when inserted into the charger and then turns on when removed - this gives me plenty of time to put it on my ear and answer incoming calls while driving.
4) It's easy to tell if the 'Stone' charger itself needs to be charged soon. With my Plantronics headset, it typically just dies unexpectedly during calls; so it's nice to have an indicator for when the Jabra needs to be brought into the house and recharged.
5) My first thought after opening this headset was that it didn't look very comfortable; but that has not been true at all. I wore it for 8 hours straight just to verify that it is far more comfortable than it looks. (Fortunately for me, I like wearing the headsets on my right ear because I would be out of luck otherwise with this one.)
6) I love that it connects with 2 different phones, which lets my wife and I both use the same headset when driving the truck.

Even though there is plenty to like about this headset; there are some really irritating things that make me think Jabra was trying to put form before function:
1) The answer button couldn't be in a worse position. It's almost impossible to insert or remove the headset from the charger without pressing it. It's also difficult to put the headset on my ear without pressing the answer button.
2) The volume control is kind of cool, but it's also easy to hit the answer button when messing with the volume. Unfortunately, this has caused me to hang up on callers when I just wanted to increase the volume.
3) The incoming call volume doesn't go as loud as I would like in some cases - a problem I haven't had before with other BlueTooth headsets.
4) Normally I don't care about product packaging - but Jabra went through some serious effort to make it hard to open so I figured I should mention it. The packaging is complemented nicely by not containing much usable documentation:).

At this point, I think the pros outweigh the cons and I'm planning on continuing to use this headset. If, in a couple more weeks, I can't figure out how to use the headset without hitting the answer button all the time, I'll probably switch back to the Plantronics.

The sad thing is Jabra would have had a serious 5-star hit for people like me if they had just made the answer button into an actual button that wasn't so easy to press by accident - but I guess that wouldn't have looked as sleek and cool...

UPDATE: After a few more days of use, I've decided up upgrade this review from 3 to 4 stars. Once I got used to putting this headset on without hitting the power button, it became a lot less irritating - and the positive features I mentioned in the original review are really nice. (I love the quick connection time to my phone as well as the voice quality for voice dialing!) Overall, I'd give this headset a full 5 stars if you aren't going to use it for calls lasting longer than 2 hours; otherwise, you'll have to deal with the short battery life.

UPDATE #2 (4/27/2010): As I mentioned in the original review, I don't spend much time on the phone. Today, however, I was on a call for almost 6 hours as I worked on debugging a customer issue. I went ahead and recorded my battery life statistics from the call using my Jabra Stone headset with the newest firmware installed.

Here are the results:
* The call began at 9:30 using my Blackberry Bold and the Jabra Stone headset (both fully charged).
* The Jabra Stone died at 10:40 and I switched over to the Plantronics Voyager 520.
* My Blackberry died at 12:20 and I had to plug it in to continue.
* The call ended at 3:10 and the Plantronics headset was still going strong (after 4.5 hours).

This is a huge difference in continuous battery life! The Jabra Stone is a great headset, but the battery life doesn't even compare to my Plantronics Voyager for long calls. Personally, I hardly ever run into battery issues since most of my calls/meetings are under an hour and I really don't have that many anyway. I suspect that if you're going to be making lots of shorter calls (and the Jabra Stone stays docked in the charger between calls), then the Jabra may actually do better in overall battery life than the Plantronics.

I was drawn to the design of this bluetooth headset. It is, compared to other headsets, a work of art! The price was a bit off-putting, but I splurged, knowing that if I didn't like it I could return it within 30 days. I gave it several trials on road trips of varying lengths, as well as just walking around while doing errands. I liked the way the ear loop fit around my ear much better than the usual covered wire ear loops. I liked how you couldn't really see it that much when hidden by my hair, though even when it was visible the design was not as "call center" as some others. I liked the little "stone" that, in addition to being a charging station, was a great storage device and made it easy to locate when I dug for it in my purse.

And that's the end of what I liked.

Here's what I didn't like: I didn't like that I never could get the earbud positioned to fit comfortably in my ear, and because the loop that fits around the ear is fixed rather than adjustable, there really wasn't any ability to adjust it so the earbud was in the right place for my ear. I think the earbud was too large, and I didn't see any extra earbuds of different sizes that could be used instead. I didn't like that I couldn't really tell if I was adjusting the volume up or down because the volume adjustment is under the "skin" of the earpiece---honestly I was never sure I had even activated the volume control. I didn't like that when trying to adjust the headset so I could hear, I invariably hit the spot that cuts off the phone call---that happened at least a dozen times in the first two weeks. I didn't like that when I pressed on the spot that ends a call or is used to redial the last number, I ended up pressing the whole thing into my ear, which is not at all comfortable. And here is the worst part: the call time is ridiculously short, and even the standby time is inadequate. When I made my 8 hour road trips, as I often do, I had to take the bluetooth off and recharge it at least once during the trip, and that means that for that time I no longer had the hands-free capability while driving, which is the whole point of owning a bluetooth for me. I hear that it is able to be used to listen to music; this is not a priority for me, but I can't help but think it would be annoying to have such a short amount of time to listen to the music before it had to be recharged.

I think I would have learned to live with all the other problems I mentioned if it weren't for the very inadequate talk time and standby time. It really is the most beautiful bluetooth out there. But at that price, this thing should be absolutely perfect, and the time issue is a non-starter for me.

We are probably going to return these gorgeous pieces of junk, like many other reviewers.

My girlfriend and I each purchased the STONE at an AT&T store. It was a new product, and it looked pretty sweet. I have owned and loved MANY Jabra BT headsets - the 200, 250V, 500V and the 5020. To put it in short terms, however, that I just got from one of the North American Sales Managers for Jabra, "Tom:" "The headset only provides two hours of use; our marketing department chose to word the life as they did to make it look as if it lasts longer than it does." Pretty incredible admission. Kudos to him for being so honest.

It seems that the STONE's little clip-in charger device actually holds a charge for the headset, so you can RE-charge it up to three times during the day. The ACTUAL battery life, on one charge, seems to be about 30 minutes of talk and about 4 hours on standby. Don't even THINK about a lot of music or internet radio (for smartphone users) using the A2DP feature. You will suck the battery down in less than an hour. The package for the headset says "Up to 8 hours talk time"

The pity is, I love the headset! It is light, comfortable, and works REALLY REALLY well with my iPhone. Sound quality is awesome. The charger is cool. Even the little iPhone app is neat (just don't accidentally toss your iPhone!). But, the most important feature for those of us on the go is BATTERY LIFE. I complain about the lousy life I get on my iPhone 3Gs, but that now seems to last an eternity when compared to the horrible battery life of the STONE.

So, how are they misleading the public? They represent that it has 8 hours of life - TWO on a charge, and then 6 more by recharging it THREE TIMES using the stone charger. That last part is in fine print. Buyer Beware!!

I seriously hope the Federal Trade Commission nails Jabra for misleading customers on this product, and I hope they will be forced to pay damages to those of us who trusted them. They took our money for a vastly inferior product, and with obvious intentions of misleading the consumer.

UPDATE 1/29/2010
OK, there has been some things happening this week regarding the STONE saga! I got a call from AT&T Corporate. They were just as upset as I was about the misrepresentation. A memo was going out to the stores regarding the mislabeling on the packages.

However, I have been in contact with Tom Trembly at Jabra; the man who told me originally about the issues I mentioned. He emailed me an updater for the headset firmware. It made a HUGE difference in the operation and battery life of the headset! The touch controls are MUCH more responsive, transmitted audio is louder, and the battery life is considerably longer. Mind you, it is NOT what is advertised on the box, but I can get through a normal day without having to charge it 3 or 4 times!

I will post another message in a week or two with additional updates.

UPDATE 3/19/2010
I have been trying to contact Jabra regarding these headsets. They are ignoring my voicemails, and my emails. It seems that if they think they have a solution, they will talk with you, otherwise, you just don't exist.

I URGE EVERYONE TO NOT PURCHASE THIS PRODUCT. If you are a heavy user, you will be greatly disappointed. Monday morning, I will be filing complaints with the Federal Trade Commission regarding this product. Jabra cannot be allowed to lie to customers in this fashion. Period!

Check out the BT-5020; it is one of the best headsets I have ever used!

Recently, I had an opportunity to test this Jabra Stone as well as Jabra EXTREME Bluetooth Headset.

Jabra STONE is a beautifully designed headset with very good call quality, but certain shortcomings prevent me from recommending it. In my opinion, Jabra EXTREME is a much better headset at less than half price.

Below are the details behind my evaluation of the Jabra STONE:

Pros:
* Good call quality, altough callers sound slightly muffled, but it was not a big deal

* My BB 8900 voice recognition works flawlessly with this headset

* Light weight

* Looks nice

Cons
* The main issue for me is the proprietary charger connector on the headset itself. The charging pod has a micro-USB connector, but the headset cannot be charged without the pod. I usually charge headset at home on my nightstand AND, occasionally, in the car. Forgetting to bring the charging pod every day to the car could potentially leave me without a handsfree option in the car if the headset's battery dies. That is not acceptable to me. For example, Jabra EXTREME and Plantronics 975 both have micro-USB on the headset, which allows me to use the same car charger to charge my BB 8900, and either of the headsets.

* The second issue is the volume control. The volume is controlled by brushing your finger up or down on the wide section of the loop. I noticed that if I had to adjust the fit of the headset while on call I would acidentally change the volume. This happened more than once, so I found it to be a problem.

* Slightly uncomfortable fit. The headset is very light; I had it on my ear for 7+ hours without any problem. However, the little speaker that goes into my ear canal was uncomfortable when I pressed the multifunction button (call answer/end, voice dialing, on/off) at the bottom of the loop's wider part where Jabra logo is; it pushed the speaker deeper into my ear which was unpleasant.

* Very short charging cord. The AC charging cord that came with the headset is about 1 foot long. I charge my portables on top of my nightstand and the power strip is located under the night stand and all cords are routed behind the nightstand. I would not be able to use the original Jabra charger with this setup. Thankfully, Jabra uses the same micro-USB connector as my BB 8900, so I was able use the charger I already have.

I do not care about how "fashionable" a bluetooth headset is, because I use them as a handsfree option in the car and not as a fashion statement. I do care a lot about: 1. call quality, 2. ease of using controls, 3. fit comfort, and 4. ability to charge headset using standard chargers. Jabra STONE scored very well in the first category, OK in second and third, and poor in the 4th.

I saw this headset on Jabra's website and was immediately attracted due to the physical design and the fact that you can charge it on the go. So here goes:

PROS:
1. I think it fits comfortably on the ear and looks great when worn.
2. It turns off when placed in the charger and turns on when removed. Very thoughtful feature.
3. More inconspicuous than other headsets.
4. The lights are on the inside, and they turn on only when needed. Again, very thoughtful.

CONS:
1. Too expensive. This is perhaps the most expensive headset I've seen. It's worth more in the $70 to $80 range, and that's
pushing it.
2. You can't just tap the headset to answer/end a call. Jabra's manual states that these functions are done with a tap, but
it also does describe it as a brief "press", which is what's needed. This press tends to force the earpiece more into the
ear, which can be uncomfortable. So keep in mind, it's NOT a TAP.
3. I had a lot of problems with increasing the volume. Lowering it was much more responsive and I used the same force and slid
my finger along the same area, and MY MAIN COMPLAINT:
4. The speaker is aimed toward the side of the ear canal (in other words to the front of the device), and not to the inside
of the canal. This baffled me because a lot of the sound is actually muffled by part of the outer ear itself. I would
think that Jabra would want to direct the sound INTO the canal. This is like placing boombox speakers two inches from a
wall with the sound directed toward the wall. Speakers should be place TOWARD their intended targets. Anyway, I pushed
the speaker little more to the inside of the canal and, lo and behold, the audio was excellent. Unfortunately, the headset
pulls itself back out (normal fit), so the sound will be muffled.

I actually WANTED to like this headset. I would have kept it except it really makes me wonder why Jabra aimed the speaker
like that. I could have certainly lived with the other CONS I listed.

I did due diligence but choose to not believe the other reviewers, HOWEVER:

Battery life is 2 hours. That's it. I tested and timed it, playing an audiobook. Stopped at exactly 120 minutes.
You can put it back in the cradle, and get another charge w/o AC - but you can't use it while it is in the cradle. So . . . count on 2 hours a charge.
If you don't talk a lot, or don't want to stream music etc., that may be fine for you.

1. GREAT feature: you can listen to your music etc wirelessly. I am learning French so THAT is exactly why I bought this unit. No more headphones, or being attached to the iphone. But the 2 hours when I am out for a long walk doesn't work. And when the charge is gone, even the phone function is clearly useless.

2. EASY to connect ... better than any others I have had, including Plantronics.

3. LOOKS cool and I love the "stone cradle" with a belt loop . . . . if you are "left eared" this is useless - fits on right only and no ear loop adjustment.

4. The built in volume works fine, as does the voice dialing features, etc

5. The big let down is the 2 hr. charge. Mainly as the packaging/advertising is simply deceptive.

I've been using a Plantronics 975 and my husband uses the older Plantronics 925. He refuses to upgrade, because he likes the design. We both wear them in our left ears. Why, I don't know. Anyway, when I agreed to review this product, I didn't understand that it was a right ear only device. Kind of a bummer for me, but not a deal breaker.

The device paired with my iPhone without a hitch. It fit in my ear very well. I had no problems with the volume controls. The sound on my end was as good as both of the Plantronics devices I'm used to. I tried several calls with my husband in all kinds of situations and he had no problem hearing me. He says he maybe gets me in better than he does with my Plantronics earpiece, so that's a big plus for this device.

The stone charger is way cool, an excellent thing. It's easy to find in my purse and it needs to be, because I can't make it through the day, without recharging, something I don't have to do with my Plantronics earpiece. Still, I spend much more time on the phone than the average person, so I don't believe this shorter battery life would be an issue with most people.

As for comfort. I have to say that this earpiece is darned comfortable. You hardly know it's there, but my Plantronics earpiece is comfortable, too. This one though, is way stylish. All in all, a good earpiece, one I can highly recommend, almost perfect, maybe perfect if you want it in your right ear and don't spend hours on the phone like I do.

The Jabra Stone is the forth Bluetooth earpiece I have owned. I owned both the original Aliph Jawbone Noise Shield Bluetooth Headset and its successor the Aliph Jawbone II Bluetooth Headset with NoiseAssassin. I also have owned the Plantronics Discovery 925 Bluetooth Earpiece, so I've been through my fair share of Bluetooth earpieces. This one is a disappointment. In some ways it performs very well. Once I finally got it working, the call quality is very good. I'm not sure how the microphone really works but it seems to pick up my voice well when in use. However, there are many small quirks in the way this product performs.

PROS
++ Very simple setup
++ Call quality is good
++ Microphone is super sensitive
++ The integrated charging stone works well to extend battery life throughout the day
++ Bluetooth pairs quickly and reliably with several phones I tried

CONS
-- The functions of the unit are difficult to use:
---- It is difficult to know where to put your finger to raise or lower the volume
---- The way you press the unit to answer calls is also how you turn it off or on
---- The "press twice to redial" feature works sporadically
-- It is difficult to get a good fit:
---- The unit includes 2 flanged ear gels and one ring, for 3 options, neither of which is comfortable
---- The curved design is easy to over-rotate, leaving the earpiece unsecure
---- There is no way to make a tight seal due to the 90 degree angle of the earpiece to the frame
-- The unit is uncomfortable; discomfort seems to increase the longer I wear it
-- Design works for right-ear use only; alternatives can be used in right or left ears
-- Curved over-ear design may be difficult to use with thicker rimmed glasses
-- There is a low static that can be heard when the unit is in your ear and its not in use
-- The performance, relative to other options, does not justify the expense
-- Though looks are subjective, to me this new design looks like a cross between a hearing aid and a Star Trek transponder

With the Jawbone units, there was a recurring problem with the over-ear portion frequently breaking. Perhaps that was the motivation behind this integrated curved design. Call quality has never been a huge problem with the other high end units I have used. But while this unit's design might make it more durable than previous units, it makes it a lot less comfortable. It's a trade-off I hope they can fix with the next model.

CONCLUSION

This unit was easy to pair and performed well enough that it's clear there are quality components inside. However, the strange angle of the earpiece to the body make it nearly impossible to get a comfortable fit. The longer you wear it, the less it may bother you. But it never really feels comfortable. I never could adjust to having it in my ear for long periods of time.

There are a lot of earpieces at a quarter of the cost. While most don't sound as good, most are more comfortable if not at least as uncomfortable. I recommend you look elsewhere.

I've owned many bluetooth headsets and this product fits my ear the best. I wear glasses all the time and have a larger than normal ears and this product is much more comfortable that many other headsets including the new Jawbone which would not fit at all.

Also, the stone's design is great as I've always had ear hooks fall/break in the past, but now that this is protected by the stone. Despite some online reviews by websites, think the battery life is fine provided that you don't want to keep the headset on your ear constantly, despite its minimalist looks.

The packaging was a bit over the top just like the new Jawbone but was easy to setup and use and came precharged.

Am still testing out the call quality now but so far, a great product to fit my needs.

Pros:

1. I liked it for its looks at first sight. One of the sleekest looking Bluetooth ear devices that I've ever seen.
2. Almost unnoticeable when nestled in tight, snuggling up to your ear
3. Nice convenient pod for charging and carrying around, looking like a cute little black egg

Cons:

1. Once you can get it to fit comfortably in your ear, it sounds wonderful. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit my ear and due to the placement of the invisible control buttons, every time I try to adjust it, I either disconnect the call or re-dial the last call.
2. It makes me do a LOT of redialling as it keeps slipping out of place.
3. Maybe I was doing something wrong but I couldn't get it to pair with my Blackberry or my iPod.
4. Does not keep the charge for the 8 hours as promised. It discharges very quickly (in a couple of hours, or so it felt) especially when compared to the length of time it takes to re-charge.
5. I couldn't use it on my left ear, which for me, wasn't quite right
6. The art of raising or lowering the volume by sliding a finger along the headset has thus far eluded me.


This device is one you'd buy for looks, but not for life.


Amanda Richards
October 25, 2010