Customer Reviews

Logitech FreePulse Wireless Headphones

5 star:		(66)
4 star:		(110)
3 star:		(39)
2 star:		(28)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

PROS:
1. Works in a nearby room or directly above/below the room with the transmitter.

2. Able to hear outside sounds, if you don't want to be completely isolated from your surroundings.

3. Nice to be able to adjust the volume by touching the shell of the right earpad, which acts as a toggle switch.

4. Comes with a short cord in case the dongle won't fit in your unit's audio jack.

CONS:
1. Sound quality is muddy. If you like rock music, you will not hear much of the cymbals or other high notes. It is fine if you listen to spoken voice. The stock earbuds with the Nano 2G are a little better than the Logitech, but with less bass. My Sony MDR-V6 closed-ear cans sound *exceptionally* good with my 2nd Gen Nano. I'll give the Logitech headphones many additional hours to break in, but I had hoped they would sound much better out of the box.

2. Headband is not adjustable and sits close to your neck. Tilting your head back, even slightly, bumps the headband. Wearing a collared shirt also causes your shirt to contact the headband. The around-the-ear part of the headband takes most of the impact. The earpads will move a little. Some collar brushing comes through to the earpads. I think exercising would not go well.

3. Comfortable on the ears for less than an hour.

4. Little if any difference in bass boost and normal.

5. Comes with 6 iPod interfaces, but the Nano interface does not work with the 2nd Gen Nano. You can still plug the dongle into the headphone jack, but without the end cap for the dongle, there is a 2mm gap.

6. It's just more than twice the width of the Nano 2G. It is also slightly offset, left-to-right when looking at the Nano + dongle from the front.

7. I generally had to try to set the connection twice before it sync'd up. Then I needed to start the player right away, because if I waited 30 seconds, it shut itself off.

I posted a couple of pictures if you click on the link at the top of the page.

There aren't a lot of alternatives for decent bluetooth headphones. These are lightweight, sound pretty good (don't kid yourself, they're not audiophile quality but I was able to really rock out), and fit really well with an iPod - especially a nano. They use bluetooth 2.0 technology so they sound better than the old model.

I got them for the gym, where wires and in-your-ear buds aren't so great. What i like is that the little dongle CAN be attached at the same time as my Nike+ dongle, so I have it all. It's a little awkward, with this thing hanging off the side, but in my pocket or sitting on the control panel of the treadmill, it really doesn't matter.

The fit, or lack thereof, is the major drawback of these bad-boys. You kind of have to wonder how they got out of the design phase with such ill-fitting and uncomfortable earpads. The wire that goes behind the neck is too short to be worn high enough to avoid conflicting with a collar or a towel around your shoulders. Also, the earpads themselves are rock-hard, even with the foam pads. Once I've gotten them just right it's ok for a while and I am able to work out and enjoy the music, but they are just not ideal.

I also have used these things in bed for watching tv while my wife is asleep. The transmitter fits into the headphone jack on the TV, and works great. Comfort here is less of an issue because I wear the headphones UNDER my chin instead of behind my neck and they feel fine. Unfortunately this does not work at the gym.

Also the instructions are really lacking. I'm still not sure I'm turning these things on and off correctly. You press and hold the one button on the transmitter and the headphones and they link up. Pretty easy. Turning off the headphones is easy, but the transmitter really doesn't seem to turn off when you press the button, you have to press and hold it until it starts blinking, then press and hold it again until it turns off. Whatever, but it would be nice if this was mentioned in the instructions.

My thought: if you have a "quick start" guide you should also have a more comprehensive set of instructions.

PROS:

good sound quality

charges fast

easy set up

multiple ipod adapters and a universal adapter for use with anything with a headphone jack

very lightweight

works well at a good distance (even in other rooms)

battery lasts plenty long for a wireless headset, and doesn't drain ipod power

dongle can be attached simultaneously with the Nike+ dongle

CONS:

one-size-fits-some design, very little adjustment possible, limiting comfort

poor instructions, confusing buttons

ineffectual "bass boost"

no ipod control from the headset (i realize this was not promised, but it would be nice)

I had the earlier version of the Logitech Bluetooth headphones - the one with the plastic headband. It broke after less than one week's use, which I discovered from Amazon.com reviews, was a common experience among users. I took it back to the store and got a refund.
My wife bought me the current version of FreePulse Wireless Headphones for my birthday a couple of weeks ago and the carbon steel headband has fixed the problem.
The Bluetooth technology provides a good stereo signal, although there are occasional inexplicable dropouts of one or two seconds. The plastic loops that go over the tops of my ears are uncomfortable after a half-hour or so.
The sound is good enough for my purposes - working at the computer or walking around - but these are not headphones for a serious audiophile.
The big advantage, of course, is being free of those blasted wires. I can't count the number of times when I've had my headphones rudely yanked off my ears when the wires snagged on a flailing arm, a piece of furniture or when my Australian shepherd Pete jumps up to greet me and hooks a paw on the wires.
It's such an infuriating experience that I'm willing to put up with a few shortcomings to be rid of the hated wires.
So, if you need to go wireless, aren't a fanatic about perfect sound and can stand a little ear discomfort, this is a good solution.

PROS: Best wireless headphones on the market.

CONS: I bet you 2 gold coins that most of the reviewers who said these 'phones were uncomfortable put them on THE WAY THEY WOULD PUT ON NORMAL 'phones. No, I'm not talking about over the head versus behind the neck (behind the neck is the only way to wear these due to the small band *won't fit over your head and reach your ears* so there is no mistaking there). I'm talking about wearing the 'phones not only behind the neck, but UPSIDE DOWN compared to the way everyone is used to. OH SO THAT'S WHAT THE LOOPS ARE FOR! To hook over the TOP of your ears! I admit I wore them the uncomfortable way at first, and my ears started to get red....

I was very much looking forward to these new headphones from Logitech, so I was very disappointed after buying and using them. While I found the Bluetooth to work well and the sound quality to be perfectly acceptable, I found there to be some serious flaws with the headphone design:

1. The band is significantly more curved than other behind-the-neck headphone designs, which makes the pads (a) sit at an uncomfortable angle on your ears and (b) apply extra pressure on your ears.

2. The band sits very low on the back of your neck, and any backwards motion of the head causes the headphones to snag and creates an uncomfortable fit. Due to the loops that fit onto your ears, it is not possible to adjust the level of the band very much. There is no way I would be able to use these headphones while exercising, which was my original intent.

3. The loops that are meant to secure the headphones onto your ears are very unusual (again, compared to other behind-the-neck headphone designs), and I found them to be very tight and uncomfortable on my ears. I tried these headphones out for over an hour to see if I could get used to the fit, but I just ended up with sore ears.

It seems that these headphones are hit or miss, depending on your head & ear size/shape - several of my family members also experienced the fit problems described above, but one family member was able to use the headphones without any discomfort at all. My recommendation would be to find these headphones at a retailer and insist on trying them on in the store (they are easy to remove from packaging) to see if you experience these fit problems before you drop any money on these headphones.

Despite some reviews that I'd read I decided to give these a try. The sound is great, only noticed a little less clarity then compared to standard headphones.

The fit however is terrible. The band would rub my neck and not amount of adjustment seemed to make any difference. Also the tension on the ears is way to much, after about ten minutes the crushing feeling really gets to you.

I would not recommend these to anyone.

I bought these to use with my iPod at the gym...the earbud phones that I had used would not stay in my ear while I did cardio...These headphones fit over the top of the ear and hold tight...the phones sound great, (actually a little better than I expected)...
The downsides are few...the band that goes around the neck doesn't adjust so its a "Universal Fit" for the headphones...it has not been a problem for me, but I see that it might be for someone with a different size head/ears...also the finish on the sides of the phones look a little on the cheap side...
I just upgraded from an ipod mini to a new 2nd generation nano and the piece that attaches to the player doesn't fit properly and moves around....this will be an issue if you have an ipod like this...

These headphones sound ok, not spectacular but certainly not bad. They can ring a little bit at high volumes, but otherwise have a nice tight sound. Not having to deal with wires is great, gives you a real sense of freedom, and you'll never want to go back to a wired set of headphones. Its really nice to be able to move around and not snag anything.

These come with a transmitter that can fit a bunch of different iPods and other mp3 players, and a little patch cord to use with your computer or anything with a line out. The transmitter works well, I can get at least 30 feet away from it before it starts breaking up, and its worked as far away as 60 feet through a wall. The music does break up for a second or two occasionally, but even in an office with lots of other bluetooth and wireless interference it only happens once or twice an hour.

The headphones are bluetooth, so if your computer has bluetooth you shouldn't need to use the included transmitter. To get the headphones to pair, you have to hold the power button for around 20-30 seconds, until the led starts rapidly blinking from red to blue. I either used no password or one of the common bluetooth defaults (all 0, 1234...). I was able to pair with my computer, but the computer doesn't support the audio profile (A2DP) yet, the next OS update is supposed to add support for it. My cellphone had the same problem, it would pair but it also didn't have A2DP support yet.

The headphones can be a little uncomfortable if you don't adjust them just right, but I'm usually able to adjust them until they don't bother me. The charger will charge both the transmitter and the headphones at the same time, and they seem to work for at least 6 hours between charges, more than enough for a full day of use. The volume control on the headphones is pretty cool, the whole side of the headphone is a rocker switch so you can adjust the volume quickly and not have to take them off.

It took me quite a while to discover how to pair the headphones with the computer adaptor and to discover that the Power button/Connect button must be pressed for about 15 seconds to until the red/blue LED appears after going through five modes (red, dark, blinking red, red, blinking red-blue).

3.1 All the manual says is; "To power on your headphones, press and hold the Connect button on the headohones until the LED lights up."

These are the headphones I have been waiting for all this time. I am very picky...to the point that I could possibly consider myself an audiophile. When I look for headphones, typically I am looking for the best sounding and are not over the head headphones because those for some reason slip off and drive me crazy...not to mention big and bulky. The part of the headphone that is enough to push me over the edge is the wire because some companies use heavy wires, others don't use enough wire, some get tangled way too easily, and the list goes on. I always loved the idea of wireless headphones, but like all new technology...everything starts off as "a work in progress" with steady improvements. Well here is the end result. The FreePulse is everything I wanted in a headphone. It is lightweight, behind the head, and wireless. I am pretty stunned at the quality of the sound. No it is not the best sounding headphone of all time, but I bet if you listen to these you will rate them in your top 5 because they do sound VERY VERY good. I did notice something about the FreePulse...it follows the old saying "you get out of it what you put into it." If you use the 128kbps song files, you will hear how bad those files really do sound. We all know 320kbps is the best and sure enough when you play 320 they sound amazing on the FreePulse. I guess you get so use to cheap tinny laptop speakers and other garbage products that 128kbps and 320kbps tend not to sound that different. I am really impressed with this product, and the wireless feature of these phones makes it worth every single penny. I was skeptical as to how they would work from a distance since it says it is running BlueTooth 2.0 and can work 30ft away. Well now that I tried it myself...I believe their advertising. I walked 30ft away around 3 walls and they still worked as if NOTHING was interferring. That is the way a TRUE wireless headphone should operate. I use to have some $100 POS RCA headphones that couldn't work 5ft away so 30ft to me was just over the top. I am telling you these headphones are really something, and I am not using that enthusiastic about a product. If you have a local Dell shop or kiosk...check that out...I listened to them there. That is how I found out about this product. I gave up actually learning about these headphones because previous versions were duds...the quality was not good...but these definitely are. Great job Logitech...as always...you come through with another truly remarkable product. Between this, my first wireless optical mouse ever produced by logitech, and my wirless joystick...I have never had such a great experience with any other company like Logitech. Kudos!

~Ed