Motorola PC850 Adapter and Bluetooth H500 Headset - Skype VoIP Bundle [Motorola Retail Packaging]

by Motorola

Product Details

• Item Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000EDJJ4G
• Item model number: 98721H
• Average Customer Review: 1.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,956 in Cell Phones & Accessories (See Top 100 in Cell Phones & Accessories)

Product Description

From the manufacturer

The days of being tied to your computer during VoIP (voice over IP) calls are over! The same Bluetooth headset you use with your mobile phone now works equally well with your PC.

Enable your PC for Bluetooth with the USB PC adapter and enjoy the freedom to roam up to 30 feet from your computer during VoIP calls talking through your Bluetooth headset.

Insert the PC850 adapter into the USB port of your PC or laptop to enable it for Bluetooth. Connect your H500 headset via Bluetooth to your PC850. Place a VoIP call using a PC based service – such as Skype. Enjoy calls up to 30 feet away from your computer, talking through your Bluetooth headset!

This headset is both discreet and stylish, yet highly functional. The overall compact size and lightweight of this headset allows for easy storage when not in use. Also, the lengthy talk and standby times include up to 8 hours of talk time or 200 hours of standby time from a single full charge (travel charger included).

Simply press the multifunction button, place the headset on your ear and a link is automatically established (must pair the heaset with your phone the first time it is used). The multifunction button allows you to place, receive or end calls, all with the push of a button. With Bluetooth® wireless technology, devices work together up to 10 meters (30 feet) away.

Tested and approved as a Skype certified product.

Designed to work with any Bluetooth enabled phone, PC, PDA or printer that supports headset and hands-free profiles.

Supports PC’s with Pentium class processor and at least one available USB port. Works with Windows 98SE, 2000, ME and XP.

Please note that Windows 98 and NT 4.0 do not support USB.

Product Description

The days of being tied to your computer during VoIP calls are over. With the Motorola PC850 Adapter and Bluetooth H500 Headset you can roam up to 30 feet from your computer during VoIP calls. Setting it up is easy. Simply insert the PC850 adapter into the USB port of your PC or laptop. Connect the H500 headset via Bluetooth to your PC850 adapter and youre ready to go. You can place a VoIP call using a PC based service such as Skype . Skype is a VoIP software that lets you make free calls over your Internet connection to anyone else who also has Skype. Its free and easy to download and use and works with most computers. Just download register install plug in your headset and start calling. Skype works with Windows Mac OS X Linux and PDAs using Pocket PC with a native look and feel for each platform. Talking sending instant messages or even file transfers work between different platforms like a charm. You can also call or forward calls to regular telephones at a low cost

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Passable, but not worth the "Skype certified" label, June 7, 2006

By 

N. Ho (Pennsylvania, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Motorola PC850 Adapter and Bluetooth H500 Headset - Skype VoIP Bundle [Motorola Retail Packaging] (Wireless Phone Accessory)

I'm a computer professional, and use a lot of other wireless technology for a variety of things - so I finally decided to get a BT headset for use with Skype (which I'm using more often these days). I've tried using this kit with Win XP/SP2 and Mac OS X 10.4.4 - and have toyed a little with it in Linux.

I got suckered in by this kit in a store (headset + dongle), and figured I'd give it a shot, after checking out many favorable reviews of the H500 online. Unfortunately, the reviews I read were all about how it works with BT cellphones - I should have dug deeper.

The headset itself works fairly well - sound quality on my end is decent, volume is usually fine (depends on both sides of the call, of course), and battery life so far has been great. However, every single person I've talked to has complained of a background "buzz" that sometimes makes it difficult to hear me. Also, they note that every once in a while the sound "hiccups", and they hear a repeat of something I just said (ie they hear the same bit twice in a row...and then it skips forward a few secs to catch up with me). I've tested it out a bit with the Skype test account system ("Echo123"), and heard the problems myself...

Since I've been using Skype for a couple of years now (with wired headsets) with no trouble, I'm fairly confident that it's not related to Skype itself or my computers...

I originally suspected the cheap USB dongle (Moto PC850), but my Mac laptop has a built-in BT card, and it has the same problem - so the trouble must be either with the headset itself, or how it all works together with Skype. So it's back to reading reviews for me, to find another solution.

I definitely recommend against this "2-in-1" kit - save yourself the time/hassle and grief and get separate (better quality) pieces.

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not good enough for $99, April 11, 2006

By 

R. Crawford "rkcrawf" (West Palm Beach, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Motorola PC850 Adapter and Bluetooth H500 Headset - Skype VoIP Bundle [Motorola Retail Packaging] (Wireless Phone Accessory)

When I saw this product in the store, I thought it might be a good deal. I have a Motorola blue tooth headset that I've had for about a year, and people can hear me pretty well on it. This has "Skype certified" on it, so I thought I'd be in luck. I've used Skype with a regular ear phones and PC mike before without a problem, but it was too many wires to deal with for long calls.

As soon as I opened the box, I knew to expect trouble. The CD that comes with it is of the mini-disc type, and wouldn't fit into my laptop. So I used my desktop to try it. The desktop is not wireless, so I figured I should get better performance. The instructions were accurate, but cumbersome. The buyer receives two sets of instructions (one for headset use, one for use with Skype) as if this product were not a collaborative effort.

So I got the earpiece working and made a test call. I heard myself relatively clearly, after tinkering with the settings. I left a message on my answering machine, and it was okay when I was within 15 feet of the USB piece. So, I tried it for its intended purpose...an international conference call to a land line at dirt cheap rates. I was able to hear the other person, but they could not hear me over interference. I tried several calls to the same number, without much luck. I tried calling a local cell #, and they heard the same interference. I shut off the bluetooth on my cell phone, and my laptop, but the reception never improved. What good is this thing if I have to turn off other wireless/bluetooth devices and cordless phones?

I have used Skype and know from others that it is somewhat reliable. I searched both Skype's and Motorola's websites, and found only basic information on common causes of interference. I feel like quality fell through the cracks in getting this product out to market. I am going to try IPEVO b/c others have told me about it (I have no association with them). So from the avg. rating of 3, I deduct 1 star for performance and 1 star for support.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars PC850 is useless. H500 is OK, March 23, 2007

By 

Julien Pierre "Software engineer and amateur ... (San Jose, California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Motorola PC850 Adapter and Bluetooth H500 Headset - Skype VoIP Bundle [Motorola Retail Packaging] (Wireless Phone Accessory)

I bought this bundle at Fry's. I got it primarily for the H500 headset to use with my cell phone, a Blackberry Pearl 8100. The H500 works fine with it. The sound quality is not great - there are a few cracks and pops, but it serves the purpose well of being able to take calls while driving without having to removing the Blackberry from its holster and press the answer button, which is very dangerous.

The PC850 adapter is another story altogether. I wanted to use it with Yahoo messenger to make voice calls with online buddies. I have tried wired headsets, but I can't use them because my cats keep chewing the headset cable each time I get a new one. So I was hoping this Bluetooth headset would be the solution. But alas, no joy :-( Unlike other posters, my computer is a desktop and I was able to install the software from the miniCD . I was able to start making calls. The sound quality was significantly worse than with the cell phone, even with the H500 located only 3ft away from the PC850. This may be due to the amount of electronics I have in my home office. But what really made it useless is that the PC kept losing the connection to the H500 in the middle of calls, usually with 2-3 minutes. I don't know if the problem lies with the PC850 or its software.

I called Motorola support about this problem. The lady from India wanted to send me another CD. I kept telling her that I could read the CD just fine. I asked if there was a new version to download. After repeating and rephrasing the question multiple times and being put on hold a while, it turned out I already had the latest version, and there is none available for download. I was referred to Widcomm, which I was told makes the PC850. Widcomm was acquired by Broadcom, and they don't offer end-user support - they say that the manufacturer of each device customizes the software and supports it themselves. So, basically, the PC850 software is unsupported. Beware ! I'm considering returning the bundle PC850/H500 and getting only a Bluetooth headset for my phone due to this fact, and looking into separate USB wireless headset for the computer/VoIP use.