25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Well designed, but no noise reduction, and that manual..., April 4, 2005
This review is from: Plantronics M2500 Bluetooth Headset (Wireless Phone Accessory)
Let me start by saying this is a great headset. Comfortable, lightweight, and easy to hear and operate.
The layout of the controls is spot-on; they're easy to use and locate. The button on the end of the mic boom is awesome for answering and ending calls. If your phone has voice-dialing, holding down that button will launch your phone's voice dialing feature. The volume rocker was easy to use; however, pushing it in to mute the mic produced the same tone as swiveling the rocker to change the volume, so you never really knew if you had muted your call or just adjusted the volume. They really should have had different tones associated with those functions, especially since it's two distinct functions in one control. Range and battery life were all outstanding. Charging is quick, and the status light is handy. Pairing was a snap; worked first time. It's comfortable enough to wear for long periods, and it's very unobtrusive. Not so much that you'd forget it's there, but enough to leave on and not bug you.
This headset has only two downfalls. One: no noise reduction circuitry. The microphone on the headset works very well; unfortunately, too well if there's *any* sort of noise in the area -- another conversation, a TV twenty feet away, a barking dog in the next room -- were all as clearly heard by my caller as my own voice, prompting her to ask me to move to another room where it wasn't quite so loud. And trying to use it in the car, forget it. I was told that I was barely distinguishible from the noise of the car.
Two: The manual. This is one of those manuals where they give you one small illustration and 327 different languages (actually, it's only 7, but it feels like 327) on each page, so the pairing instructions took up about 5 pages, but about half a napkin's worth of content. That's a thoroughly annoying feature; so annoying to me that I skipped the manual altogether and went straight to the website to get the instructions all in one language. That's significant enough to me to be a downfall.
All in all, this is a great entry-level Bluetooth headset, priced right for the "value-conscious" consumer. But for anyone who expects superior quality conversations, rivaling those offered by your "actual phone," I would pay more for a better quality headset with some noise-cancelling circuitry. I suggest looking at the Jabra FreeSpeak BT250. It's got the same general wrap-around-the-ear design, but it's a little more than the Plantronics (about twice the price at the time of this writing). However, it's still under $100, and with built-in noise reduction, it's well worth it, IMHO.
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32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, February 28, 2005
This review is from: Plantronics M2500 Bluetooth Headset (Wireless Phone Accessory)
I bought this for use with a Treo 650.
It took a couple of tries to get the two devices to play nicely together.
The instruction manual is particularly hard to follow. Each page has a cryptic drawing followed by a single sentence in about ten languages, followed by another cryptic drawing, etc. The buttons are very small and can be difficult to operate precisely even for someone with small hands.
The battery does not hold a charge for anywhere near the hours it is supposed to on standby.
I have fairly small ears close to my head, and the headset always feels like it is about to fall off. Sometimes it actually has fallen off.
The rubber gizmo that is supposed to rest inside the ear comes detached *very* easily. The unit ships with two spare gizmos, which may not last me a month.
Sound quality is okay but all in all this is a long run for a short slide. Plantronics usually makes better products than this.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Watch out for fit, December 13, 2004
This review is from: Plantronics M2500 Bluetooth Headset (Wireless Phone Accessory)
While I found the range to be quite decent (>20ft on a Nokia 6230) and sound quality to be a bit staticy but still fairly good, the thing just didn't fit very tightly. The headset is large and moves around easily, particularly if you use the buttons a lot or wear glasses.
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