Customer Reviews

Plantronics Mobile Headset Amplifier with 2.5mm Plug

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Let me first say that before you buy one of these amps - try adapter cords from the plantronics quick disconnect to plugs first. Chances are you DONT need an amplifier - and this one is no fun. I managed to get my desk voice tube amp (M10 or M12 if I recall) to plug into my cellphone with just an adapter cord - MY speach volume was down a bit but nobody complained, and I used the cell phone's volume to increase the earpiece.

A well designed 2.5 mm amplifier is a great idea. It sure beats a half dozen adapters to hook up a bigger amplifier and expand/reduce the plug size. However the drawbacks outweigh the product design because new phones like the android based phones and the iphone are using 3.5mm 4 terminal plugs for their headsets, which don't work without kludgy adapters on this amp.

Also consider that the amp is powered by a Zinc/Air battery. They start dying the moment they are exposed to air (you pull off a tape seal over an air hole) - regardless if you use them or not. Zinc Air is NOT a problem for a hearing aid, which definitely is going to get its value out of the battery before it dies, but the amplifier should have used a good old standard lithium cell to run it.

As mentioned by others plantronics uses a cut in/ turn off design to save battery power (I have an amp on my desk phone and I can hear when it cuts out during quiet passages. This can create problems that are a royal pain. No signal for a few seconds and you lost your amp. That's not just annoying - its a bad design. A simple on/off switch would have done fine but people would need to remember to shut it off when not in use.

Better idea - go buy a real 3.5 mm amp and cut the 2.5 mm plugs off, solder the wires, and make a real amp work, preferably one not made by plantronics. This one won't work with modern smartphones which are the present workforce on the market with 44 android designs alone.

I've had one of these headset amplifiers for over a year now.

I like to talk on my cell phone while driving, but only with a headset. I found a couple of different headsets that have earpieces that actually mount in your ear. They were great for blocking out ambient noise, but the people I called had a hard time hearing me.

So I tried a couple of over-the-head style "full headsets"--the bulkier type that have a band that goes over your head and a microphone on a long boom that can be adjusted so that it is directly in front of your mouth. People could hear me great on these headsets, but even on my cell phone's loudest setting I couldn't hear them well.

That's when I found this headset amplifier. When I use it with my bulkier headsets I can have a cell phone conversation in either of my cars and hear what is being said. The amplifier is adjustable and is quite loud at its loudest setting (it would be great for people with hearing problems).

This headset has a few drawbacks. First, it is voice activated to save batteries. So, if the person you are speaking to doesn't say anything for several seconds, it can sound like they hung up on you. You get used to this after a while.

It is only really a problem when I'm on hold and the hold music is not loud enough to keep the amplifier activated. When this happens, I press a status button on my cell phone periodically. The "beep" pressing the button makes activates the amplifier, thus letting me hear the hold music and know that I am still connected.

The amplifier takes three watch-size batteries that cost around a couple to a few bucks each. The batteries last a fair amount of time, but the cost adds up over time. I would give this headset an enthusiastic 5 stars if it had a cigarette lighter plug as an optional power source.

I should also mention that battery door isn't very secure. It has opened on me a few times.

Despite its limitations, I give this amplifier 4 stars because it has solved a problem for me. And as far as I can tell, it is the only such device made.

The battery saver which turns this off makes this very unacceptable. Other reviewers were 100% right.

There is NO On/Off switch ! You will miss parts of your conversation.

The unit will turn itself off to save battery life during your conversation if no one speaks for a couple of seconds.

While the unit is turning itself back on you will miss the first few words spoken by the other person.

This is so irritating that I've stopped using this.

There is no On/Off switch. Nope, this thing is too "smart" for that. It will detect noise and amplify it otherwise it will turn itself off. I've tried pushing the volume buttons during the inevitable lulls in conversations but it does no good.

PLEASE .. I'll spend the money on more batteries. Make something like this which has an on/off switch. I'll gladly pay for more batteries if I forget to turn it off.

I cannot find any other product that truly amplifies the sound. When this works, it is fine but the automatic shutoff ruins everything.

It amplifies and is simple to use but it picks up noise from everywhere. Lights, appliances, everything makes it hum and gets amplified right along with it. Also purchased the Jabra headset with built in amplifier which did NOT have the same problem.

An amplifier for cell and cordless phones is a great concept for noisy environments and for those hard of hearing, but due to the power conservation design of the product, it is impractical for use.

This product is good in every way except for one fatal flaw. In order to save battery power the unit is sound activated. When there is a short pause in a conversation, the unit quits working and doesn't start again until the person you are talking to is several seconds into his next sentence. I had one unit replaced by the factory and the replacement has the same problem. If the product had a power switch I would rate it 5 stars.

Like others have said, it doesn't have a manual on/off. Occasionally, when in a call if it gets really quiet, the amplifier will turn off so I have a tendancey to blow lightly in the mic while waiting... just because it's unnerving to hear the line sound like it went dead. Other than that, it really works well. It has more than enough volume for me, and it gives my headset cord that little extra lenght I need.

Plantronics Mobile Headset Amplifier with 2.5mm Plug
I bought this item for my Panasonic KX-TG6512B cordless phone and Panasonic KX-TCA60 Hands-Free Headset . The good thing about Panasonic phones is that they are almost the only brand with a headphone jack, which is very convinient when you spend a lot of time on the conference calls working from home. The bad thing about Panasonic phones is that they usually have a rather low volume, which is ok when you talk to only one caller but makes it difficult to follow every speaker on the conference call. Using the headset does not make the volume any better.

MHA100 fills out this gap perfectly. It does a very good job amplifying the signal coming from the phone to the headset, so during the call you can easily adjust the volume to hear everybody clearly. I have been using MHA100 for two weeks now and never experienced the self auto shut-off during the calls that other reviewers mentioned - probably because there were never a 10 sec silence on our calls :). I did test this feature however and the MHA100 does shut-off after 10 sec of no activity but touching any phone key immediately wakes it up. I personally like the auto shut-off because I do not neeed to remember to turn the amplifier on before joining the call and turn it off after. Cannot speak on the batteries life yet but the set of three costs 2-3 bucks, not a tremendous expense. One thing I would like to improve would be a longer, at least 3 ft, cord that connects the amplifier to the phone. The current one is about 7" though it could be stretched up to 12".

Overall I would recommend Plantronics MHA100 Headset Amplifier to everybody who needs a volume boost to the phone headset.

I am hearing-challenged, and wear two hearing aids to help out. However, even with the boost from these aids, I was having trouble using my non-amplified Plantronics headset.

I ordered this amplifier, and things are much better.

It has sound-activated power, so it turns on when sounds show up on the line and turns off after 10 seconds of silence. I expected that this would have the affect of truncating the sound when it resumed, but I don't believe it ever does. I mostly use my phone for teleconferences, and all the participants are always yacking away so I haven't had too many opportunities for sound truncation anyway.

The provided batteries lasted about a week, of moderate usage, and that concerned me some. But the replacement batteries (which I got from somewhere on eBay, though Costco has name-brand batteries for a very good price) have lasted much longer. I have only replaced the batteries one time.

Call quality is a subjective thing, but in my opinion the quality has been very high. There have been a few cases where the voices were getting garbled: The first time I heard garbled voices I switched to handset-only use, and the voices were clear. I replaced the battery at that point (although I did not get a battery-wearing-out indicator from the LED). The other times I heard garbled sounds were not the fault of the headset or the amplifier - when I switched to handset-only operation, the garbling continued. (As a hearing-challenged person, I understand that the garbling might have been my own reduced hearing acuity, and not the fault of all those mumblers out there. But the point is that I don't think this amplifier contributes to the garbling affect in any significant way).