Plantronics Pulsar 590E Ultimate Stereo Bluetooth Headset

by Plantronics

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 12 x 8 x 5 inches ; 0.2 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000HBPMVY
• Item model number: UNHFP590E3
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,873 in Cell Phones & Accessories (See Top 100 in Cell Phones & Accessories)

Product Description

The Plantronics Pulsar 590E¿ Bluetooth® Stereo Headsets deliver the ultimate in wireless freedom! Seamlessly switch between your Bluetooth phone and your favorite music or movie, so you'll never miss a call,, so you can enjoy wireless stereo listening on laptops, PCs, TVs, DVD and MP3 players. The 590E is foldable and includes A2DP technology.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mixed bag, but overall a good buy, September 8, 2007

By 

Joy Morgan - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Plantronics Pulsar 590E Ultimate Stereo Bluetooth Headset (Wireless Phone Accessory)

After reading the reviews on this product, I wasn't sure what to expect because the reviews were so varied in their complaints.

The key things I've noted after several weeks of use:

1) The blinking blue light isn't any more noticeable or obnoxious than any other Bluetooth headset I've used. Meaning, it's bright and somewhat annoying, but fairly normal, better than some in fact. The only way I could see it being a problem is in a small space at night. Say a car. But if you're driving with both ears covered, you've got more problems than blinking blue lights.

2) The sound quality is better than 90% of the Bluetooth headsets I've tried. Way better than Jabra or Motorola. From a call perspective, it's about the same, but as a stereo headset, it's so much better. I can listen to opera and hear the high and low vocals without distortion, which was impossible on the last Jabra I had.

3) It requires a pairing code!!! This is important to note. You can't pair it with a device that doesn't allow you to enter a code! So, it won't work with an off-the-shelf 3.5 or 2.5mm adapter. It pairs fine with my computer with built-in Bluetooth, and one of my cell phones because I can enter the code. It does not work with the Bluetooth dongle I bought for my MP3 player because no way to enter a pairing code. Also doesn't work with the USB Bluetooth radio I bought for my other PC. This I found annoying and was the chief reason I dropped a star from the rating. One way around this is to buy the 590A model, rather than the 590E model (the model I'm reviewing) because it comes with a paired adapter. However, the cost is much higher.

4) Yes, as others have noted, this headset is made of hard plastic. The more flexible material many of us are used to in headphones is completely absent here. So, if you sit on them, as one user mentioned, you will break them. So don't sit on them. They're not tiny, so they're hardly unobtrusive.

5) They are the rare over-the-head headphones. Most Bluetooth these days are behind the neck. I like behind the neck styles, but with very long hair, they're not the best option in the world. These stay on and are comfortable through several hours of wear, and haven't pulled out a single hair yet. My Jabra headphones ripped hair out constantly.

6) The controls are mostly nice. I like that they're all on one ear. Some other sets have the controls spread out over the two ear phones, which I find annoying. The one thing I don't like in the controls is that I naturally think of volume as UP DOWN and tracks as BACK FORWARD. The controls are the complete opposite, which is odd to me. The UP button is track forward, the DOWN button is track back. The FORWARD button is volume up and the BACK button is volume down. I don't know who thought of that of that bit of engineering, but it shouldn't have made it out of the drawing room.

Overall, I'm very happy with these headphones, there are some minor annoyances, but that can be said for every Bluetooth headphone on the market. The most important thing to me was that the sound quality be good for music play. I have many headsets for phone calls, but this was the first one that had nice music quality. I just wish it worked with a standard Bluetooth adapter. Perhaps next time.

54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice While It Lasted..., December 2, 2006

By 

Small Forest "lionpol" (McKinney, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Plantronics Pulsar 590E Ultimate Stereo Bluetooth Headset (Wireless Phone Accessory)

I really liked this thing in spite of some pretty obvious "issues" it has. First, the pro
1. I could actually carry on a conversation on my cellphone in airports (even with the painfully loud announcements going on overhead that drown out normal conversation) because both ears are covered
2. The voice tube eliminated a lot of the "ambient noise" that all other "in or over one ear" devices pick up. People could hear ME too when I had to have a cell conversation in a noisy area
3. Pairing was easy to any device I tried it with
4. The auxiliary device (not sure what they call it) worked well enough with my laptop or any other device I tried it with. No problems ever with pairing or getting it to work.

Then the con
1. The plastic is thin and flimsy - it literally fell apart in my hands after about 6 months (maybe less) of normal use. I am not hard on my gear. This one is just poorly constructed.
2. The foam pads that cover the earpieces wouldn't stay on
3. When using the auxiliary streaming device with my DVD player, there was about a 1 second delay between what I saw onscreen and what I heard in the earpiece (this is probably a bluetooth issue and not specific to this device)
4. The huge flashing blue light in my right ear was not something I cared for

On balance, I am sorry the thing fell apart. I used it a lot and I will miss it - but I won't be replacing it with the same item. I am shopping for a different headset right now.

54 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular sound; excellent controls; superior engineering, October 9, 2006

By 

JOHN P. JERVEY "Jay Jervey" (Longwood, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Plantronics Pulsar 590E Ultimate Stereo Bluetooth Headset (Wireless Phone Accessory)

I also purchased the Motorola HT820 and Jabra BT620s and these Plantronics won hands down in every respect, but most importantly in the sound category.

Pros:

1) Rich bass, crisp distortion-free highs, expansive soundstage. The other headphones were cr@p. I listen to classical, jazz, and vocal plus 60's and 70's oldies. I use a Cingular 3125 phone and 160Kb/s WMA audio (forget MP3).
2) Flawless support of Bluetooth profiles for headset and stereo headphones. Very intutive operation. Answer calls with a button push and restarts music automatically when you hang up. Redial last call with a double button push so you'll never accidently redial. Never forgets your phone. Just pair it once and you're done. Turn off headphones, phone stops using them, turn on headphones again and it reconnects. Just hit play on earpiece a few times and it'll restart music. No need to wade through menus on your phone to reconnect the Bluetooth headphone profile.
3) Has an integral telescoping microphone for real handsfree phone operation. The others have *no* microphone. Hands free sound quality is superb.
4) Bluetooth doesn't drop out like the others. Strong reliable reception.
5) Regular headphone style, adjustable, and very lightweight. You're preference may vary but the behind-the-neck style practically strangles me.
6) And finally, did I mention that the stereo sound is loud, clear, and soaring...beautiful!!

Cons:
1) Controls on ear piece are a little hard to find with your fingers but you get used to it. Not easy to accidentally push a button when you grab the headphones.
2) No bag provided to carry the headphones in. I just use a Canon SLR camera lens bag.
3) Headphones feel a little flimsy because they flop around in your hands -- then again they *are* lightweight regular headphones.
4) My biggest gripe is that you can't turn off the flashing blue light...I'm going to get mugged one of these days walking my dogs late at night!!