Customer Reviews

Plantronics Pulsar 590E Ultimate Stereo Bluetooth Headset

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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!!

These head phones are pretty much awesome. The sound quality, for such a small set, is actually quite decent. While I typically am not a fan of on-the-ear phones, these are quite comfortable and never give me any ear wear trouble.

My primary use for these is listening music (via phone or computer), and they are great for that. They sync easily and have a really decent battery life (3 days at about 2-3 hours a day use). The few times I've used if them with my phone for calls, the volume and clarity of the mic was reported to be acceptable by the people on the other end.

The only down sides to these headphones are twofold:

1) Construction Quality: If you sit on these, kiss them goodbye. They are lightweight and they just don't feel like they'd stand up to much of a beating. That said, just be careful with 'em.

2) BLINKING FREAKING LIGHT: This is the biggest "bad" thing about these headphones. On the right ear, the circle around the controls lights up blue or red as a user interface clue (ie: when turned on it will blink read 1, 2, or 3 times to indicate battery level.) However, when just on and in listen mode, it flashes this horrifically bright blue -- I wouldn't wear them on the train for fear of blinding everyone on my right side! There is a solution, however: a few expert dabs of black paint (a sharpie didn't work :/) and the blink is reduced to nearly gone. Leave a space open for it so you can still see the "UI" elements, but it covers most of it.


Overall the headphones have quality sound, are easy to setup, and a joy to use. If they were over-the-ear and didn't have the ridiculous flashing light, these would be a 5.

I bought these because I used to have a pair of logitech wireless earphones which were flimsy and useless. Calling them the "ultimate" headset is taking things a little too far. The pause/play/skip functions are not compatible with all devices (such as most mp3 players, including the ipod). Setting up the bluetooth connection with other dongles such as USB ones for the laptop can take a bit long and be quite a pain. It seems that it isn't compatible with all types of dongles, and if you want to use the microphone, you have to get the right one. Otherwise, you can only use the headphone function.

Having said all that, I still am very happy with my headset. After finding the right dongle and learning to be patient during the set-up process, I have no complaints. I have had my pair almost a year and all the plastic parts are intact, the foam pads are in place, and battery life is still good. I use my headset mainly for listening to music and for making voice calls on-line. Occasionally, I use them with my mobile phone. In all cases, the headset functions without a glitch. My pair came with the analog transmitter and a carrying case which everything fits into. I have other friends who have brought this product and they are happy with their units as well.

Although some people bring up annoyances like the flashing light and the bulky appearance, considering all that it can do and how well it performs, I think these are minor issues. I would definitely recommend this product.

Very nice audio, flawless linking, BUT . . . all of this is pretty irrelevant if the device doesn't do that for long. Wanting to get a lightweight, stereo headset with well-reviewed audio, I took a chance that those who said it broke or stopped working were just the unlucky few. I have to count myself as another, as my headset stopped charging after a few months of moderate use and delicate handling. I advise readers of this review to take careful note of the relatively high number of people saying that their headsets failed after moderate amounts of use. I wish you better luck if you too take the chance.

I'm very satisfied with this headset, good sound playback quality and nice phone control. I would recommend this product to everyone who is using a bluetooth cell phone.

I have always had miserable luck with bluetooth headsets, but this changed it all. I live in NYC, use the subways alot and have been using Sony's noise cancelling headsets on my discman...yes this is a big jump. The sound on these are COMPARABLE to the Sony's Im not kidding. Crisp, clear and good base. I paired these to my new HTC tilt phone and its brilliant. I always wanted an all in one, I put off buying an MP3 player for years and now Ive got it all in one small neat package.

The only problem I found with these is you have to refresh the connection every now and then which really isnt a problem at all and I can change the song thru the headsets sometimes, alot of times it dosent work.

But all and all Im very very pleased with my purchase. I would definately recommend these headsets, puts all of the bigger names to shame.

I Just recently purchased these headphones for about $60. Integrated great with my Mac Book Pro which was excellent, and at the same time it worked with my iPhone. I wasn't too sure how well they would both go together but, I was listening to music on my computer when I got a call, music faded out, and the call came in very clear. When I was finished the call, it switched right back over to my computer. I bought these mainly because I have too much going on, Skype and Ichat conference calls as well as phone calls, this product just simplified it into one. This is my first purchase from Plantronics and I am very happy with it so far. The only problem I have noticed, is that you are not able to play music from an Iphone to the headphones.

I purchased this unit primarily to use with my MacBook and Skype for conducting business calls. Previously I was using the Logitech Clear Chat Pro wired USB headset with very good results, but after breaking a couple of them by accidentally yanking the cords from my Mac, I wanted to try a wireless solution. So far, the results have been mixed. Here are some highlights:

1. Build Quality - 3 stars

The build quality seems pretty good, especially for something in this price range. The construction is mostly all plastic, but the hinge mechanisms and stress points appear to be adequately constructed. I would NOT expect these headsets to stand up to much abuse - e.g. extensive travel where they are jammed in and out of a bag, dropped on the ground, etc. For daily office or home use where they are place into a drawer or on a desk when not in use, they should give a good service life. People have complained that the foam earpieces fall off, but after a couple weeks of use, I have not seen any indications of this problem. The switches all operate smoothly, and while the overall design is a bit clunky, that is more an aesthetic comment than a quality comment.

2. Features - 4 stars

The headset has a good feature set, supporting both the stereo headphone profile (A2DP) and the "headset" profile. I have used these with both my Mac and my iPhone and with the Mac both profiles work, with easy switching between the two using the "Bluetooth Preferences" drop down for on-the-fly changes. With the iPhone, only the "headset" profile is supported (this is an iPhone limitation, NOT a limitation of this headset). Buttons for volume, skip/fast forward, skip/fast rewind work well with iTunes on the laptop. Only the volume controls and "call answer/end" buttons seem to work with the iPhone in the headset mode.

3. Operation/usage - 2 stars

Pairing with both the Mac and the iPhone was absolutely seamless, and switching between the two is fairly straightforward, though I have not tried to have the headset paired and connected to both devices - I'm not sure this works. For now, I disable Bluetooth on my iPhone when it is nearby and I want to pair the PT590 to my Macbook, because otherwise the PT590 will connect to its last device, which is usually my iPhone when on the road. The comfort of these headphones is so-so - the ear pads are relatively small, and the over-the-head band is quite tight (and I have a small head). I can imagine that they would be quite uncomfortable for anyone with a large melon. Stretching the band would be dangerous, since it is made of plastic and would probably break. perhaps heating it with a blow dryer and gently stretching it out might work... The foam ear pads are thin, and since the ear pieces press pretty firmly against the head, they do cause minor discomfort after some period of time. They are no where near as comfortable as my Bose QCII headphones, but these are $60 and the Bose are $300, so I would expect that to be the case. They are more comfortable than other headphones I have had in this <$100 price range, including both wired and wireless units. I would not recommend them for all-day use sitting at a desk (get the Bose and live with the wires), but for short stints they are great.

The blue light is annoying, but it is also an important status indicator for things like call status and battery life. It is one of the ways my wife knows when I am on a call in my office when she walks in to talk to me.

Operating the unit is very easy - answering a call, you touch a button, the same button ends the call. For listening to music, the controls are a bit less intuitive - the top and bottom buttons skip forward or reverse, and the front and rear buttons increase or decrease the volume - this seems like it was not thought out very well, as the functions between the two pairs of buttons should be swapped to be more intuitive.

The pull-out boom for the mic is a nice feature, and there is a built-in wind screen. I have not tried these units in windy conditions but would expect their performance to exceed many other "mini" headsets for mobile phone usage.

One "nit" I have is that in order to get the boom mic to point down towards one's mouth, the headband needs to sit pretty far forward on the head - it feels slightly unnatural. So this leaves you with the choice of either tilting the whole setup forward to angle the mic towards the mouth, or put them on feeling more natural, but have the mic pointed up at one's nose/cheek.

Note: I use these headphones alongside a logitech bluetooth mouse and have been surprised at how little interference there is between the two. Occasionally my mouse will freeze, but a click will usually quickly restore service to the mouse. There is no static induced in the headphones by the mouse that I can discern.

4. Performance - 4 stars for music, 2 stars for Skype

Overall performance of these units is quite good, with the exception of VOIP or Skype calling.

4.1 Music - music sounds surprisingly full and rich, given that these units are small and rather flimsy feeling (e.g. lightweight). The are "on the ear" style headphones, so they do not offer any passive noise reduction, and the sound leakage from the outside into the ears as well as from the 'phones to the outside is pretty significant (I can't watch a movie on my laptop in bed while my wife is trying to sleep - something I do routinely with my Bose QCII headphones). But for average music listening, they are really surprisingly good. By tweaking the EQ settings, you can get them to sound as good or better than many wired headphones in this price range, and the amount of stutter or static is surprisingly low.

4.2 Skype - 1 star - I cannot recommend these units for Skype - Out use. This may be a limitation of Bluetooth for VOIP calling, as I have not tried other Bluetooth sets, the amount of lag introduced by these units is unacceptable for business-level conversation. I know that this is not a limitation of Skype, as I previously used a wired Logitech headset with very good results with Skype. The lag can vary in severity, but even at its best, it is noticeable - almost like talking to someone over a satellite connection where there is several hundred milliseconds of delay. It can get annoying very quickly. At its worst, it is totally unusable, as people I am talking to hear nothing but static and garbled speech. I have reached the point where I really only use them when I am on long conference calls where I just have to listen for 95% of the time. For real calls, I have had to go back to using my cell phone.


4.3 Phone - 5 stars - probably the best quality audio (both mic and speakers) that I have used with my iPhone or my Motorola Razr. The headphones are big and dorky looking while walking through an airport, but boy, they sure stay on your head when you lean over to pick up your bag, and they seem to do a great job of filtering out background noise.

Overall, the performance of these units is very good for the price. If you are buying them for music and /or for use with a phone (especially one that supports the A2DP profile) I highly recommend them - you cannot beat the performance at this price point. For use with Skype at a desktop computer, I cannot recommend them, and suggest you use a wired USB or audio jack type headset.