Customer Reviews

Plantronics Voyager 510 Bluetooth Headset with USB Dock

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Several cell phone savy folks recommended Plantronics versus the Motorolas - so I trialed *3* Plantronics against my old H850. They are models: Explorer 350, the Discovery 665 and the Voyager 510. I must say that this middle priced range of headsets ($50-$99 for these 3) is the best - hands down! (Awesome price on Amazon by the way...)

After paring them to my Blackjack (with AT&T Service) I decided to put them through the ultimate noise test...I-5 Seattle. The other 2 models: the caller on the other end was VERY quiet with the volume maxed out, windows up and sterio off. However, the Voyager's volume was maxed and plenty loud and clear that a decrease in volume was in order. In fact, I challenged it further by rolling the windows down, sun roof up and the caller stated that she could only hear a minor difference in background noise ~ON THE HWY~. Saaaweeeeet!

Since I didn't want to make it a trip to the state of Oregon, I decided to jump off of the freeway. Again, windows down -I added the radio noise on a low-mid volume. Wonderful! No complaints of echoing on either end, no break-ups (which could be b/c of one's service provider?) and the headset was snug and comfy.

Other great attributes you might ask? The Voyager is fast & easy to turn on and to wear. I can also use it as a hands-free headset on the business landline if I buy the cradle.

Yes, it is on the larger side, but you don't notice it when you get used to it. Besides, the other ones feel a lot less secure on the ear nor are they able to reach the audible part of one's face as well.

My only complaint is that it doesn't come with a car or usb charger - just the wall charger. (The car charger can't cost too much dough.)

Compared to the Motorola H850...all three blew this one out of the water. It would get an 'F' grade due to the high noise levels, occassional echoing and extremely low volume on regular streets.

I bought this for video conferencing with my family who are in England. The inbuilt microphone on my webcam was too sensitive, and I was getting a lot of feedback. I couldn't seem to adjust the volume/mic levels so that there was no feedback and I was still audible, so I decided to purchase a separate microphone. I bought a cheap CyberAcoustics desktop microphone which was useless for my purposes. The wire was too short (long enough if you're sitting right next to the computer, but I had my laptop connected to my TV and I was sitting on the sofa) and it barely picked up any sound unless your mouth was within centimeters of the mic. Still trying to get away with a cheap microphone, I purchased a CyberAcoustics headset (similar in style to the platronics headset). The wire was even shorter for this microphone and it was near impossible to get it attached to your ear in a stable configuration. The volume level and quality was fine, but I don't know how anyone could get comfortable with that contraption. I then decided to purchase a wireless headset as a last attempt to buy a decent micropone and I bought a Platronics Voyager. It suited my needs perfectly. The volume level was perfect, and the sound quality was very good. The unit is very comfortable to use, so comfortable infact, that on occasion I have accidentally left it on for several minutes after a video call has ended. You can easily switch sound output from the PC speakers to the Platronics headset and vice versa, and the wireless range was very impressive (and if you don't have bluetooth built in your PC there is a USB device for the wireless connection included). It comes packaged with a small circular base for charging the headset which I found to be convenient. I've also used the headset for my phone (a Nokia) and have never had any problems. Overall an excellent headset at a reasonable price that I would strongly recommend.

I first bought the Moto H500 USB because it's cute, comes in bubble gum pink or lime green, its blurb says it's for VOIP, it is very tiny; and Plantronics' web site was selling this Voyager 510 USB for $200. Well, the moto thing didn't have Windows compatible drivers and crashed my PC about 5 times before I gave up. This was after having to research the Skype site for help. Surprising for Moto that they were obviously trying to sell it as a consumer product but didn't bother to make installation and activation easy.

The Plantronics web site said this thing will work with named enterprise IP phone applications so I felt a little more confident than if they just said "VOIP." Apparently, vendors think 'VOIP' means Skype, Vonage, Yahoo... and they have to use a different word for enterprise VOIP applications.

I had no problem installing the Plantronics drivers and they seemed to work well with Windows XP. No need to pair with the USB dongle (already paired at the factory). Pairing with my cell phone took 5 seconds.

The sound quality can be better; had to turn to maximum the audio on my IP phone, but the ease of use was worth it.

I bought this product because it has USB to connect to your computer. If you use this handfree with cell phone it works perfect, but when you connect it through USB it takes many cpu cycles, making my computer slow during voice chat. I noticed this behavior while using Skype. Other than that, it installed automatically on my Vista box, without any drivers.

The Plantronics Voyager 510 works great as a bluetooth headset for your phone, but when you connect to your computer, it's quality is horrible. Lots of static and as another reviewer stated eats CPU cycles. I have very high quality hardware and the headset failed to perform great.

1.) Had connected to: Dell Latitude D830 w/ 4GB RAM & 80GB HDD - Windows 7 x64 Home Prem.

Used USB bluetooth drive with plantronics software. Went to go play audio from podcast and was very poor audio quality. So much static that you could barely hear it. Skype call quality was the same.

2.) Then connected to my Unibody Macbook Pro 2.56GHz, 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD - OSX Snow Leopard

Headset synced with OSX with no problems, but I still get static call quality.

I love the build quality of this device, but at least the unit that I bought was piss-poor quality. Not happy with it for the price. It not in my opinion an acceptable headset. I would have done better by spending $50 on a Motorola bluetooth headset for my phone and forgot all about worrying about the computer. I invite other reviewers to let me know if my unit has a problem or not so that I can return it. I have been in the computer industry for 18 years and even tested the headset inside of a Faraday cage environment to rule out interference from wireless devices.

I will have to admit, this is my first headset to own and use. I researched a lot to find a headset that would be comfortable on my ear and have quality audio on both sides of the conversation. The Voyager 510 has all of this. It is however larger than most, if not all of the bluetooth headsets out on the current market. So if you don't mind a little larger headset, this is a great buy. It has great battery life and has a large radius to reach your bluetooth device. It currently works seamlessly with both my computer and Razer cell phone. To keep it protected, I got an old Altoids metal box, padded the inside, and I keep my headset in there when I am mobile.

Although it worked fine with Windows 7 and paired as per instructions and I could change the sound applet to use it easily. I had to install their personacall software for it to work with Office 2007 Communicator VOIP.

It comes with a USB adapter, which isn't needed for normal Bluetooth pairing, but does seem to be required for VOIP. One advantage to using the adapter is that it allows you to pair a single headset concurrently with a cell phone and the laptop. That means that I can use the headset if I walk away from my desk with my cell phone without having to pair it separately with the cell phone, and then back again to the laptop.

Given you can have communicator direct calls to your cell phone over the cellphone network, and to your laptop over the VOIP network, this is a big deal...

It comes with a small desk adapter/charger which can be powered by USB or 110v outlet. When you place the headset in the adapter it puts it into suspend mode allowing for faster charging, when a call rings and you lift the headset out of the adapter it goes back into active mode and you can answer via a button on the side of the headset. Etc.

I ordered this based on reading other reviews and googling numerous tech blogs, many of which recommended it highly. I bought it to use with Skype in my apartment. Easy to set up and works like a charm, I've never experienced any problems with it. As an added bonus, the battery life is great- I've used it for days without having to re-charge.

This is a great product for using with SKYPE and with your cell phone. It cuts down on outside noise and the microphone is great.

I purchased this device for use with my PC and skype. Even though I paid over $100, the sound was not that good and the range was somewhat of a letdown. It did, however, fit my ear well and was comfortable. Despite this, I had to send it back.