Bluetooth Headset (Cell) Help me pick one please!

[Visitor Q]

I have been looking, reading, watching review videos on youtube and looking some more...

Can anyone recommend a good bluetooth headset for my cell phone?

Thanks!

[shmokes]

Jawbone.  There's no such thing as a headset that won't make you look ridiculous, though. 

[AtomSmasher]

And please don't become one of those people who never take it out of their ear, even when they're not in a phone call.

[shardian]

I have a corded stereo headset for my phone. I had a bluetooth headset, but I felt like a jackass - even when by myself in the car.

[ChadTower]

I can't tell you how often I'm standing in a cashier line or something and the person behind me says "hi, what's going on" so I start to answer them before noticing they have an earpiece in and are looking at me but talking to their stupid phone.

[BobbyG66]

I wish I had a bat for everytime that happened.
I would smash it to bits.
With them wearing it of course.
 

[shmokes]

You know, you'd be better off with just a single bat that you could reuse.

[ChadTower]

I wonder if an earpiece calls 911 when you hit it with a bat.

[knave]

I have the Plantronics 510 And like it pretty well. My mom picked it up for me last year. I tried both a motorolla version and a cheep jabra unit and they both sucked. 

People can hear me ok and unless there's really alot of backgroud noise I think the audio is good. I can use it in my jeep wich is kinda noisy.

I don't like to keep it in unless I'm actually talking on it though...I'm not convinced that all those radio waves are good for my brain. LOL actually it's cuz I feel like a dork.

It was pretty cool using it at work while my phone was plugged into the wall I could walk around the building. I'd say the range good depending on walls.

Good luck, I'm sure there are some new ones out that work really well.

[Ummon]

Ya all - except knave - are funny. And self-conscious or something. Heheheh.

I just got a Samsung WEP707 and it's okay. I don't like the retaining hook or whatever because it's so thin and not rubber, if I lean way over and down the headset falls off my ear. Sound and reception are okay. I only paid twenty-five bucks, though.

Fry's has a good selection under thrity bucks. I looked at a lot of CNET reviews before buying.

[shmokes]

I suppose there's a certain amount of self-consciousness to it, but I think not wanting to look like Locutus is not an unhealthy amount of self-consciousness.  At any rate, I'll reiterate.  Jawbone.  You can have a conversation with somebody while you're mowing the lawn and they won't even know it.  You may as well be sitting in a library.  Pretty amazing stuff.

[CheffoJeffo]

I use the Motorola S9 and have been pretty happy with it. Most of the time, I use it for music/video on both my Bold and notebook and it is strong in that capacity.

If I was more concered about phone calls and noise cancelling, I would definitely go with the Jawbone.

[patrickl]

Jawbone.  There's no such thing as a headset that won't make you look ridiculous, though. 

I hated my Jawbone (2). I got so frustrated with missing calls on that crappy thing that I actually put it in the garbage.

The sounds quality is nice, but only if you fit it in your ear just perfectly. Unfortunately that's neigh on impossible. If it's not a perfect fit you sound like you're underwater on the other end. Just everything else about it just sux too, BT range, battery life, loses BT connection (and doesn't restore automatically), doesn't fit properly in my ear, the crappy hidden buttons, dumb userinterface (no indication of batterylife left, poor indication that it's still working, insane number of short/long/really long/realy really long and such button presses to compensate for the lack of proper buttons) and for all that crappy functionality it costs a bloody fortune.

I got suckered in by the good reviews and indeed when I was testing it it seemed to work great. Took me about a week to I realize how much it sux. Then I saw that the user reviews tend to scream bloody murder about this thing too. Guess I shouldn't just read the professional reviews. Although there are people who seem pretty happy with the thing.

[shmokes]

I have to admit, the Jawbone is the only headset I've used.  And I didn't pay anything for it.  Also, I use it about five times a year.  With that said, I have no complaints, and the sound isolation is amazing.

[patrickl]

I have to admit, the Jawbone is the only headset I've used.  And I didn't pay anything for it.  Also, I use it about five times a year.  With that said, I have no complaints, and the sound isolation is amazing.

I had a Jawbone II and from the user reviews that one rates slightly lower, so maybe it's worse than the original version.

I guess it's a love it or hate it device. In the user reviews on CNet some people rave about it and the others seem to hate it. The sound isolation only works if the headset is positioned exactly right. If the rubber stub is not touching your jaw, your voice get's suppressed. In my case I guess it didn't fit properly to put the stub on my jaw.

Apart from the fitting problem and resulting poor sound, I had most problems with it losing BT connection when not in use. I try to answer a call on the headset only to find out that the headset is no longer connected. Then I need to reconnect the headset and by the time it does connect, the call is gone. Or it would simply be off due to an empty battery.

I had a Sony Ericsson headset with a display. Showed who is calling on the display and otherwise the battery remaining. Trouble was that I couldn't use it properly for voice dial in the car (too much noise I guess).

I say a BT headset should have 4 buttons (on/off,accept call/make call,volume+,volume-), should show that it's connected or not, should give some indication of it's battery life, should stay in your ear, should allow people on the other side hear what you say

Now I have a Jabra BT530. Some sort of noise suppression, but it actually seems to make background noises during quiet periods louder due to it's "volume leveling". When speaking it works fine. Again a headset where people complain about the fit. Luckily it fits fine for me. It also works as a mono headphone for listening to music. I don't use it for listening to music, but for language courses or audio books it's perfect.

The BT530 can also connect to two phones at the same time. I connect it to the DECT phone (Bluetooth model) in my office and my cell phone. When either phone rings I can take the call on the headset. If you use Skype, you can use it as a headset for that too. So it could connect to a PC and a cell phone.

I've seen other people swear by the BlueAnt z9i. I was tempted, but I didn't like the complains about it's noise suppresion and the short BT range

There wasn't a single headset that I was really thrilled by. They all seem to have some negative aspects as well. I guess the trick is to find the headset with the least negatives that bother you.

[loess]

 I have bought 5 bluetooth headset in the past 2 years. Cardo S-640 is the one I really used. It sounds great, long battery life, comfortable, etc. No problems with my Motorola W755.

[shardian]

The only time I have a use for hand-free now is while driving. I am currently looking into a solution that goes through the radio.