The Bottom Line: Good as a stereo headset for music. Not very good as a phone headset for calls. Get it if you have a Motorola music phone (like the Q).
Vorkosigan's Full Review: Blueant X3 micro Bluetooth Headset
I use the S9 with the Motorola Q and my Thinkpad X61T laptop.
The S9 works very well as a stereo headset pairing with a computer or a phone to provide stereo music. It has a very good battery life (3-4 hours play time in my experience) and good sound quality. I will be the first to admit that I am not a audio snob so I cannot take up it sound reproduction, but the audio is crisp and clear with decent bass and high tones.
The main issue as a stereo headset is that the Bluetooth range and connectivity can be a bit iffy. When walking with my phone in my pants pocket, I will experience some brief dropouts. This can also be seen when connecting to my laptop, the range can be as low as 10-15 feet before I start losing signal.
As a phone headset, the audio only play over the left ear in mono mode. The incoming audio is okay, but a bit muffled in my experience. Outbound audio is very bad with people telling me that I sound like I am in a cavernous space no matter where I am. I rarely use the headset for calls because of the weak quality.
The controls on the headset work reasonably well. There is a main button on each ear and a pair of rocker switches on each side of the main buttons. One side controls phone activation and volume. The other side is a play/pause button with the rocker switches being forward and reverse for your audio player. The buttons work reasonably well once you get used to where each one is. The player buttons work well both with my Q (regardless if the phone is in the media player or not) and with my laptop. But in both cases, the media player is Windows Media Player 9 so I am not really pushing it. The volume controls have an audible component when you use them to hear the results and they do a multiple beep when you have hit max volume, which is nice. The ear phones will automatically reduce the volume on your music when another audio prompt plays form the phone side (message notification, ringing, or similar). It won't increase the volume back until you get to the next song, but you can manually return the volume to it's level.
The one button that doesn't work quite as well is the phone control. It has a bit of a delay answering calls or activating for voice dialing. This may be more a function of my Q's responsiveness though.
The phone and audio player play nicely together with the music pausing when a call is taking and returning when the call is over.
The phone has no adjustability to it's size so you want to try it out to see if it will fit your head. It is all water-resistant molded plastic, so there isn't a lot of give. I had another headset with a similar concept and I eventually broke the arms, because my head was too large. I have a fairly large head and the S9 still fits so I wouldn't worry too much. The S9 can be uncomfortable when lying down as the headset has it's battery pack in a bulge at the back of the neck. When you lie down, this bulge digs into your neck. Other than that the headset is quite comfortable and unnoticeable. The headset comes with three sizes of earbuds, but only the medium ones fit well on the device from what I have experienced.
The headset pairs well with multiple devices and paired easily with my phone and my computer. It generally does a good job of recognizing and activating the stereo headset and the phone headset (two separate bluetooth profiles on any device).
I have liked using this headset and while it does have some flaws, it is strong enough as a stereo headset that support the music player features that I wear it all the time to listen to music. I recommend it for people who are using a Motorola phone and need stereo music access.
Weighs less than an ounce Up to 180 hours standby or 7 hours talk time Pairs with up to 3 devices Designed using Bluetooth v1.2 technology Includes Wa...More at Amazon
The award winning X3 micro Bluetooth earset is one of the smallest and best performing earsets available in the world. Lightweight, stylish and comfor...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2010 Shopping.com, Inc.