Shortly after I finished writing a review on the Motorola HS820 Bluetooth Headset (see it here http://www.epinions.com/content_181149994628) I lost that unit on a business trip. Actually, I lost it on my way home from a business trip in the backseat of a taxi!

I set out to look for a replacement immediately and I had considered a number of possibilities such as the HS850, another HS820 and the Plantronic M3500. I settled for the Jabra BT800 after a relatively lengthy research.

After using it for a week, I am now absolutely certain that BT800 is better than HS820 in almost every way except for weight and bulk.

Physical Appearance:
In a field where all bluetooth headsets appear futuristic, the BT800 somehow manages to look more futuristic than most. It definitely has a Star Trek quality to it. The unit itself is fairly large and thick - a necessity since it must accommodate the onboard LCD display - and it measures 2.7" x 1.3" x 1" (over all thickness). Relatively speaking, the HS820 is far less obtrusive and less noticeable hanging off one's ear. Simply put, due to its size and design, the BT800 gets notice, a lot.

Pairing:
The pairing between BT800 and my cell (a Motorola V600) took place flawlessly the first time and every time since. Once the unit is switched on via the on/off switch, you can either initiate first-time pairing via the interactive menu on the headset or through the pairing switch (accessible via the stylus shipped in the package.) The pairing took less than 15 seconds from end-to-end without a hitch. Compared to what I went through with the HS820 (I had to reset the headset but reset instructions were not in the manual....), I started to like the BT800 immediately.

After BT800 had been recognized by the phone and pairing was completed, all subsequent pairing was fast and automatic. It takes approximately 1 second to turn the headset on and get connected to the phone. Compared to the HS820 where I had to hold down the on/off switch for over 5 seconds to turn on the unit and connect it to the phone, the BT800 represents a major improvement.

Similarly, it takes one second to power down the BT800 and disconnect it from the phone. It takes around 5 or 6 seconds to do the same with the HS820.

Wear and Comfort:
The BT800 is an over-the-ear design and it relies on an "ear loop" to stay attached to your ear. This ear loop has 3 degrees of movement covering all three planes. Using aviation terminology, once the unit is worn on the ear, the user can make three physical adjustments: pitch, yaw, and roll. In other words, the unit can be adjusted upward or downward against the face, the microphone end can be moved closer or further away from the face, and the body can be twisted away from the top of the ear or to remain parallel to the ear. Compared to the HS820 which only has one degree of freedom, the BT800 is more flexible. However, the flexibility is very much needed since the unit is larger and heavier, it really does take a bit of fiddling to get the right combination of adjustments.

Speaking of weight, the unit is definitely heavy compared to the HS820. If the BT800 is hooked to the side of your head, it is less than likely that you will forget that it is there. HS820, on the other hand, does tend to lure the user into believing that it is not there at all after a few minutes. In fact, I believe that attribute is partially responsible for the loss of the headset in the taxi a few weeks ago.

Sound quality and Digital Signal Processing:
BT800 wins hands down. I find the BT800 has more than adequate volume. Combining that with the noise cancellation circuit, the unit produces crisp and clear sound in crowded malls and other noisy places. The HS820 performs very, very poorly in noisy environments. I believe the noise cancellation circuit and the digital signal processing capabilities do make a big difference, as I had tested the BT800 in a moving vehicle with the windows down and I was able to conduct a conversation with a caller, without having to "cup" my hand around the unit to buffer out the background noise like I used to with the HS820.

LCD Display:
While it is definitely a real cool feature to have an LCD screen with backlight on a headset, it is not as practical as it may first appear. When the unit is attached to the side of my head, why would I want to detach it, check the incoming number, and then to re-attach it to my ear just to screen a call? Won't it be easier to look at the phone instead? However, given the size and heft of the unit, perhaps not everyone wants to wear it all the time looped around a ear. So it might actually be lying around somewhere between the user and the phone and that makes the caller ID feature worthwhile?

Regardless, the screen is nice and it is a treat to be able to configure the headset using the interactive menu on the headset.

The caller ID feature works very well. When the phone rings, the incoming number will show up on the LCD. If there is a name associated to this number in the cellphone's directory, then the name will show up on the LCD instead. However, if the name is, say, "John Smith", then only "John" may show up due to the limited amount of real estate on the LCD. The call list feature works well and you can choose from a list of the last 10 callers to call back straight from the headset.

Ring Tones and Vibrate:
The unit comes with 5 built-in ring tones that you can use to override the ones from the cellphone. In addition, the unit also has a vibrate feature and it will match your vibrate settings on the cellphone! The vibrate feature is nice to have especially if you are going to keep the headset in your pocket or a belt pouch.

Buttons:
This is where the BT800 beats the HS820 hands down as well. The HS820 comes with only 3 buttons, where two of them are dedicated to volume control. So effectively, there is only one button on the HS820 to answer call, terminate call, mute, hold, etc., and it all depends on how many times you tap the key and how long you hold it for. Therefore, getting all the sequences right is like tapping Morse code into the HS820, a real inconvenience with often unexpected results.

The BT800 has 5 buttons (if you count the volume control lever as two). The volume control lever is flush mounted on the outside of the unit and it is not very obtrusive. The two buttons mounted on the bottom of the unit are for Answer and On/Off. The button on top of the volume control level is lit in blue and it calls up the menu as well as put the call on mute. For more complicated operations (like calling waiting, hold, etc.) the LCD screen will prompt the user for input.

Battery and Power Consumption:
It takes approximately 3 hours to fully charge up the unit. Jabra claims that it has up to 6 hours of talk time and 125 hours of stand-by time. So far, I have not yet been able to challenge these numbers but I had gone as long as 96 hours without charging the unit with over 2 hours talk time and the unit still showed 75% charged.

This brings me to another point about the BT800, it actually has a battery meter displayed on the LCD whereas with the HS820 it is just guesswork.

In addition, the unit could be charged directly from the USB port and a charging cable is included in the package.


Pros:
-Sound quality
-Volume
-Noise cancellation
-Pairing
-Latency, or lack thereof - takes about 1 second to wake up from sleep mode, connects instantaneously to cellphone
-Easy to operate
-LCD display and caller ID
-Battery Meter

Cons:
-Heavy
-Large
-Looks and feels a little flimsier than the HS820


Recommended: Yes