Pros: compact and lightweight, long battery life, easy to set up and use
Cons: cheesy Motorola charger, average sound quality for called party
The Bottom Line: Motorola's HS850 Bluetooth Headset is a nice, compact unit for light-medium use. Its best features are comfort and long battery life, though sound quality is average.
scmrak's Full Review: Motorola HS850 Bluetooth Headset
I've never been one of those people who live on the telephone. Though I've had a cell phone for years, it almost never rings (except for some phone number that's supposedly in Quebec that keeps trying to fax me). One reason that I finally broke down and got a cell, though, is I'm a dutiful son: I call my Mom every Sunday night, like clockwork, and we talk for at least an hour. Back in the old days I could tuck the phone under my chin and keep my hands free - I often call while cooking or doing little projects - but my neck's just not flexible enough to do that with a cell phone (I'm agog when I see the kids on campus doing it!), so I've long depended on a handsfree set. Since my current phone, an LG-VX8300 V-Cast, supports Bluetooth instead of a wired headset, the Ms gave me a Motorola HS850 Bluetooth Headset; which makes talking to Mom much less of a pain in the neck - literally.
The HS850 is a tiny little thing: when the boom mic is folded, the headset is an oval about two inches by one; and the whole shebang weighs in at well under an ounce (20 grams). When folded up, the entire thing fits easily into a shirt pocket.
Opening the mic boom activates the headset and signals the phone. Once the handshake is complete, a central button on the earpiece functions as the switchhook: a short press activates voice dial or ends the current call; a long press activates redial. While a call is active, the button can be used to place a caller on hold or activate three-way calling, if your plan includes it (or so they say - I've never tried it). Two minuscule buttons along the rim act as volume control: the top button increases volume; the bottom one decreases. While it's active, a blue LED flashes every few seconds.
A flexible rubber and plastic hook unfolds to hook over the ear while a soft rubber cup directs the sound to the ear and blocks (some) ambient noise. The hook can be removed and reversed to be worn on either ear; the volume buttons can be reprogrammed if you switch from the right ear (default). I rarely wear it for more than an hour or two, but It stays comfortable for that long at least.
Sound quality on the listening end is almost as good as listening to the phone itself. Mom complains that, even though the boom mic hits somewhere just below my left eye, the volume is too loud. The Ms complains that it sounds like I'm talking from the bottom of a well, not much different from listening to a speakerphone.
Motorola claims that standby battery life; meaning with the headset activated, is 200 hours and talk time is eight hours. It seems to last me about three weeks between charges with only three or four hours' use per charge and the headset turned off most of the rest of the time. It invariably dies the fourth time I try to use it to call Mom; that's when I hear the dreaded "descending triple beep."
Technically-speaking, the HS850 is compliant with Bluetooth 1.1 and 1.2 specifications. My phone's 1.1-compliant, I believe.
Overall, an improvement on a headphone-style headset, except for the long distance from mic to lips. Definitely an improvement over juggling the phone and trying to tuck it under one's ear.
pluses: easy set-up and use, very small and lightweight, long battery life, comfortable, reversible
so-sos: reasonably good sound quality for me but indifferent sound quality for the person on the other end, although we can still understand each other
minuses: still uses that nasty little Motorola wall charger with its fragile, recalcitrant plug
Recommended: a strong four stars and price-competitive
At 642 words, this qualifies as an entry in the Lean-n-Mean VI entry.
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