Bluetooth Headset Comparison Round 2 (Updated with H700):
07/24/2006
By: Carlos Eduardo
Purchased From: Ustronics.com &
other retailers
In my 2004 Bluetooth headset comparison, the Motorola HS810 was victorious
over its competitors. Since then, my HS810 was replaced with
its newer brother, the HS850. The HS850 then became
my new favorite for the most part of 2005 and 2006. However, many new headsets
have made it onto the market since my last review, and thus, a new comparison
was in order.
For this year's competition, the following headsets were chosen (links take
you to product page at retailer's site):
Motorola H700
The Motorola HS850
The Motorola H3
The Plantronics 640
The Nokia BH900 (BT 2.0 capable)
The Nokia BH800 (BT 2.0 capable)
Because comparisons provide a more relative view of one headset's capabilities
over others, I prefer this format over extended reviews of one headset.
Thus, here goes this year's list (Bluetooth 2.0-capable handsets were utilized
as part of this review):
Sound Quality Incoming (what I hear):
1) Plantronics 640 - very loud and clear
2) Motorola H700 - very loud and clear
3) Motorola HS850 - loud and decently clear
4) Motorola H3 - decent sound and ok volume
5) Nokia BH800 - Loud enough, but weird and distorted as if the treble
were turned up too high, thus can't make volume be too high. Has some
hiss.
6) Nokia BH900 - Low Volume and difficult to hear with noise
Sound Quality Outgoing (what people hear):
This category was difficult for me to rank. All of the headsets had issues
but perhaps the word 'trade-off' is more appropriate. The Motorola
HS850, H700, and Nokia BH800, for example, have shorter microphone booms
and thus, although
clear, sound fainter and more 'distant' than others. I should note that
the Motorola HS850/H700 can sound muffled at times if the microphone
is covered by
your cheek.
The Motorola H3 and Nokia BH900 were both average sounding, nothing great,
but at least constant in their sound quality.
Lastly, the Plantronics 640 was at times the best sounding, but also
the most inconsistent. Of all the headsets, it seemed to be the loudest,
but
at times people said it sounded like I was in a tunnel. So it was difficult
to give it the title of 'best' in the group.
Distance from Phone before crackling (interference):
1) Motorola HS850
2) Motorola H3
3) Plantronics 640 and Nokia BH900 - Not horrible, but not very good
distance from handset before noise starts appearing
4
) Nokia BH800 - Not bad
but not the best, got worse with additional testing
5) Motorola H700 - Not the best, but acceptable
Comfort:
1) Motorola H700 - Fits as good as the HS850, but smaller and lighter
2
) Motorola
HS850 - Fits ok and is comfortable for extended periods
3) Plantronics 640 - with earloop fits me well and is ok for long periods,
without loop, the headset falls off regardless of gel size
4) Motorola H3 - Fits loosely or tightly, very little control over
comfort
5) Nokia BH900 - Uncomfortable earloop, horrible for glasses, typically
looping my glasses and taking me a while to use. Worst ever in comfort.
6) Nokia BH800 - After a while I started getting this weird numb feeling
in my ear that felt like electric shock, but it was due to the pressure
that the rubber exerts in your ear. Thus, it became pretty painful after
an hour of use and needed to be mentioned. If you typically take off your
headset after calls, you should be ok, but because there are no varying
gel sizes like with the Plantronics, this maybe more painful for those
with smaller ears.
Ease of Use:
1) Motorola H700 & HS850- flip it open, it's on and paired to the phone..
doesn't get better than that
2) Plantronics 640 tied with Motorola H3 tied with Nokia BH800 - all fast
but require buttons being pressed.
3) Nokia BH900 - requires button being pressed, but is slow in pairing,
or the boom being slid to take call, but it's not as easy as one would
think.
Hanging up is easy though.
Speed to switch from one ear to the other:
1) Nokia BH900 - symmetrical earloop so easy to switch, but still painful
on the other ear
2) Nokia BH800 - a little flipping around of the earloop but nothing major
3) All Motorolas - you have to unclip the earhook and then reclip it upside
down for other ear
4) Plantronics 640 (with earloop) - have to remove the gel, then flip the
earhook, then replace the gel. Without the earloop it ties with the BH900,
but I can't keep it in my ear without the hook.
Durability-
1) All Motorolas - these things are rugged, have carried them in my pant
pocket no problem
2) Nokia BH900 - the boom is a little fragile, but otherwise solid
3) Nokia BH800 - without the earloop more rugged, but with it, it's easy
to damage the joint
4) Plantronics 640 - fragile gel joint can be broken off, and earloop can
strip leaving a loose connection. would not even think about carrying in
my pant pocket.
Quality Control-
1) All Motorolas - well built and feel solid
2) Nokia BH800 - feels solid, but more fragile with earloop
3) Nokia BH900 - buttons are a little loose, and boom doesn't feel solidly
put together
4) Plantronics 640 - had to have it replaced by Plantronics, and the second
one was bad too.. the charging sleeve sometimes 'spits out' the headset
while it is being charged, thus cutting the charge short. Have to wrap
the charging
cable around the headset to keep in place. Shoddy craftsmanship.
Battery Life (Did not talk straight for the life of battery, so just going
on rough estimates):
1) Motorola HS850 tied with Motorola H3 tied with Nokia BH900 ~ roughly
7 hours talk time
2) Plantronics 640 (without battery charger) tied with Nokia BH800 tied with
Motorola H700 ~ roughly 5 hours talk time
Conclusion-
My long-term champ, the Motorola HS850 is no longer the clear winner in
this recent round of tests. All of the reviewed headsets are great for
someone...
the question then becomes... who are you, and what do you need?
If you're a person that is hard on their stuff, it's pointless to get a
fragile but good headset like the Plantronics 640 or Nokia BH800, get a
Motorola
H3 instead.
If you're into fashion, get the Nokia BH800, but if you travel a lot and
want a variety of charging options and high volume for when in noisy airports
get the Plantronics 640, which has loud volume and a variety of charging
options including a battery charger and a compatibility adapter for many
phone chargers.
If you want to pick up quickly and want something relatively rugged get
the HS850 or the newer smaller H700. Actually the HS850 and the H700 would
make a great headset to use with Skype over
your PC... its long standby/talk time and quick access make it great for
that format.
Lastly, if you're into looking like a Borg,
into oto-masochism, have dog-sharp hearing, and want people to notice that
you're on a headset get the Nokia
BH900.
As for me.. I'm keeping the Motorola H700 and the Plantronics 640 for longer
term testing. I had kept the Nokia BH800 for additional testing, but in the
additional testing it ended up being too much of a pain to use.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
All content Copyright © 2001-2005, Chromewalker. All Rights Reserved.
Text, images, and all other content on this site may not be copied or republished in any way without formal permission.
