Hands-On with the Plantronics Voyager Pro
Posted 04/24/09 at 06:26:51 PM by Gordon Mah Ung
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Geeks have to be suckers for Bluetooth headsets. Don’t believe me? I have purchased no fewer than five Bluetooth headsets ranging from Plantronics, to Cardo and Motorola in the last two years.
Among the most disappointing was the Voyager 855. Although it fit my tiny ear canals well, the reliability of it was, well, everything you’ve come to expect of a Bluetooth headset. Sometimes it would connect with my admittedly mediocre Windows Mobile phone and sometimes it wouldn’t.
It didn’t help that the audio levels were just too low. At least the noise cancellation was top notch. Still, I had to chuck it for two Cardo units: The S-640 and the S-800. I had the highest hopes for the S-640 clip-on unit and carded ear piece. Unfortunately, incoming sound quality was dismal and the lack of noise cancellation made conversations in my beater with original struts impossible. Did I mention that it too was quite flakey with the Bluetooth connection. The S-800, however, was quite reliable. It locked onto my phone and worked fine. The volume was also almost painfully loud when set to max. The UI was good and the quick dial feature that let you access the first few slots in your speed dial was awesome.
It’s too bad it didn’t fit very well. It felt like someone had wedged a pinkie into my ear canal. Noise cancellation was also just average. I used it for many months until I decided to buy yet another Bluetooth unit: Motorola’s H680. Its rock solid connections to my phone and its dual-microphone noise cancellation made it my favorite Bluetooth headset – for about four months. Sore after four months of jamming the H680 into my ear, I decided to again upgrade on a shopping trip to Fry’s with the guys and bought a Motorola H710. This headset didn’t have the dual-mic cancellation of the H680 (which is why I picked the H680 over it) but it was the most comfortable Bluetooth unit I had used because it sat on the outside of my ear. The volume was very good, the noise cancellation OK, and it always connected to my phone. What was wrong? Battery life. After five months of use, the battery life became dismal.
I only use my headset in my car and turn it off when not in use. Initially I could get a week or two without having to recharge it. That turned into a week and now it seems like it needs to visit the charger every three days.
That’s when Plantronic’s Voyager Pro showed up. Not exactly pleased with the performance of the Voyager 855, I didn’t expect much. The units bulky look and mic boom didn’t exactly win me over either. It’s hard not to say: “Operator, what number please.”
But, at least it’s not as garish as a Jawbone. Wearing the Voyager Pro is actually a delight. It’s comfortable and you could, if you were so inclined, keep it over your ear for hours without it bugging you. Even though it made me feel like an ass, I did just that at the office.
Audio performance is quite good. Plantronics said the design lets it use a very large 13mm speaker as opposed to the 9mm or 10mm speakers that other designs use. This lets it pump the volume and gives it a fuller range.
The larger body also aids in fairly good battery life claims (I haven’t had it long enough to run down the battery) and, according to Plantronics, longer range because it features much larger antenna. In the few days I’ve played with it, connectivity issues – something that pissed me off to no end with the Voyager 855 – was not an issue. Plantronics said the 855’s problems likely came from the immature A2DP profile implementation.
The key selling point of the Voyager Pro is the noise cancellation. No longer do people just want to talk on their phones in quiet environments or the slightly louder car environment – they also want to do the Bluetooth thing while walking down the street on a windy day.
To that point, I can say the Voyager Pro lives up to its name. I simulated a windy environment with a fan our lab and my previous fave, the Motorola H710, was useless in the wind, the Voyager Pro magically made the wind noise disappear.
So it’s comfortable on my ear and in my ear, reasonably loud, reliably connects to my phone and effectively erases background noise without making me sound too much like a robot from a 1950s movie which heavy noise cancellation can do. To me, that’s a win. Even better, at $99, it’s a pretty good deal in this class of headset even if your co-workers may kid you about heading off to your job at the McDonald’s drive-thru window (not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
<a
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Submitted by seo (not verified) on Mon, 06/01/2009 - 3:04am
To that point, I can say the Voyager Pro lives up to its name. I
simulated a windy environment with a fan our lab and my previous fave,
the Motorola H710, was useless in the wind, the Voyager Pro magically
made the wind noise disappear.ilaçlama haşere ilaçlama istanbul ilaçlama kene ilaçlama bit ilaçlama fare ilaçlama
pire | fare | güve | akrep | çiyan | seo | kene | ilaçlama
Submitted by swtrainer on Sun, 05/03/2009 - 6:22pm
Enjoyed the review of the Plantronics Voyager Pro. I use a bluetooth headset a majority of the time...After all, what good is a hands-free headset if you have to put it on when a call comes in?
With me, a bluetooth headset is a necessity due to my heavy travel and voice quality is a priority. As such, I have been one of those people constantly in search for the perfect bluetooth headset. An old favorite was the Plantronics Voyager 510 - the predecessor to the Voyager Pro. It was dependable and had an almost cult following in its prime. However, newer headsets offered noise cancellation that made the 510 obsolete.
Still, none that I found ever really met the test...I got decent noise cancellation from the Jawbone II and Jabra BT-530, but neither did a very good job with Microsoft Voice Command. Then, along came the Voyager Pro and it really works - great noise cancellation, sounds great on both ends, comfortable enough for hours of wear, works with MVC even with significant road noise. This one is the real McCoy and the proof is in the pudding - just call your own voicemail and leave yourself a message while driving down the Interstate at 75 mph and other scenarios where you typically use your headset and you can hear what others are hearing when you call them using your bluetooth headset. I consider this the true test of a bluetooth headset and the Voyager Pro passes with flying colors - the best results I've ever had.
ILBCNU,
swtrainer
Submitted by Shalbatana on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 8:19pm
first, what moron decided an overly bright blinking blue light looked good coming out of everyone's ear?!!! Second, what moron's moron decided it should be turned on by default when you purchase the headset?!!!!
Between my wife and I We have had a total of 4 bluetooth headsets, all brand new out of the package. One we bought, the others were package deals or gifts. All 4 headsets combined have given us a total of a whopping 3 weeks of reliable use! Two didn't work right out of the package! The third got dropped on a wood floor from a standing position ONCE, and never worked again. The fourth lasted about 27 days then wouldn't hold a charge. They are all, as you say, uncomfortable, unbalanced and have junky quality.
I almost didn't buy my most recent phone because the (un-informed) saleswoman at the counter insisted the phone didn't work with a wired headset, only bluetooth. Turns out it does, you plug it into the same port labeled for the media player headphones if so equipped.
Anyway, I love hearing about the new reviews, but bluetooth... no way, never again. Too overpriced anyway.
_______________________________
"There's no time like the future."
I have gone back to a Wired HEadset
Submitted by Baer on Sun, 04/26/2009 - 2:13pm
I got so sick of crappy sound, unreliable connection Etc that I just went back to a good (Plantronics) wired headset. The bluetooth to my car audio works fine but that is because the car has a good B-T set up but I will never go back to a B-T headset again.
I have to have one, because
Submitted by Tekzel on Sat, 04/25/2009 - 7:29am
I have to have one, because I need to be able to answer my phone while driving and refuse to do it without a headset. However, I hate the damn things and refuse to use it outside of my car.
Crazy
Submitted by Seana7a7 on Sat, 04/25/2009 - 2:03am
The biggest problem with these bluetooth headsets is that you look like a schizophrenic.
Fear the blue ...tooths?
Submitted by Cache on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 6:34pm
I've been using my Motorrola H500 for a year and a half, and I have to say... I depend on my bluetooth. Sure, my little H500 is horridly unstylish given the modern designs of some units, but it has been faithful and has done a very good job. However.. it IS coming up to two years very soon, and I've been looking at newer units. I just... I can't get over the design of the Plantronics unit here. It just looks as if it would be unnecessarily large on the back of my ear, and I'm really picky about how it sits back there. The old Motorola is the most comfortable thing I've ever owned--half the time I don't even realize it's there.
But this Plantronics one... I just can't go for something that would leave one of my ears hanging out like I was some retarded version of Dumbo.
"Geeks have to be suckers for Bluetooth headsets."
Submitted by HellTempest on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 4:19pm
Seriously? Ever single person I have ever talked to in my life absolutely detests headsets like those, and I myself am irritated to no end by them and would rather be sodomized by a donkey than use one.
I am tempted to get one and
Submitted by AntiHero on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 3:37pm
I am tempted to get one and demo it (return if not satisfied). One thing i would enjoy, is having a headset for my pc, that when i play games, i have one piece in my ear, and speakers still work (like a standalone mic, but more compact since i'm a laptop gamer, yes it's convenient, and no i'm not throttled horribly), and when done, chuck in my backpack, and my notebook supports bluetooth, so I could use that thing for skype as well (netbook anyone? same as an iPhone, with more function). Really, I could find 3 uses right there for one, so if it's useful, I'd go for it. Size doesn't matter, it's a headset, nothing more, but for good quality, you need to get something a little bigger, so the speakers have a magnet big enough to pump sound out at a reasonable volume.
I don't like Microsoft, I associate with it.
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