Posted 04/24/09 at 06:26:51 PM by Gordon Mah Ung

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.

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.

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Posted 10/10/08 at 01:55:42 PM by Reed Porter

You’d never credit your headset after winning a Team Fortress 2 match, nor would you ever brag about your soundcard after just acing a round in Call of Duty 4, but any gaming veteran knows that having a sweet set of cans is a must for even the casual gamer’s setup. This is especially true today with the vast majority of professional gamers using headsets instead speaker systems.

Unfortunately, deciding which audio hardware is right for you can become aggravating very quickly with USB headsets, 5.1 headphones, onboard mixing, analog inputs, and incompatible interfaces confusing the market. With this roundup, we’re going to scrutinize six gaming headset options, and examine the largely unspoken differences between analog and USB audio technology.

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Posted 06/26/08 at 05:21:28 PM by Steve Klett

Do yourself a favor: make sure your car is up to code by this July—no broken headlamps or taillights, up-to-date registration, etc. – and, oh yeah, make sure you pick up a hands-free Bluetooth device for your cell phone. On July 1st a new law will go into effect in California making it illegal to talk on a wireless phone while operating a motor vehicle. If you are 18 or older, and you want to use your phone while driving, you will need to use a hands-free device – no “ifs”, “ands”, or “buts” about it—and there will be no grace period either.

We put a dozen of the newest Bluetooth devices through the wringer to help you find the right one for your car-talking habits. All of the devices were tested with one phone along the same stretch of highway at the same time of day, and call clarity was compared via voicemail recordings.

Read on to find out which ones made the grade.

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