Partial Review of BH-900 & Plantronics 655 & JAWBONE

[Tizbad2k]

I recently got my N95 and wanted to find a good bluetooth headset for use with the phone. The features that I am most interested in is good quality noise cancellation.

I have so far used both the Nokia BH900 and the Plantronics 655 for about a week or so, and am going to share my experiences with both. I just picked up a JAWBONE today, so it will be a few days before I can give some useful info about that model.

BH-900
Let me start of by saying that I am partial to Nokia, Ive always had only Nokia phones, and have stuck with the company from the beginning, Ive even considered working for them in R&D.

The headset it relatively large compared to other models these days. This is further compounded by the fact that it has a boom mic which slides out. I am slightly fashion conscious but I dont mind the Borg look, and was willing to neglect its large size if it worked well. The buttons on the device are absolutely great, the rocker switch works very well and the power and call buttons both have good feedback when pressed, while requiring minimal effort to do so. The headset is also quite comfortable and fits decently when you figure out how to put it on, the only complaint I have about this is that when taking corners in the car it sometimes felt like the headset was going to swing off my head (but I take turns rather sharply).

The sound quality is the 1st piece of bad news however. The sound on my end was generally good, and volume control gives a good usable range. The outgoing sound is not so good, it works well in a room (quiet or with some background noise), but when its in a moving car (convertible) the noise cancellation is not good enough. Certain sounds come through too loud (the same sounds which are typically bad for headsets wired or wireless such as construction or other relatively high frequency sounds). The wind cancellation is decent, but the unit falls short on other necessary sound cancellation (even with the boom extended).

Battery life is much worse that predicted, its supposed to have 8 hours talk time, and a few days standby, I didn't check the talk time to its limit, but I found that on standby it died in two days, and it was OFF most of the time. But to be fair I only went through the 1st charge, so no charge discharge cycles.

Pairing is problematic I tried this only on the N95, and found that it disconnects after initially pairing, but holds on after you complete a call. The bluetooth connection is fairly decent, and I didnt get any excessive crackling, however I didnt push it to the limit as far as range goes.

Also you cannot use an N95 charger on the headset although the plug is the same, this is because of the different batteries requiring different charging currents.

Plantronics 655
This headset is a lot smaller, and has a clean appearance. The difference between the 655 and the 665 is the type of charger that they come with, the 655 comes with a charger setup which allows you to use the 120vac from the wall, and the usb setup for the computer, and also a AAA battery charger, while i believe the 665 swaps the AAA battery charger for a car charger. The headset also come with 3 different jabra style ear-gels (a good feature), and an optional over ear loop for further retention of the headset. I rather liked the AAA battery charger attachment which allows you to charge the headset 3 times from 1 AAA battery.

The fit is quite comfortable and you can easily forget that you are wearing it. Battery life is supposed to be around 5 hours talk time, and again I did not test this to the limit, but found that it had excellent standby time when compared to the BH-900. One useful feature on this headset is that when you turn it on it flashes upto 3 times to indicate current charge level.

The buttons on the device are hard to use an limited with the pwr button also functioning as the call button. What makes it hard to use is the amount of effort required to depress the buttons (especially the call button). I feel that the ear cannot comfortably provide the equal and opposite force during button press so you have to use you hand to grip the headset while you press the button (one-handed). Volume on my end was again good and had a usable range of settings.

The incoming call quality is generally good, but is heavily dependent on a good bluetooth connection, which in the case of this headset required that the phone be on the same side of your body as the headset, which is really unacceptable for such close range. I didn't test the range limits.

The noise canceling is far superior to the BH-900, and the person at the other end (while i was driving) said that they were only really bothered by the whipping wind noise (the one aspect on which teh BH-900 was better). But unfortunately in my case wind noise reduction is a big factor.

thats about all i can come up with at the moment, ill answer any questions that anyone has, and will be posting my results with the JAWBONE soon.

[pseudofinn]

Welcome to the forums, thanks very much for the reviews... I'm gonna make them sticky for the benefit of others if you don't mind.

I like the charging features of the Plantronics 665 you mention- I also very much like the battery level indicator- quite a decent idea. Shame about the range though. I have the same problem with an old (soon to be replaced, finally) Jabra BT250 that had served me well in the past few years- it had to be on the same side of my body- which is quite an annoyance.

I'm sure I would have been very interested in the Nokia BH-900 if it had only used the same charger as the N95- the ability to charge from the Proporta would have been a huge plus! I do like the wind reduction that seems to be pretty good on the Nokia, as I'm on the phone a lot outside- and it's usually quite windy- or I've got the headset on the side of my head next to an open window in the car.

Thanks for the insight into these two models- looking forward to the Jawbone.

Cheers, and again- welcome to the forum.

[Tizbad2k]

Thanks, and by all means feel free to use the post as you please.

[fldude99]

I have owned my jawbone for about 6 weeks now. I initially bought it to use with my SE W810i and I have to say, I have NEVER seen anything like the jawbone. It does EXACTLY like the ads say-For fun I was talking to a friend and started my lawnmower while talking to him...he didn't even notice! I then cycled the jawbone to turn off the noise cancellation and he freaked out. Then cycled it back and he thought I had turned off the mower. I got my N95 2 wks ago and immediately paired it with the N95 with no problem..but I can tell you with no uncertainty that the volume on incoming sound in the jawbone is significantly lower than on the W810i even with the setting on the headset and phone turned up to the max. On my W810i I don't need full volume on the phone for me to hear the other party comfortably..not so on the N95. I will say that I am 50+ however, so for the younger crowd it may not be a problem (too much hard rock concerts in the 70's maybe!).

Other headsets such as the Plantronics 320 perform better on the N95 than the Jawbone regarding incoming volume.

[pseudofinn]

Wow. That's some serious noise cancellation! I like it...

[fldude99]

Originally Posted by pseudofinn

Wow. That's some serious noise cancellation! I like it...

Seriously..it's incredible..I've never seen anything like it. You can drive with the windows down and the radio blasting and the person you're talking to has no idea

[pseudofinn]

That's a significant feature... I might have to think about one of these. I've got a set of Jabra 8010's on the way- I'm hoping for good noise cancellation, but if not- this might be something nice to keep in the boat, or for when I'm mowing and things like that.

[spyda]

Any follow up from you Tizbad2k on the Jaswbone? Also, which model is it you have?

I was kind of hoping to try out the Invisio Q7 (which I believe uses the same technology) but can't find a supplier anywhere!

Interested in thoughts on the Jawbonbe though, the noise cancellation has impressed in the demo's!

[fldude99]

Originally Posted by spyda

Any follow up from you Tizbad2k on the Jaswbone? Also, which model is it you have?

I was kind of hoping to try out the Invisio Q7 (which I believe uses the same technology) but can't find a supplier anywhere!

Interested in thoughts on the Jawbonbe though, the noise cancellation has impressed in the demo's!

Read my comments above..the jawbone is really amazing..the demo online is exactly how it works..i can roll down the windows..turn the radio up full bore and the person i'm talking to has no clue

[spyda]

Yep, I saw your comments too fldude. I assume the model you have is the model being demo'd HERE then?

It's a little on the big side for me, hence my interest in the Q7. That said, the noise cancellation really is impressive.

I have read though that it's not so good up against wind - Is that true?

Any chance of some pics of the device against common household items to give an accurate idea of size?