 Windows down on the freeway! |
| Review Date: July 29, 2007 |
| Reviewer: C. Withey, Seattle, WA. |
Several cell phone savy folks recommended Plantronics versus the Motorolas - so I trialed *3* Plantronics against my old H850. They are models: Explorer 350, the Discovery 665 and the Voyager 510. I must say that this middle priced range of headsets ($50-$99 for these 3) is the best - hands down! (Awesome price on Amazon by the way...)
After paring them to my Blackjack (with AT&T Service) I decided to put them through the ultimate noise test...I-5 Seattle. The other 2 models: the caller on the other end was VERY quiet with the volume maxed out, windows up and sterio off. However, the Voyager's volume was maxed and plenty loud and clear that a decrease in volume was in order. In fact, I challenged it further by rolling the windows down, sun roof up and the caller stated that she could only hear a minor difference in background noise ~ON THE HWY~. Saaaweeeeet!
Since I didn't want to make it a trip to the state of Oregon, I decided to jump off of the freeway. Again, windows down -I added the radio noise on a low-mid volume. Wonderful! No complaints of echoing on either end, no break-ups (which could be b/c of one's service provider?) and the headset was snug and comfy.
Other great attributes you might ask? The Voyager is fast & easy to turn on and to wear. I can also use it as a hands-free headset on the business landline if I buy the cradle.
Yes, it is on the larger side, but you don't notice it when you get used to it. Besides, the other ones feel a lot less secure on the ear nor are they able to reach the audible part of one's face as well.
My only complaint is that it doesn't come with a car or usb charger - just the wall charger. (The car charger can't cost too much dough.)
Compared to the Motorola H850...all three blew this one out of the water. It would get an 'F' grade due to the high noise levels, occassional echoing and extremely low volume on regular streets.
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Platronics voyager headset
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| Review Date: October 27, 2007 |
| Reviewer: B. Hicks, New Haven, CT USA |
| I bought this for video conferencing with my family who are in England. The inbuilt microphone on my webcam was too sensitive, and I was getting a lot of feedback. I couldn't seem to adjust the volume/mic levels so that there was no feedback and I was still audible, so I decided to purchase a separate microphone. I bought a cheap CyberAcoustics desktop microphone which was useless for my purposes. The wire was too short (long enough if you're sitting right next to the computer, but I had my laptop connected to my TV and I was sitting on the sofa) and it barely picked up any sound unless your mouth was within centimeters of the mic. Still trying to get away with a cheap microphone, I purchased a CyberAcoustics headset (similar in style to the platronics headset). The wire was even shorter for this microphone and it was near impossible to get it attached to your ear in a stable configuration. The volume level and quality was fine, but I don't know how anyone could get comfortable with that contraption. I then decided to purchase a wireless headset as a last attempt to buy a decent micropone and I bought a Platronics Voyager. It suited my needs perfectly. The volume level was perfect, and the sound quality was very good. The unit is very comfortable to use, so comfortable infact, that on occasion I have accidentally left it on for several minutes after a video call has ended. You can easily switch sound output from the PC speakers to the Platronics headset and vice versa, and the wireless range was very impressive (and if you don't have bluetooth built in your PC there is a USB device for the wireless connection included). It comes packaged with a small circular base for charging the headset which I found to be convenient. I've also used the headset for my phone (a Nokia) and have never had any problems. Overall an excellent headset at a reasonable price that I would strongly recommend. |
Great item
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| Review Date: July 22, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Zephadias, Santa Maria, CA or Houghton, MI |
| I will have to admit, this is my first headset to own and use. I researched a lot to find a headset that would be comfortable on my ear and have quality audio on both sides of the conversation. The Voyager 510 has all of this. It is however larger than most, if not all of the bluetooth headsets out on the current market. So if you don't mind a little larger headset, this is a great buy. It has great battery life and has a large radius to reach your bluetooth device. It currently works seamlessly with both my computer and Razer cell phone. To keep it protected, I got an old Altoids metal box, padded the inside, and I keep my headset in there when I am mobile. |
Excellent device
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| Review Date: November 6, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Alexandra, Chicago, IL USA |
| I ordered this based on reading other reviews and googling numerous tech blogs, many of which recommended it highly. I bought it to use with Skype in my apartment. Easy to set up and works like a charm, I've never experienced any problems with it. As an added bonus, the battery life is great- I've used it for days without having to re-charge. |
Plantronics 510
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| Review Date: September 16, 2007 |
| Reviewer: June F. Heller, |
| This is a great product for using with SKYPE and with your cell phone. It cuts down on outside noise and the microphone is great. |
Does what it says on the packet well!
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| Review Date: November 30, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Mark Cathcart, Austin, TX, USA |
Although it worked fine with Windows 7 and paired as per instructions and I could change the sound applet to use it easily. I had to install their personacall software for it to work with Office 2007 Communicator VOIP.
It comes with a USB adapter, which isn't needed for normal Bluetooth pairing, but does seem to be required for VOIP. One advantage to using the adapter is that it allows you to pair a single headset concurrently with a cell phone and the laptop. That means that I can use the headset if I walk away from my desk with my cell phone without having to pair it separately with the cell phone, and then back again to the laptop.
Given you can have communicator direct calls to your cell phone over the cellphone network, and to your laptop over the VOIP network, this is a big deal...
It comes with a small desk adapter/charger which can be powered by USB or 110v outlet. When you place the headset in the adapter it puts it into suspend mode allowing for faster charging, when a call rings and you lift the headset out of the adapter it goes back into active mode and you can answer via a button on the side of the headset. Etc. |
Third Voyager 510 I've had now...
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| Review Date: May 27, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Thomas M. Brizendine, Huntsville, AL USA |
Yes, I'm on my third one now.
The first one I simply wore out. I'm rough on them so it was just a matter of time. The second one lasted longer because I was more attentive shoving it into pants pockets, messenger bag pockets and such. The last one went down courtesy of a new puppy who apparently found it very tasty and satisfying.
Obviously I'm quite happy with this headset. The noise reduction and canceling feature work very well - and with the addition of the foam boom cover that can be bought separately I've even used it successfully while driving down the interstate with the passenger window down. So the operation and sound quality is superior to any other headset I've tried.
For ease of use I'd have to rate it as average. Nothing negative here, it simply does what you need it to do. The 'dial last number' is accomplished easily in-ear by pressing the control button twice. Answering in-ear is by pressing the control button twice. Pairing is just a matter of holding the control button and 'volume up' at the same time. This setts it into pairing mode and you just follow the instruction on your specific phone from there. It doesn't do anything with a "wow" factor, but it does everything reliably every time.
Battery life is a little better than average, I charge mine every other day and use the phone at least a couple of hours every day. Charging time is fast, too. The package says that it takes 3 hours to charge from completely drained. I've found it to be closer to two hours.
For fit it can't be beat. It's larger and more utilitarian in design; it's not vogue stylish or discreet. If you're wanting your headset to be a fashion accessory, this one isn't for you. The body is the earloop, and the boom mic is adjustable in a wide range to allow the headset to fit on either ear. It comes with three ear pieces that allow in-ear fit or (with the largest ear piece) resting against the ear canal. I've worn it both ways and have never had any trouble. No falling off, feeling wobbly or loose. It may feel a tiny bit heavy at first, but the fit is so comfortable that you forget it's on your ear after a while. I also frequently wear it while also wearing glasses and a baseball cap and there's never been in issue there either.
It supports voice dialing and does it as well as any other headset I've used. Again, no "wow' factor; it just works. It also does multi-phone paring; for example if you have a bluetooth house or work phone you can pair it up to that one and answer both phones with the one headset. However, I've never used this feature, so I cannot comment on it.
The only negative feature (for me anyway) is the volume control. It's a rocker-switch type where you press one side to increase and roll your finger to the other side to decrease the volume. It's contoured to aid finding it while trying to adjust the volume while wearing it; therein is the problem. It's not easy to adjust the volume without rolling the headset forward or backward over the ear. After a few times of pushing the headset off my ear I quit trying to adjust the volume that way. My solution is to leave the headset volume maxed out and do volume adjustments from the phone itself.
In short, if you want a reliable headset that works every time you need it, you cannot go wrong with the Voyager 510. If something happens to #3, you can bet there will be a #4 for me.
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Best Blue Tooth headset so far
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| Review Date: May 5, 2008 |
| Reviewer: JT, |
| During the last 2 years, I have gone through about 5 bluetooth headsets. This is by far the most comforatable and light weight one there is, and people I talk with through it can hear me clearly. |
Great Product, Excellent Support
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| Review Date: October 16, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Rodney H. Diramos, Los Angeles, CA United States |
I got the Plantronics 910 a few months ago and it was the best headset I've ever had (I had a nokia and a motorola headset before). It had excellent battery life and was the clearest and loudest among the units I've owned (my hearing is not as good as it used to be).
I use the headset everywhere and not only for telecons. I use it to listen to audio books everywhere - in the gym, waiting for the train and when bored somewhere and I forgot to bring a book. I'd even fall asleep wearing the headset listening to my favorite podcasts. I think that's why after half a year, I wore mine down.
I called up Plantronics and they promptly replaced it with a new one after I described the problem. The customer service answers promptly and are very helpful and intelligent.
I recommend these to all my realtor friends who do extensive telemarketing and they're happy with this as well as with the other Plantronic products! Go buy one! |
Plantronics Voyager Headset Bluetooth
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| Review Date: October 25, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Mark A. Ketchum, Coweta, Oklahoma |
| I love this product, the setup and use of the device is very easy, it also has superior battery life and the volume and fit are awesome as well. |
exactly as advertised
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| Review Date: February 4, 2009 |
| Reviewer: J.H., New York, NY USA |
I am not a technie by any means and was concerned that I wouldn't be able to figure this product out. I use an iBook G4. I wanted the Voyager for Skyping with people in East Africa (My computer to their cell-phones), and the setup was easy and the quality is really great.
Even better, I didn't understand fully the importance of the USB part of this product. Now I realize how great it is -- my computer doesnt have Bluetooth on it,but I can plug in the USB thing to my computer and the Bluetooth works between my headset and this USB dongle -- so my computer thinks I am using a regular USB headset, but the headset knows it is using Bluetooth with the USB dongle. Brilliant! So I dont need to worry about not having Bluetooth internally on my computer. And the set-up is easier than if I had to figure out how to use bluetooth with another external dongle on my computer (even if you had Bluetooth internally, you wouldnt need to use it beccause you have the USB receiver in this package) |
Finally a bluetooth headset I love
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| Review Date: July 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Physician Gamer, San Diego, CA |
| It's taken me several years to finally come upon a bluetooth device that works well. I was looking for a headset that could be used for both computer gaming and cellular phone. It's a little tricky to switch it from one to the other (for instance i turn the cellular phone off whenever I link it to my computer). But other than that small inconvenience, this is a great piece of gear. I like it so much that I'm going to buy another headset (the cheaper one without USB) to be used exclusively with my cellular phone. |
USB headset
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| Review Date: March 19, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Robert J. Sullivan, hawaii |
| this headset is very good, easy to use and everything that was promised. I would definitely buy it again....oh yeah, the price at Amazon was a deal...very satisfied...js |
Im so happy
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| Review Date: March 2, 2010 |
| Reviewer: G. strauss, usa |
| the deliver was super fast i was amaze when i got it next day in perfect condition |
vp
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| Review Date: September 17, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Steven Erlich, Hollywood, FL |
Voyager 510 Wrls Bluetooth Headset with USB Dock
Great price came quickly and works great |
Drivers better than Moto 500
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| Review Date: June 28, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Mehetabelle, Silicon Valley United States |
I first bought the Moto H500 USB because it's cute, comes in bubble gum pink or lime green, its blurb says it's for VOIP, it is very tiny; and Plantronics' web site was selling this Voyager 510 USB for $200. Well, the moto thing didn't have Windows compatible drivers and crashed my PC about 5 times before I gave up. This was after having to research the Skype site for help. Surprising for Moto that they were obviously trying to sell it as a consumer product but didn't bother to make installation and activation easy.
The Plantronics web site said this thing will work with named enterprise IP phone applications so I felt a little more confident than if they just said "VOIP." Apparently, vendors think 'VOIP' means Skype, Vonage, Yahoo... and they have to use a different word for enterprise VOIP applications.
I had no problem installing the Plantronics drivers and they seemed to work well with Windows XP. No need to pair with the USB dongle (already paired at the factory). Pairing with my cell phone took 5 seconds.
The sound quality can be better; had to turn to maximum the audio on my IP phone, but the ease of use was worth it. |
Voyager 510 USB Headset Review
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| Review Date: April 11, 2007 |
| Reviewer: S. Kortlander, |
| The product works well. Well balanced and not too bulky. |
Good bt handfree but not good USB BT handfree
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| Review Date: September 7, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Muhammad Adil Hafeez, Seattle, WA USA |
| I bought this product because it has USB to connect to your computer. If you use this handfree with cell phone it works perfect, but when you connect it through USB it takes many cpu cycles, making my computer slow during voice chat. I noticed this behavior while using Skype. Other than that, it installed automatically on my Vista box, without any drivers. |
Simply Put, Great for your phone, stinks for your computer
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| Review Date: March 8, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Leo Mckenzie III, SANFORD, NC United States |
The Plantronics Voyager 510 works great as a bluetooth headset for your phone, but when you connect to your computer, it's quality is horrible. Lots of static and as another reviewer stated eats CPU cycles. I have very high quality hardware and the headset failed to perform great.
1.) Had connected to: Dell Latitude D830 w/ 4GB RAM & 80GB HDD - Windows 7 x64 Home Prem.
Used USB bluetooth drive with plantronics software. Went to go play audio from podcast and was very poor audio quality. So much static that you could barely hear it. Skype call quality was the same.
2.) Then connected to my Unibody Macbook Pro 2.56GHz, 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD - OSX Snow Leopard
Headset synced with OSX with no problems, but I still get static call quality.
I love the build quality of this device, but at least the unit that I bought was piss-poor quality. Not happy with it for the price. It not in my opinion an acceptable headset. I would have done better by spending $50 on a Motorola bluetooth headset for my phone and forgot all about worrying about the computer. I invite other reviewers to let me know if my unit has a problem or not so that I can return it. I have been in the computer industry for 18 years and even tested the headset inside of a Faraday cage environment to rule out interference from wireless devices. |
Not worth the money...
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| Review Date: July 26, 2008 |
| Reviewer: ElectronicsJunkie III, Chicago, IL United States |
| I purchased this device for use with my PC and skype. Even though I paid over $100, the sound was not that good and the range was somewhat of a letdown. It did, however, fit my ear well and was comfortable. Despite this, I had to send it back. |
Poor quality
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| Review Date: October 18, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Jeremy Dempsey, Parker, CO |
| With a name like Plantronics I expected a lot better quality out of this product. Using the headset between my computer and my cell phone was no smoothe transition, and required a lot of "tweaking" to get it work when transitioning. The voice quality was poor, and callers would complain they could not hear me at times. There was a constant crackling noise in the audio. The unit was lightweight and sometimes I would forget it was on my ear. I wish it was as functional as it looks, but I had to return it. |
Disappointed
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| Review Date: September 10, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Peter Lok, |
| Doesn't work well with Dragon Speaking. Doesn't work well with my cell phone as it wasn't a good match. |
Warning dont waist your time like I did
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| Review Date: August 12, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Peter Gallo, |
| Clearly does not work as advertised for computer functionality. Its signal is very very low and not good enough for speach reckognition with products like Dragon.If this is why you are purchasing dont waist your time. It fails all the Dragon 10 and 9 signal and volume tests. And yes I did adjust volume controlls and waist 2 hours trouble shooting the settings. Its the device not the user............. |
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