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Jabra BT500 Bluetooth Headset
Wireless/Mobile Phone Accesory/Cellular Phone Accessories
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The long-awaited update to the wildly popular Jabra BT250 is here, and it's got great new styling, comfort, and features. A one-touch pairing button makes pairing your mobile phone simple, while multi-color LED lights keep you informed about your Bluetooth connection, as well as charging and battery status. With the BT500 you now also have the convenient option of charging directly from your PC via a USB cable. No matter how fancy or powerful a headset may be, it's not all that useful if it isn't comfortable. Fortunately, the BT500 has comfort covered. The ergonomic design fits comfortably behind your ear. Plus, it's significantly slimmer than its predecessors, offering the ultimate in lightweight comfort for a Bluetooth headset. In fact, the BT500 weighs just .67 ounces. All the functions you use most often on your phone are conveniently available on the BT500. A single button controls answer/end functions, as well as call hold/wait, call reject, and mute. You can also voice dial from your BT500, as well as re-dial the last number. Note that some of these features require that you have a Bluetooth compatible phone that supports them. A dedicated pairing button makes it easy to connect the BT500 to your phone at a moment's notice. Plus, multi-colored LED lights provide Bluetooth, low battery, and battery charging status. With eight hours of talk time and up to 240 hours of standby time, you can talk all day if you need to. As mentioned, you can charge the BT500 via a USB connection, or via an included AC adapter. Charging takes about two hours. What's in the Box
BT500 Bluetooth headset, AC power adaptor, USB cable, 2 standard Jabra MiniGels, 2 small Jabra MiniGels, user's manual.
Features of Jabra BT500 Bluetooth Headset:
- 30% slimmer and 20g's lighter than 250v
- 8 hrs talk time
- additional led for more feedback
- bluetooth
- bluetooth version 1.2 compatible
- hands-free
- mute feature
Reviews:
| Very comfortable, great sound, easy to use | Rating: 5 |
OK, so when I bought my first bluetooth enabled phone I thought, "I'll get the cheapest headset I can find, surely there can't be that great of a difference, right?" Boy was I wrong!
I decided to go with the $50 Jabra BT150 headset because it looked cool and was the cheapest I could find at the Verizon store. As I left the store, excited to try out my new product, I put the headset over my ear and instantly realized a problem: the thing wiggled around loosly and there was nothing I could do to make it tighter on my ear! Moreover, the sound was great in my ear, but the people I was talking to complained that I sounded scratchy. After 2 days of use, I took it back for a full refund and upgraded to a more expensive, supposedly better model.
This "better" headset was the Logitech Traveller headset. Once again, I excitedly put it on in anticipation of finally having found a usable headset, and lo and behold, this one stayed securely on my ear and the scratchiness that other's heard with the Jabra was gone! This excitement lasted only about half an hour, however, when, after having worn the headset for that length of time, my ear began to feel as if it was in a vice and was about to be crushed. Furthermore, when I stood up with the headset on, the sound in MY ear became scratchy. 2 days later, that one was gone and in stepped the Jabra BT500.
I was wary of using another Jabra after the problems with the first one, but the unique design of this headset led me to give it a shot. Sure enough, this was the headset I had been looking for! Although more expensive than I originally decided to spend, the BT500 is the most comfortable headset I have ever worn, including the 2 I bought and returned and several others that I tried on in the store. It fits perfectly behind the ear and does not stick out from your face. The sound is fantastic from both ends and four different gels are included to change the depth of the earpiece. Furthermore, it synced quite easily with my LG-VZ8300 in a matter of seconds and it charges quickly and holds a charge for many hours. As far as any long term usage problems, I cannot comment because I have only had the headset for a short time.
Overall, this headset is far superior to almost every other BT headset out there. Here's why...
Pros: 1) Comfort
2) Great incoming and outgoing sound
3) Quick and easy syncing
4) Fast charging and long charge life
Cons: 1) None yet, I'll get back to you if any come up!
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| Great while it lasted. | Rating: 3 |
| I loved my Jabra BT500. This was my first wireless headset and found it lightweight and comfortable to use. It was easy to set up but occassionally my phone stopped seeing it. Not a big deal to correct. After 60 days it stopped charging and is now totally useless. The item was nearly $90 when I bought it and do not consider this a disposable item after such a short time. Of course returning it through Amazon is a new challenge and I've yet to figure out the system. |
| An upgrade is an upgrade... | Rating: 4 |
If you've ever owned any of the other FreeSpeak series headsets, you will love the BT500. It's thinner and lighter than its predecessor, and there's no loss of functionality between the BT250 and the BT500. Everything that you came to expect with the BT250 is there with the BT500. It surprises me to see the amount of reviews from people who say the BT250 was awesome but the BT500 is somehow so horrible.
The technology inside the two headsets is identical. The exceptions are
1. The pairing function has been removed from the answer/end button and given its own button
2. The addition of a charging light (shows charging and battery low status)
3. The headset now attempts to use a "handsfree" profile at all times, unless the phone does not support the "handsfree" profile. In that case, the headset will default to a "headset" profile. This is not user-selectable as it was in the BT250. If your phone supports handsfree profiles, the BT500 will pair with a handsfree profile, no intervention required.
4. The removal of the "charging/belt clip cradle" and the addition of a USB plug for charging. Now, a lot of hullabaloo has been made in the comments and in other online communities about the "proprietary plug" and the fact that "you still have to carry another cable, even if you want to charge over USB." Fortunately, this is not the case for either assertion. The socket on the bottom of the BT500 is a USB mini 4-pin female. This means that *any* standard USB mini 4-pin male cable (or adapter) will fit the phone connector, and will charge the headset.
5. The most notable, IMHO, of the losses, is the lack of noise-cancellation circuitry in this model. This is surprising, as previous versions of the Jabra headsets did. For those of you who owned a BT250, you'll remember that the mic end had two holes in it: one closest to your mouth, and then one on the other side of the mic bulge. The circuitry compared the sounds from both mics, and assumed the sound at equal levels in both mics was background noise, while the sound primarily from the hole closest to your mouth was your voice. It would then cancel out the background noise.
The removal of the noise-cancellation circuitry means a louder background sound when you're driving in the car than with the BT250. However, wind noise is not significantly impacted, as the mic is not susceptible to a great deal of wind noise.
This may be slightly off-topic, but man, you need a mini 4-pin Male for this thing, a mini 5-pin Male for most other USB-powered devices (i.e. Motorola RAZR, Blackberry, etc), and then don't forget about FireWire, Ethernet, and occasionally, telephone cords. Fortunately, I also have the Cables To Go Port Authority 2 Retractable Cable Kit that I take on the road with me. It includes both the mini 4-pin Male adapter to charge the BT500, the mini 5-pin Male for most other USB devices, a USB B Male connecter (for things like portable printers, it's a squarish sort of connecter rather than the rectangular USB connecter on the PC), and adapters for RJ-11 and RJ-45 (even a crossover connecter), and a headset and microphone for making your Skype calls.
But hey, if your PC has Bluetooth, you could pair your BT500 to the PC and use it for your Skype calls. This works effectively as well.
Anyway, back to the BT500.
PROS:
- Lighter and thinner than its predecessor
- Great battery life
- USB charging
CONS
- No noise cancellation circuitry
Couldn't give it 5 stars because of the lack of noise-cancellation circuitry. [...] |
By Jabra |
The Mobile Phone Saving Network