Bluetooth earpiece?

Having just dodged a bullet in the form of a $250 ticket (!) for talking on my cell phone in my car -- I usually check around for The Man first -- I've decided to bite the bullet and get a bluetooth headset for my phone to use in the car. I drive a lot with the top down, does anyone have advice on this? Do I need to go for a big league noise-suppressing one, or should I just get a regular one? A friend uses a pretty basic Plantronics, without noise suppression, on his Harley, but otherwise I have had no advice.

2001 Base, purchased in 2004, replaced engine at 130K+, RIP 2017

I use mine with the top down on the highway, no problems. Works really well.

Having said that, talking on any phone while driving is distracting. I try to avoid doing it more than necessary.

Mine is now 2 or 3 years old. It's the Jawbone Icon, and yes, it has 'Noise Assassin'.

From their current webpage, it looks as though the newest has a better-fitting earpiece. (Mine isn't as elaborate and would be my only minor complaint.)

I have had 2, and earlier model and a recent one. Both broke.... would rotate in my ear, the buttons were hard to press, and they were uncomfortable. I hated them. Fortunately, my last Jawbone broke under warranty.... constantly would drop pairing or would show paired but not work. The charger would always plug in at a weird angle so I found them hard to insert the usb plug while driving....lotsa futzing. I know folks swear by them but not me.

I tried three of four Motorolas.... they seem to work best with their phones, sounded good, always paired but I never liked their designs. They were slippery so I would drop them and I could not get a good fit in my stupid ear. My latest is by far the best.... wait for it...... a Plantronics Marque for about $40 online but about $70 at a Verizon store. FINALLY I FOUND A GOOD ONE!!! The plug goes in straight so I don't have to look.... the volume button verbally tells you when you have it in the loudest position, the talk button is positioned so that when you press, the unit does not rock and helps plant the unit in your ear and it sounds wonderful and people can hear me. They know how to make a unit. DOn't fall for the Jawbone coolness hype... in my experience, they are crap. Oh, and I had a Jabra in there somewhere.... never again.

Notice the one I liked the best is cheap. I found price has NOTHING to do with quality, comfort, or usability.

Oh. one more thing..... a long time ago, I purchased a Motorola unit from eBay..... and it never worked well. Here, it was a fake. Amazing that you can buy fake stuff like this. I purchased fake memory cards for my camera once.... awful... slow and I lost two days in Venice on one. So.... I only buy these kinds of things from reputable retailers now.

Oh, noise suppression? BUNK..... unless the Plantronics has it... If they do, then they all have it and it is not a differentiator. I use them in my 2009 C2S because the factory bluetooth is awful...... Yes I am picky but I do business in my car often and absolutely do not tolerate crap.

Peace
Bruce in Philly with a goofy ear



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2014 09:52PM by Bruce In Philly (2000 S Boxster, now '09 C2S). (view changes)

Even with the top down - whether it's noise suppression or just a good design, being able to use it at highway speeds with the top down impresses me.

Clearly Bruce has had a very different experience.

In the end, you're probably best off to 'try before you buy', if you can.

Do you mean *you* could hear ( easy), or others could *hear you* (hard)?

My voice cut out or was terribly distorted whenever there was a hint of interference - either electronic or mechanical (vibration/wind)

for $100 totally unacceptable IMNSHO. Plus BT has fairly poor performance on its own.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

I mean, we are able to carry on a normal conversation, with no missed words, no interference, and no complaints from either side.

I'm using a Blackberry Bold. It doesn't have any of the bells and whistles of say, an iPhone, but as a phone and email device, it's great, and is as tough as nails.

I wonder if the type of phone might make a difference?

You raise a good point. I use a Blackberry Q10, which, like the Bold, is aimed at the QWERTY market and communications needs rather than apps. What earpiece are you using with your Bold?

8310? Ancient.. was bulletproof and a very good phone. useless for everything else.

My comments on the Jawbone were with an iPhone 4S - not a great phone, but a terrific computer :-)

I will try it with my iPhone 5S which is actually a much better phone

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

It's a Bberry 9700, and it's now a few years old. Our IT department has insisted many times that I upgrade it to a newer unit. I've declined, because as an email and phone, it rocks. In my view, it's successors are steps backwards. I don't want bigger, and I don't want a touchscreen.

I'll take your word for it that it's useless for everything else, because I've never asked (or wanted) it to do anything else. I love having an honest-to-god keyboard, and I don't want a bigger device.

I, like you, want a keyboard and stuck with my Bold 9700 until it fried. I replaced it with the Q10, which has a real keyboard -- and it's better than the Bold keyboard because the keys are slightly bigger. The touchscreen is useful, but the failure of the phone is that Blackberry eliminated the belt of keys across the top that allowed you to manipulate text, answer the phone, etc., using physical keys instead of fooling around with the touchscreen. They are going to remedy that later this year when they introduce the Classic (nee Q20) which will return this very useful set of keys.

My question was what bluetooth device you are using and do you like it?

Until I found it in a radically different shape with dog toothmarks all over it. Now I use a Jambox, but only with the top up.

Nothing works well with the wind in your hair. I have found zero BT devices that give others a clear listen to your voice (bad for conf calls especially).

JAwbone claims lots of things, but to me, fails mostly ( i have two, both buried in a drawer unused). maybe the newest ones work better? I wish for the convenience....

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com