cover
Daniel H.

Daniel H.

Joined on 11/17/01

0
0

Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 1
Most Critical Review

Good, with "buts"...

PLANTRONICS Backbeat 903 Behind-The-Neck Stereo Bluetooth Headset
PLANTRONICS Backbeat 903 Behind-The-Neck Stereo Bluetooth Headset

Pros: - Sound quality is nice. - Bass boost actually works! - High maximum volume. - Seems to pick up voice well (no complaints from the other end of the call). Wind does affect the mic, though. - Flexible cord makes for easy storage. - Good long range over reasonably open air. I had it connected from over 25 feet away yesterday

Cons: - For my head and ears, the fit is so-so. Compared with plain ear buds, I always notice that they're on my head. With ear buds, I often didn't notice I was wearing them. I wish the loops were somewhat flexible for a better fit - Sometimes doesn't sync to both the phone and general audio features on my HTC Hero. For some reason these sync as two separate functions, so it syncs twice when connecting. - High effort required to press the buttons. This makes it tough to use the press-and-hold features. - It tends to lose connection when the source / phone is next to my body. The receiver is in the left earpiece so it's recommended to keep the source device toward that side (in the case of a phone or audio player. Putting it in my pants pocket causes signal drops. Holding it on the right side of my body causes drops. Today I had them maybe 16 inches apart, with the phone in my shirt pocket, and it STILL had signal loss every few seconds. If I hold it away from my body it works f

Overall Review: The range thing is odd. Close to the body it drops like mad but when I walk 20+ feet away I have a good connection unless my head is in the LOS between the phone and headset. Maybe this is symptomatic of Bluetooth in general. Either way, it's a bit annoying when the music cuts out constantly. Once I set the phone a foot or two away from me on a table top, it works like a champ. I recommend testing the fit beforehand. The best sound quality in the world is no good if you can't stand to wear it. For me, it's taking a while to get comfortable with it. On some calls I have noticed an echo effect that I don't hear with wired buds. The ability to really crank up the volume has been helpful in the industrial environments I often work in. Two antennae would be nice so the right-side limitation wouldn't cause so many drops.