Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I have been using the RIM HS-500 headset for 2 months now. Historically I avoided talking in the car because my vehicle is loud enough I find it hard to hear what others are saying to me, and they seem to have trouble hearing waht I am saying to them. The last headset I had was the Plantronics Voyager 855, and while I could talk in the car with it, the sound quality wasn't great (but it was better if I pulled the microphone out).
One of my criteria in a headset is it needs to be capable of streaming audio...so if I'm listening to music on my Blackberry, whether it be my personal collection or streaming Slacker Radio, I want to be able to hear it through the headset. While the HS 500 is a mono headset (only one ear), the sound quality is much better than what I expected and frankly better than the Voyager 855, even compared when using both earpieces on the Voyager.
Battery life is excellent with the HS 500. I find I need to top it off about once a week (or a bit longer) and since I use the same charger for my Blackberry (micro USB) it's not an issue for me...I can charge at home or work with ease.
The connection is rock solid for me...I've never had the headset drop from the Bluetooth connection and it has always connected quickly when turning the headset on.
Where I'm really impressed with this headset is performance in my car. The headset does not have a volume rocker on it, which concerned me initially. You can always adjust the volume via the Blackberry directly (or whatever phone you connect to), so it wasn't a deal breaker, but I expected to hate the fact it didn't have a volume control on the device. Well I don't hate it! This headset is designed to increase or decrease the incoming volume based on the ambient noise around you. So in the car if I'm driving 20 miles an hour the volume is lower, and as my speed increases and the cabin noise increases, the incoming volume increases. If I had any complaint about this feature (and I really don't) I would say I find it sometimes get's TOO loud and I override by adjusting down a little on the Blackberry. However I rarely need to make that adjustment. I LOVE this feature. I no longer have to bump up or bump down volume based on a change of noise level around me!!! I even used it to talk to my mother in law one evening and found myself walking past the running washing machine. The volume increased as it's designed to do and I didn't miss one word my mother in law was saying to me, nor did she say anything about hearing the washing machine in the background.
I've left myself some test voicemails in various conditions while driving (the loudest environment I find myself in) and have been absolutely shocked at how loud and clear my voice comes through. This headset doesn't completely eliminate the background noise...but it makes MY voice come through loud and clear OVER the background noise. The background noise just isn't prominent (hopefully that makes sense).
The ONLY complaint I have about this headset is the mute function. I've had other headsets that when muted, produce an audio alert such as a beep. My last headset did that, beeping about every minute. It's annoying but I can deal with it. Unfortunately the HS 500 beep is literally every 8 - 10 seconds. That's +/- 8 tones per MINUTE. Try doing a conference call with that going on. I was SO frustrated with this overkill function that I called RIM to complain about it and inquire if the headset could be updated in the future. I was told this headset is not designed to be customer upgradeable so the firmware it has will be what it always has. This mute tone was a deal breaker for me as one of the other uses I have for my headset is doing conference calls when working from home.
The RIM representative I talked to was very patient and listened to my complaint and when I was done pointed out something so obvious I felt like an idiot. He suggested I use the mute function on my BLACKBERRY rather than my headset. This would eliminate any audio tone being played at all. DOH!!!
I debated giving the unit 4 stars instead of 5 because of this audio alert overkill. Do we really need to be reminded every 6 seconds that we have our microphone muted?? I know I don't. In the end I decided not to downgrade the unit as I felt a full star was too much of a downgrade and there is an effective and easy "work around". I would still prefer using the mute function on the headset as the headset will always be in my ear, in the same place, whenever I need to unmute, whereas my phone could be buried under paper on my desk and I might find myself fumbling for it should I need to quickly unmute to respond to someone. In the end the work around suggested by RIM DOES work, so I gave the unit 5 stars.
I'm totally shocked at the negative reviews here for this headset. I personally love it and am even considering buying another as a back up should anything happen to this one.
I see some complaints about the earloop...I have opted not to use the earloop at all and only use the (changeable) flexible speaker cover to hold the unit in my ear. The only time it's popped out was when I was chewing something and it wasn't firmly seated. I have no concerns of losing the headset so the earloop does not factor into my review at all. I found it inconsequential for my use.
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Blackberry ACC-23439-001 Wireless Bluetooth Headset - Retail Packaging - Black
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