Let me start by saying i've owned a lot of high end BT headsets, Plantronics Voyager Pro, Plantronics 975, Blueant T1, Parrot B250XT, Parrot Xpressway, and some cheaper Chinese Brands like the Gblue and Bluedio.
I was ISO the perfect headset that balances look, fit, sound, and also has A2DP. I find no matter how much technology, or how fancy the name of the technology, there's substitution for a mic that gets closer to the mouth. The best phone only headset i've ever owned is the Parrot B250XT, but the thing looks like I'm taking drive thru orders at McD's (but it works as well as the ones you see coaches wear at football games).
This headset seems to be the best balance of everything.
Call me a geek but here's my LAB TEST. I used a 2nd phone using a wired sound isolation headset, put it on mute, and called my HTC EVO Bluetoothed to the Plantronics Voyager Pro Plus.
I started with complete silence. The headset works great. I can actually WHISPER and it picks up. This is great because I'm fairly soft spoken so at my lower than normal conversation voice it picks up great, sounds like i was talking right into the phone.
Then I added noise. I turned on the TV on an average volume and stood in front of it. I can definitely hear every word of the TV. But if I talked at a normal voice, my voice totally overpowered the TV sound and I was completely audible. If i walked about 6 feet away from the TV, the TV sound started to get warbled and much more quiet. I think this is more typical as I normally sit about 6 feet from the TV. I can now talk at low to normal and the I can hear myself great. I turned the TV to very high volume to simulate being outside. It UNFORTUNATELY picks up everything on the TV, but if I spoke, my voice was much louder than the TV.
Now I try Wind. You can put all the shiny foil you want on it, it's not going to work as well as foam like on a boom mic. I put my small vornado fan on low. The wind noise was VERY noticeable. I started to NOT hear any noise after I was about 6 feet away. I tried turning my head to change the angle of the wind, didn't seem to make a difference. That wind was about equivalent to a light breeze. However, it's a consistent breeze, probably unrealistic. But even if I talked at normal volume, my voice would still overpower the wind noise, it was just annoying.
Okay, here's my REAL WORLD TEST. I have to thank my girlfriend as I must have asked her 100 times "can you hear that?" I walked from my quiet street down a busy street, bought a few things at the supermarket, and walked back. Basically, I spoke at a normal volume the whole time, I didn't have to talk loud at all, she heard me the whole time no problem. She could hear all the stuff around me as well, but my voice overpowered everything. She could NOT hear the LOW ambient noises around me, like far away trucks and low flying planes. She can clearly hear the high sounds, sirens, horns, shopping carts, and PA system in the supermarket.
I noticed this same phenomenon with the many of the advanced dual microphone headsets (other Plantronics and BlueAnt). When I was at home, you could annoying hear me crumple up a piece of paper or walking around my creeky hardwood floors.
A2DP is the reason why I bought this headset. I wanted to listen to Audio Books and Podcasts. Yes, when you get a call, it pauses the music so you can answer the call. With my other Headsets, I can hit the Multifunction Button and it pauses the sound. This headset does not. It also does not have any FF or REW buttons. However, the Sound is VERY GOOD. You can hear the deeps. I've tried headset sized A2DP before, if the Chinese brands have high tiny sound, the Blueant T1 sounds very good, this headset has excellent sound quality. Well, as excellent as outside the ear headsets can sound anyways. Btw, when I dial, I can hear the tones in the headset. I guess that's an A2DP thing.
The volume control is interesting. It does NOT control the phones volume, it's independent. This is a good thing actually. If you want it really high, you can manually pump up the phone's volume, then manually pump up the headsets volume, it makes it REALLY loud. Often, when i'm outside on the city streets, no matter how high I put the volume, it's not enough. This is MORE than loud enough at the highest setting.
As far as fit, I've been wearing this thing for 4h straight now. It went from noticeable to barely noticeable. Looks wise it's bulky and totally obnoxious as far as today's headsets go. But in today's world, even the smallest headset if you wear it or use it in a public place is annoying. At least this one, you can talk QUIETLY and still be heard.
I do not have an iphone, so i cannot comment on those wahzoo tech features. Personally, I think they are pointless because with A2DP you can use apps to do the same thing (read text messages, warnings, and so on).
As far a quick comparison, the Plantronics Voyager Pro is a great device, without A2DP, the Plantronics 975 is a little echoee, the blueant T1 is small and sounds good, but I still have to talk louder than normal for the other person to hear me, and doesn't sound nearly as good. The Parrot's are both great, no a2dp, but they are HUGE. The Chinese brands are tiny, great for A2DP only, useless for a phone conversation.
Overall, I'm convinced this is the best overall balance of fit and sound quality headset you can buy today.
UPDATES: The unit has no AUTO-0FF, so even if nothing is connected, it stays on 24/7, since there is no blinking light, you'll never know you left it on unless you push the on/off switch for a sec to get a battery feedback pulse.
Also, I initially wrote the sound was really loud, I still thinks it's pretty loud with some podcasts, but talking to people, I sometimes find even at loudest setting on both the phone and headset, it's not loud enough. Plantronics Voyager PRO+ Bluetooth Headset - Plantronics Voyager Pro - Voyager Pro - Headset - Bluetooth'
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