I am on the phone constantly. My two biggest concerns are call quality and battery life. I tried the new Jawbone, Plantronics Voyager Pro, and the Discovery 975. After this trial, I kept the Discovery.
Audio Quality
1. Jawbone
2. Discovery 975 and Voyager equal
The audio quality on the Discovery 975 was definitely NOT as good as the Jawbone, whose noise cancelling was far preferable. On my old Jawbone, I often called people from airports right under the speakers and people didn't even know I was in the airport. With the Discovery and Voyager, people definitely comment on hearing background noise. Once with the Discovery 975, I was opening a printer paper package. My caller said it sounded like a lightening storm. A similar noise wouldn't have garnered a comment on the Jawbone.
Battery Life
1. Discovery 975
2. Voyager Pro
3. Jawbone Prime
The recharging case for the Discovery 975 is the deal maker for me. If you use a blue tooth headset less than 4 hours per day, I would definitely chose the Jawbone Prime. However, the battery life and battery charging case on the Plantronics means that I can use the headset all day instead of 4 hours. My Jawbone was usually dead by noon. With the Discovery, I can talk on it for two hours, head into a meeting, tuck it into its protective case, and its recharged and ready at the end of the meeting. I almost always make it to the end of the day with plenty of charge using the Discovery.
Fit
1. Jawbone Prime
2. Discovery 975
3. Voyager Pro
I have an ear that typically can't stand an insert ear bud. The only ear bud headphone that works for me belong to my 6 year old's Barbie MP3. Nonetheless, the Discovery standard ear bud DOES work for me. It is very stable and never falls out for me. I do prefer the Jawbone's ear loop, but its minor to me. The Voyager Pro was toooo bulky for my little ear and completely uncomfortable with my eye glasses.
Mute
1. Discovery 975
2. Voyager Pro
3. Jawbone
I didn't realize how much I'd love it, but the audio prompt "mute ON" and "mute off" from the Discovery is a huge plus. I am on many many conference calls, often ones where I am not actively in the lead. With absolute clarity that I have "muted", I can walk into a coffee shop and get coffee, yell at my kids, etc...with confidence I'm not broadcasting to all.
Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth HeadsetI'm one of those people who does a lot of research before buying something like this. In the past, I had Plantronics Voyager 510 and loved the sound quality. However, being a female with small ears who also wears glasses, the bulky piece of the 510 that went up over and wrapped around behind the ear cartilidge never wanted to stay behind my ear, and so would often come loose and fall out.
I then tried the voyager 520 since it had a smaller ear loop. I thought that one had worse sound quality, and actually fell out of my ear easier than the 510. So, I went back to using the 510.
Then, I lost the 510, and hence, my reason for researching new headsets.
After all of this, I had figured out that, along with sound quality, stable fit was a hugely important quality for me. I actually went to a few local cell phone stores to try different headsets on and narrowed it down to the Plantronics Discovery 975 or the Motorola one that is supposed to work kind of like the jawbone. It had a piece that went pretty far into year ear that sensed the sound of your voice through your own bones.
I ended up going with the Discovery 975 for several reasons. 1)the 975 has voice dial and last number redial capabilities (which I had gotten used to on my old Plantronics sets and liked a lot). I understand this feature doesn't work with every type of phone, but on my old motorola flip phones, and on my current Blackberry Tour, it does work. 2) I could get the 975 from Amazon directly (and more cheaply than at local stores), who I trust more than 3rd party sellers online. 3) I liked the idea of having a case for the headset to keep it safe in my purse. That it was a charging case was even better. 4) the reviews for sound quality for the 975 seemed better for my purposes. The jawbone feature of the motorola had to be manually engaged if you were in a noisy situation, and then the reviews said you still had to talk loud and enunciate much to be heard and understood. The 975's noise reduction features are always engaged. 5) I had had Plantronics bluetooths in the past, and was overall pretty happy with them (at least I was with the Voyager 510).
SOUND QUALITY
After using the 975 for about a month now, I have been very happy with the sound quality - both what I hear at my end and what others tell me I sound like. In my car, in noisy grocery stores, and outside in at least moderate wind, the sound has always been quite good, or so my husband tells me. I can hear others very well also.
FIT
I am EXTREMELY happy with the fit. I could go to a concert and head bang, and I don't think it would come out. In fact, one day I did a pretty forceful head shake demo for one of my co-workers, and she was super impressed. Before I even received the 975, I also ordered some ear loops for it on ebay (the one shown in one of the reader-submitted pictures). I don't need it. In fact, I'd say (unless it stretches with use) the 975 is far more comfortable without it, and just as stable in my ear. Some other reviews claim the 975 itself is uncomfortable with the silicone stabilizer loop that goes in your ear fold. Maybe a little uncomfortable after several hours of having it in your ear, but you could always try a smaller silicone piece. Three sizes are included. Plus, it is so easy to take on and off, I sometimes just set it on my desk, and if I hear my phone ring, I just slip it in quick and start talking.
Most of all, I'm thrilled that it says in without anything (especially anything heavy or bulky) going over the back of my ear. Now it doesn't matter if I'm wearing my glasses (or my bulkier sunglasses). I can still wear my bluetooth without having to worry that it will fall out.
VOLUME BUTTON
Some have complained about the small volume button and only having three volume levels to toggle through rather than an up and down volume rocker. I don't think it's that small or hard to use, especially if you have a little bit of fingernail on any of your fingers. However, I think these people are forgetting that you can adjust the volume to very specific levels using the volume controls on your phone itself. At least I can using the up and down buttons on the side of my blackberry (and the same was true with my older plantronics sets and my old motorola flip phones.)
CALL BUTTON
This is the main button that does most everything. Turns it on, turns it off, answers calls, ends calls, initiates voice dial, initiates last number redial. I don't have a problem with it. But then, I'm used to how Plantronics sets up its controls. If you are new to plantronics, you might have to play with it a little to get the hang of it, but I think it's pretty easy.
CASE
I very much like the charging case, and the charging status indicator is nice, too. You can even charge the 975 in the case while the headset is connected to your phone, and if your phone rings, just pop it out of your case, put it in your ear, and you're good to go. Now I don't have to worry about the headset getting banged up in my purse. The case is probably just a little bigger than a squared off tube of lipstick. In fact, if you've ever seen a leather lipstick case, it's about that size.
TALK TIME
I can't say I've tested talk time. Between the headset charge and the charging case, I've never come close to running out of power on the headset.
I did have one time earlier this week when I though the headset had gone all buggy on me. The microphone sounded like it was on all the time (as opposed to just being on during phone calls). I was faintly hearing my own voice and a little wind noise (when outside) through the speaker in my ear all the time. Also, the voice dial, last call redial, and even just answering calls was acting funny and not working. I did an online tech support chat through the plantronics website, and we figured out that I needed to do a soft reboot of my blackberry (pull the battery while the phone is on, then reinsert it and start it up again). I was specifically told to do this while the 975 was on. It went back to working perfectly, so it seems the problem was with the blackberry tour(which is a little buggy) rather than the 975.
Over all, I'm EXTREMELY pleased with this bluetooth. I think the sound quality/noise reduction is better than the voyager 510, and the fit is far superior. - Bluetooth - Headset - Plantronics - Discovery 975'
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