Plantronics Voyager 510 Bluetooth Headset
This is a review of the Plantronics Voyager 510 based on my comparative experience with this headset against a Motorola H500 – possibly the most popular headset out there. It was/is being used with a Motorola E815 cell phone on the Verizon Wireless network. I am on the cell phone for business over 1000 minutes per month.
Comfort:
I’ve seen a few reviews where this headset is less comfortable. Compared to the Motorola H500, I think it’s much more comfortable as it’s more flexible (doesn’t look like it in the pictures though). The grasp of the ear clip is not as strong, and that means it might feel a bit less secure on your ear, but it’s also wearable for long periods of time. The Motorola H500 was tight enough on my ear that after 30 minutes, the pressure on the back of my ear was painful – not good when conference calls are usually over 30 minutes long. Additionally, with 3 sizes for the ear-piece, once I got the correct size attached to the Voyager 510, it helped make the whole set fit more snugly and securely.
Listening Quality:
With the Motorola H500, major static was present even with the phone held right next to the headset. None of that is present with the Plantronics Voyager 510. I should note that in terms of volume, the Voyager was significantly less loud until I got the right ear piece in. Not that the ear piece is snug (and not a few millimeters away from my ear) I can hear just fine. As the Motorola comes with a single ear piece, I never got it quite so dialed in.
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Transmission Quality:
Often people who I called complained about the incredibly bad quality of my signal with the Motorola H500. When I was in a perfectly silent room, the H500 was ok. When in the car, it was almost totally unsuable if I had to speak. I’m not sure if the Plantronics noise reduction really works, but people don’t complain about my voice quality, and I certainly don’t have to yell to be heard.
People noted that they received me louder with the Motorola, but were happier with the Plantronics as I didn’t cut in and out.
Range:
Range was poor on the Motorola. If I had the phone clipped to the belt and the H500 on the opposite ear (so my body was between the phone and headset), the reception would cut in and out. If I walked more than 10 feet away from the phone, the H500 would cut in and out. With the Plantronics, I can walk up to 20 feet away without problems. The only issue is if there is a wall between the phone and the Plantronics. Otherwise reception and range are much better than the H500.
Controls:
Yes – everyone is right about the on/off button being poorly placed and not user friendly on the Plantronics Voyager 510. That said, I don’t use it anyway in favor of just controlling functions from the phone. The only headset functions I use on the headset are increasing the volume control which works well and easily. One nice feature of the Plantronics is the ability to switch a call back to the phone. This was not available on the Motorola. User friendly controls go to the Motorola in this case, but just barely because of the way I personally use the headset.
Overall I obviously am keeping the Plantronics. It’s larger than the Motorola by far and less stable on the ear. However, it’s more comfortable, has much better reception and transmission quality. 2 thumbs up!!
Specifications
- Talk time: Up to 6 hours
- Standby time: Up to 100 hours
- Bluetooth version: 1.2 (supports headset and hands-free profiles)
- Wearing style: Over-the-ear; boom swivels for wearing on either ear
- Headset controls: Volume, mute, call answer/end, voice-activated dialing (must be supported by your phone)
- Adaptive Frequency Hopping: Yes (helps to avoid interference for co-existence with Wi-Fi/WLAN)
- Supports analog and digital office phones: Yes
