I finally wore my Motorola HT820 headset out. The ear pads were starting to corrode. So I started looking for something to replace them and Found an excellent choice.
The LG model HBS-700 doesn't look anything like a headset, but its design belies it functionality. It's extremely light and hangs around your neck, with a very flexible, soft connector, joining the two ends. The ends are thicker lobes that contain the various controls and batteries. Near the top of each lobe is where the wire comes out, leading to the left and right in-ear earpieces.
I thought that it might be problematic that it comes with only two sizes of soft rubber ear adaptors. But it's really not a problem, since you don't have the weight of a long wire pulling the earpieces out. The wire runs from your neck to your ear.
The microphone is at the end of the left lobe and I'm told that it's very clear to people on the other end.
Sound quality it not excellent, but it is VERY good, especially considering that it's over Bluetooth. Also, one of the problems with my old HT820 was that its top volume was somewhat limited. If you were in a noisy environment, it could be hard to understand someone over a poor connection. Not so with the LG HBS-700. Between the sound isolation of the earpieces and the maximum volume, it can overcome just about anything short of automatic weapon fire.
Now here's the neat thing. when you aren't using it, the earpieces store in magnetic cups at the end of each lobe. When the phone rings, it takes just a second to grab the earpieces and place them in your ear. When you no longer need the earpieces, you just remove them from your ear and get them close to the magnetic dock and they pop into place, ready for the next use.
On the left lobe are the power switch, the charging port, the Answer button, and Volume up/down buttons. Also inside the left lobe is a vibrating device to inform you when you have a call, even if your phone is on vibrate and in the next room. On the right lobe are the Play/Pause button, the FF/Skip, and RW/Back buttons. The Answer button answers and hangs up calls and activates SIRI, when no call is in progress. If you hold the Answer button down for about two seconds, till you hear the tone, it will have your iPhone recall the last number dialed. Oh, yes. It has an extremely long battery life. I haven't timed it. But we're talking in the teens of hours.
The down-side is that it's so light that you forget that you have it on. There is another down-side that I almost don't think worth mentioning. My old HT820 had a tremendous range (30-40 feet through walls). The LG HBS-700 cuts off about 5 to 10 feet, depending on obstructions. So that means that it has a range of about 20 to 35 feet. Still not bad.
There is one slightly annoying thing about this headset. It has an annoying blue light that I have not been able to figure out how to turn off. I'm going to call support and see if they can tell me how to turn it off. If not, I have an easy fix - dark red fingernail polish over the light. So it's not a reason for not buying this headset - just a problem that is easily solved, one way or another.
All in all, I rate this headset 9, on a scale of 10. Very impressed, with minor reservations.
