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Need Help Deciding.... Jawbone vs. Voyager Pro

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dhartung02

macrumors 6502
Original poster
I have never been a big fan of bluetooth headsets but lately i have been taking so many work calls on my cell phone that the need for one is increasing. My big concerns are noise cancellation, comfort, and battery life. I will be wearing this thing for several hours often on long conference calls. I would often be using this at work in a noisy cubicle environment with others talking around me so noise cancellation is very important as well. Mute functionality would be nice, but if it has good noise cancellation it isnt critical.

I recently purchased a Plantronics 975 from the CellPhoneShop and it came in an opened package that looked to be someones return. I tried it out and it was very light, semi comfortable, but there was some static in the headset, and it didnt do any noise cancellation at all. The people on the phone with me could identify who the individuals were talk around me. It was picking up other peoples voices that clear who were in their cubes talking on their own phones. Im not sure if i had a faulty model or if this is the norm. Regardless i returned it, and I am now back on the hunt.

What is everyone's recommendation? I have primarily been looking at the Jawbone Prime, or Voyager Pro but I am not opposed to hearing about other peoples recommendations or choices.
 
I just found out about the Motorola Endeavor HX1. Is anyone using one of these? Cnet seems to believe its the best bluetooth they have come across.
 
I have the Voyager Pro and like it. I have tried quite a few others, but could never get the "in the ear" models to fit good. The VP is a little big, but once you put it on, you forget it. I wear it hours at a time. The only complaints I get are my fault - I scratch my nose or get my hands near the microphone while not thinking about it (even in my office by myself, I still talk with my hands!). Otherwise, it does a great job.
 
We have the discovery 975 and the Jawbone Prime. While we like the 975's charging case, the sound quality is not as good as many online reviewers say it is. We much more prefer the Jawbone Prime.
 
I purchased both the Prime and the Voyager Pro to test out and compare. After several tests, in different environment, I have decided to keep the voyager pro. Im not getting this thing to be a fashion statement, im getting it to talk on the phone and i want my voice to sound as clear as possible for the person on the other end. For me, the Voyager Pro offered the best sound quality, with good noise canceling. It wasnt as strong in noise cancellation as the Prime, but my voice sounded a lot cleaner and more natural.
 
dhartung02 said:
I just found out about the Motorola Endeavor HX1. Is anyone using one of these? Cnet seems to believe its the best bluetooth they have come across.
Click to expand...

(sorry, it's a bit long) 🙂

Hi!

I have the Voyager Pro, the Jawbone Prime and the Motorola HX1. That's crazy, right? Anyway, I've been testing them for weeks now, so I hope I can help anyone who has a hard time choosing among these.

So, the first thing is that the Prime is not a real multipoint headset. This means that while you can connect it simultaneously to 2 phones, it will only stay connected to one during an active call. In this regard, both the Pro and the HX1 are more advanced.

Pros and Cons:

Prime: +:it has the best wind noise cancellation - not counting the HX1's stealth mode of course. It looks cool, especially the earcandy line.
-: short battery life, no real multipoint.

Pro: +: it adjusts the earpiece volume if you enter a noisy environment, so you don't have to bother with volume control. This feature, the others do not have unfortunately. Great noise cancellation, good battery life.. etc
-: not so great wind noise cancellation, but no real negatives.. I think it looks okay. A bit big, but so what?

Hx1: +: among these, this is the ONLY headset that: announces which phone rings; announces which phone it has connected to, or disconnected from; ASKS you if you want the last number redialed on Phone 1, or Phone 2, and also gives you the opportunity to select whether you want to use the voice dialing feature on Phone 1 or Phone 2. Every time you turn it on, it announces the battery status (high, medium, low) plus you can also "ask" it by pressing the volume up and down buttons at the same time. Not only that, but it flashes blue when only one, and green when two phones are connected. Same with the battery. Don't want to put it on? No problem. Batt level high: green led, medium: orange, low: red.
It has the best battery life: 7 hours talk time, 10 days stby.
It is so loud, you will hear the other no matter where you are.
Stealth mode cancels out almost every noise, so if it is on, there is no comparison to the other headsets.
Motorola gives these extra, curved earbuds for the HX1. Those are so much better than the traditional ones. With those, the headset will never fall out of your ear. Really great.
-: no auto volume control on the wearer side; stealth mode is great, but it will make you sound.. well... interesting.

Noise cancellation: all three are really awesome.. but no.. The Prime is not better than the Pro. Actually I was a bit disappointed, since the Pro only uses a simple dual mic system. With constant noises, such as a hair dryer and a vacuum cleaner, the Pro is able to absolutely mask out noise! The only drawback is that when you speak, sometimes it masks out your own voice as well. The Prime will leave a little noise, but your voice is handled better. HX1 in CrystalTalk mode leaves the most noise unmasked, but it amplifies your voice as you enter a noisy environment. If you just want to be heard, and don't care about extreme noise suppression, Motorola is the best in this scenario.
Music: interestingly, none of them are good at blocking out music. And now I am talking about LOUD music. The HX1(in normal mode) and the Pro were equal. Music was loud, but my speech was also absolutely audible. The Prime cut out my voice sometimes, I was not really impressed.

My other test involved switching on a hair dryer (1700 watt Rowenta 😀 ) and blowing it on the headset at full power. After listening to the recordings, and repeating the tests over and over again, I found that the Pro and the HX1 in normal mode could not handle wind noise. In other words, I could ONLY hear the "wind", but could absolutely not hear myself. The Prime however did a very good job, probably thanks to its VAS sensor. Of course, if you switch the HX1 into stealth mode, you won't hear anything at all, just your voice.

I think feature wise and technologically, the HX1 is the best in this group.. and probably it is the best headset on the market today. But I really like and use all three of them, depending on my mood. 🙂

If you have any questions, I will be glad to answer. Hope I could help.

David
 
Nice Review David.

I actually purchased both the Prime and Pro to test side by side. I ended up keeping the Pro liking its voice quality and features. Well i just recently saw the new Jawbone Icon and it really intrigued me. Several of the things i did not like about the Prime, they improved or fixed with the Icon. I ended up taking back the Pro as well and i think i am going to try the Icon out.
 
dhartung02 said:
Nice Review David.

I actually purchased both the Prime and Pro to test side by side. I ended up keeping the Pro liking its voice quality and features. Well i just recently saw the new Jawbone Icon and it really intrigued me. Several of the things i did not like about the Prime, they improved or fixed with the Icon. I ended up taking back the Pro as well and i think i am going to try the Icon out.
Click to expand...

The Icon looks amazing!!! I currently have a Plantronics 925 but sometimes it works fine and sometimes people can't hear me. I am definitely thinking on buying the Icon 🙂
 
dhartung02 said:
Nice Review David.

I actually purchased both the Prime and Pro to test side by side. I ended up keeping the Pro liking its voice quality and features. Well i just recently saw the new Jawbone Icon and it really intrigued me. Several of the things i did not like about the Prime, they improved or fixed with the Icon. I ended up taking back the Pro as well and i think i am going to try the Icon out.
Click to expand...

Yes, the Icon definitely looks great and its features are impressive. At least on paper. However I don't know if they've improved the noise cancellation features at all. And it seems that you can't change the volume on the headset! That's not good, unless it has excellent adaptive volume control.
 
Discovery 975

I know this isnt about the 975 but i wanted to add my 2 cents since you mentioned it in the OP.

ive been using a 975 for about 2-3 months now. Im seriously considering replacing it as you did.

Initially it was good and i wrote a good review for it but after more extensive use im getting repeated complaints from my callers about very bad echoing. and its not because my volume is too loud. itll even do it when the volume is all the way down. The only way to eliminate the echo is switch to another bluetooth, or use the handset itself.

Im a bit disappointed. and its an elusive problem, I cant nail down whats causing it.

That Motorola HX1 doesnt look bad...
 
B737 said:
I know this isnt about the 975 but i wanted to add my 2 cents since you mentioned it in the OP.

ive been using a 975 for about 2-3 months now. Im seriously considering replacing it as you did.

Initially it was good and i wrote a good review for it but after more extensive use im getting repeated complaints from my callers about very bad echoing. and its not because my volume is too loud. itll even do it when the volume is all the way down. The only way to eliminate the echo is switch to another bluetooth, or use the handset itself.

Im a bit disappointed. and its an elusive problem, I cant nail down whats causing it.

That Motorola HX1 doesnt look bad...
Click to expand...

Hi!

Don't know about the 975, but there is a compatibility problem between the Iphone and the Voyager Pro. Basically, the Iphone's echo cancellation collides with Plantronics' e.c.. Interestingly the problem only appears if the party you are calling is in a noisy environment. Anyway, I've read it on Plantronics' forum that together with Apple, they are working on a solution. Probably you have a similar problem with the 975.
 
nice find! thank you for that input, i hope they can figure something out. searching the internet i havent been able to make heads or tails of a possible solution that actually works. what you said makes more sense.
 
dadibaba said:
Hi!

Don't know about the 975, but there is a compatibility problem between the Iphone and the Voyager Pro. Basically, the Iphone's echo cancellation collides with Plantronics' e.c.. Interestingly the problem only appears if the party you are calling is in a noisy environment. Anyway, I've read it on Plantronics' forum that together with Apple, they are working on a solution. Probably you have a similar problem with the 975.
Click to expand...

I didnt know the iPhone had echo cancellation??
 
dadibaba said:
Well.. that's not entirely true. Iphone has some kind of echo cancellation and noise suppression technology, similar to some blackberry phones. However, there, you can turn this feature off, which solves bluetooth issues.

The Plantronics thread: http://soundingboard.plantronics.co...id=MobileProductSneakPeek&message.id=615#M615

Apple: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1804116&start=240&tstart=0
Click to expand...

Wow, that's the first I have heard of this. I have had my Voyager Pro since it came out last year - May or June - and have had no problems or complaints, except when I put my hand close to my face/mic while talking! But I do agree that Apple's BT work could use some improvement.

But I wil also add that I have only used the Pro in my office or my car, not in a loud environment.
 
After trying out boy the Jawbone Prime and Plantronics Voyager Pro and not being happy with either, i decided to give the Jawbone Icon a try.

I have to say i am very happy with the Icon and i am going to keep it. The voice quality both outgoing and incoming is top notch. The improvements they made by adding a switch, using a standard micro usb charger, iPhone integration, and adding the app store have made it a top notch performer and an ideal choice for anyone looking for a solid performing bluetooth.

I would definitely recommend it.
 
the jawbone icon is a dramatic improvement over the prime...everything about it is top notch especially the voice dialing feature...with the prime it worked intermitanly ...the icon works every tip...this is the best earpiece yet!!!!!
 
I have to say that I've been very happy with my Icon since I got it. I don't use it all the time...only in the car... but it's worked well so far.
 
Yeah, Icon looks good. The only problem is its extremely short battery life. That's the worst thing about the Prime as well. It won't survive a normal working day.
 
i use it for work daily and find that it lasts 4 solid hours. Although that leaves me 4 hours short on a typical workday, i have found that it recharges very rapidly. I also have the included USB cable plugged into my computer with an L bend and use it as a pseudo dock. When i am not on the phone i just plug it back in. When i get a call, i pull it off and it powers up and answers very quickly.

I have tried several of the bluetooth headsets and have finally found one that i am very happy with.
 
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