What is the best phone headset on the market?

[Mike]

Not too long ago, I bought a BlueParrot S450. This thing had issues very soon after purchasing. It would simply freeze up where I couldn't turn it on or off once in a while. Not too long later, I had issues with the on/off switch. It got to a point lately that a really hard bump in the road might cause it to turn off and back on. simply touching the switch would cause it to turn off, and it would connect/disconnect randomly. So, I gave up on it.

I've tried reviewing these things via youtube and whatever else I can find on the web, but really not too much on any of the headsets other than the Rand McNally one is complained about because of the way the mic is made and the battery life it not good.

BlueParrot's latest is the s650 XT. It has some bad reviews as well, but appears that a firmware update addressed the issues, so I overpayed and got one this evenint. Check the current status, and it was 3 versions behind, so updating it now before I start using it.

I'm hoping the issues I had with the 450 are just a fluke, because I have always had good luck, with BlueParrot up until that one.

The new S650-XT is a convertible. It is stereo, or one of the ear pieces can be removed to make it mono for those worried about getting a ticket while driving. I never worried about that with the 450, and not going to worry about it with this one. Easy enough to simply move it off of one ear if needed. This one has active noice cancelling for the person wearing it. It's like wearing expensive headphones when it is turned on, basically shuts off all outside noise.

 

[389 Hood]

I found it very difficult to understand a conversation on any of the 3 Blue Parrots that I've owned. I have a 450 hanging from the sun visor but I choose to use my Plantronics Poly 5200. And I have a truck that ever since it was wrecked has never been the same. It is noisy as hell in there. Plus the Cummins vibrates something fierce over my previous Cat.

 

[Hammer166]

Not too long ago, I bought a BlueParrot S450. This thing had issues very soon after purchasing. It would simply freeze up where I couldn't turn it on or off once in a while. Not too long later, I had issues with the on/off switch. It got to a point lately that a really hard bump in the road might cause it to turn off and back on. simply touching the switch would cause it to turn off, and it would connect/disconnect randomly. So, I gave up on it.

I've tried reviewing these things via youtube and whatever else I can find on the web, but really not too much on any of the headsets other than the Rand McNally one is complained about because of the way the mic is made and the battery life it not good.

BlueParrot's latest is the s650 XT. It has some bad reviews as well, but appears that a firmware update addressed the issues, so I overpayed and got one this evenint. Check the current status, and it was 3 versions behind, so updating it now before I start using it.

I'm hoping the issues I had with the 450 are just a fluke, because I have always had good luck, with BlueParrot up until that one.

The new S650-XT is a convertible. It is stereo, or one of the ear pieces can be removed to make it mono for those worried about getting a ticket while driving. I never worried about that with the 450, and not going to worry about it with this one. Easy enough to simply move it off of one ear if needed. This one has active noice cancelling for the person wearing it. It's like wearing expensive headphones when it is turned on, basically shuts off all outside noise.

Recently bought one the Shokz OpenComm bone conducting headsets. I picked it up mainly for the music, but it's rapidly become my go to headset. I really like my Plantronics 5200, but have never been able to get one to stay in my ear like it should, so very reluctant to wear it outside the truck. Besides, the Shokz is stereo, and I really enjoy listening to music without losing any hearing while I'm out working. Never understood everyone I see walking around with earbuds that leave you deaf to the world around you.

 

[mndriver]

My Oticon aren’t bad.

The ambient noise I’m told some days is too much.

I know it really picks up the turn signal noise.

 

[389 Hood]

Recently bought one the Shokz OpenComm bone conducting headsets. I picked it up mainly for the music, but it's rapidly become my go to headset. I really like my Plantronics 5200, but have never been able to get one to stay in my ear like it should, so very reluctant to wear it outside the truck. Besides, the Shokz is stereo, and I really enjoy listening to music without losing any hearing while I'm out working. Never understood everyone I see walking around with earbuds that leave you deaf to the world around you.

I have the Poly 5200 also. Out of the three rubber cup sizes, none of them stay in my ear. I took the rubber off and the plastic piece that holds the rubber acts like an extension into the ear. Works great this way. I like the charging station that comes with it. Place it in the box for an hour and it recharges the headset. It's good for 2-3 charging sessions before the charger needs to be recharged.

The USB ports on the ELD make great charging stations. Not the fastest but I just plug things in when I get in the truck and they stay at 100%.

 

[corneileous]

BlueParrot's latest is the s650 XT. It has some bad reviews as well, but appears that a firmware update addressed the issues, so I overpayed and got one this evenint. Check the current status, and it was 3 versions behind, so updating it now before I start using it.

I'm hoping the issues I had with the 450 are just a fluke, because I have always had good luck, with BlueParrot up until that one.

The new S650-XT is a convertible. It is stereo, or one of the ear pieces can be removed to make it mono for those worried about getting a ticket while driving. I never worried about that with the 450, and not going to worry about it with this one. Easy enough to simply move it off of one ear if needed. This one has active noice cancelling for the person wearing it. It's like wearing expensive headphones when it is turned on, basically shuts off all outside noise.

I bought blue parrots new 650 back in the summertime last year and to be honest with you, I’m not impressed with it at all. Matter of fact, I just started using it again about a month ago from not using it for almost 2 months when I saw that they had a new update, but being that it didn’t address the problem from before, this weekend it’s probably gonna come out of my bag and go right back in the dresser drawer where it was at for a long time.

My only major gripe about it right now is that supposedly they’re not allowing us anymore to use the BlueParrott updater software for your computer to go in there and configure the different settings like they did on the previous models and this one here has a really pain in the ass voice control system on it that can’t be turned off. I told one of their tech-support people through email that because I’ve got Siri on my iPhone, I don’t need my headset to have its own voice recognition shit on it as well so I guess as soon as they acknowledge that
and let me turn it off, I’ll go back to using it again