Bluetooth headset

I’d wanted to get a Bluetooth headset for my phone for a long time, for when my hands are busy at work, and for my computer at home too—just to make chatting on Skype more convenient. I’d been looking at Plantronics headsets, but the outrageous $100 price tag put me off, so I decided to buy one from China. Read on to find out how it turned out.

A quick warning: anyone who likes seeing things taken apart will be disappointed. Sorry.

I first searched online for reviews of this headset, but couldn’t find any. Since it was one of AliExpress’s top sellers, though, I decided to buy it.
I bought the headset during the March 25 sale. By the way, there’s a puzzling story behind that… I had coupons for $1 off purchases over $10. The headset cost $10.12 after the seller’s discount, but the coupon wouldn’t apply. Since I’d already set my mind on buying it, I decided to forget about the AliExpress coupon.
But does anyone know why that happened?

I placed the order at night, and the seller sent me a tracking number in the morning. A few days later, tracking started showing updates, and after 2.5 weeks it was sitting on my desk. Everything went very quickly and smoothly, so that’s the seller’s first plus.

The second plus was the packaging: a cardboard box wrapped in branded tape.


Inside was a plastic package in a polyethylene bag, wrapped in bubble wrap.


After removing all the film, I got to the box itself, which could easily pass for gift packaging—nice and neat, with nothing crushed or damaged.


The headset comes with: 1. The headset itself
2. A silicone earbud (already fitted to the headset)
3. A large plastic ear hook (already fitted)
4. A silicone earbud with a hook
5. A small ear hook
6. A clip for attaching the headset to a shirt so it can be used as a microphone
7. A cable for connecting it to a computer (for charging only)
8. Instructions in understandable Chinese and much more understandable English (by the way, they’re quite detailed)

Everything except items 1–3 was in a small zip-lock bag inside the box.

Incidentally, you could fit ten headsets like this in that box.


There’s a charging port at the top of the headset. It charges relatively quickly, in about 40–60 minutes.

It’s hard to say much about the battery. After a full charge, I talked for about an hour and a half at maximum volume, played around with it a bit more, and then left it on standby for a couple of days. Today I used it for about five minutes, and it ran out of charge. I’m happy with it, but I’ll need to use it more to get a better idea of how long the charge lasts.

The third plus for me was that the mode indicator LED is very small and located on the side facing inward (I can’t stand those annoying blinking lights on people’s ears).

The fourth plus: the headset paired without any problems with both my ancient Siemens M75 and my computer.

The sound quality is reasonably good, and the volume is excellent, but the microphone is a bit weak. A friend said I sounded about 20 percent quieter than I did through the phone’s speaker.

The fifth plus is the range. When I tested the headset at home, I gave it to my wife and talked on the phone myself. For convenience, I went into another room. We talked, and everything was fine. Then I happened to notice that my wife was sitting in one room while the phone was in another. It made absolutely no difference to the call. So, with a clear line of sight (or just a few obstacles), it works perfectly well at a distance of 6 meters. I also later found out that I can go out to the kitchen to smoke while using this headset. It’s about five meters from the computer in a straight line, with a concrete wall in between. The connection gets worse, but you can still talk.

The headset is small, and you can’t feel its weight at all. I wasn’t too keen on the silicone earbud, so I attached the ear hook as well; the large one fit. In fact, I’d planned from the start to use the headset with the ear hook, since that seems more comfortable to me.

The top part of the headset is a button (you can see the seam). The button is a little stiff, but on the other hand, that can be considered an advantage—you won’t press it by accident.


Summary:
Pros —
Packaging, delivery speed.
What's included.
Size and weight.
Range.
Volume.

Cons —
The microphone isn't very sensitive.

When I was buying it, I kept reaching for the black one. But I made myself choose the white one, since it's more practical. When it arrived, I realized I'd made the right choice: it looks more expensive than it is, with a pure white, elegant glossy body and no unnecessary frills—a great balance of beauty and restraint.

All in all, I think it's a good product at a reasonable price, whether you're buying it for yourself or as a gift.
The camera flash distorts the color; it's actually pure white. There's a photo above without the flash.