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Buying Guide: How to Buy a Bluetooth Headset
Editors' Note: We've updated our Bluetooth Headset buying guide. Please see How to Buy a Bluetooth Headset for the most-recent buying advice.
With more and more states passing hands-free driving laws, Bluetooth headsets have been hitting the market at a record pace recently. The sheer number of options can make choosing your next headset tough—but that's where we come in. For example, the Aliph New Jawbone is our current Editors' Choice, because of its style, its superb noise-canceling circuitry, and above all its ability to make your voice sound natural. That's the real trick for a successful headset, since the last thing you want is to sound as if you're on a headset during a call.
But style and voice quality, while important, aren't the only things you should consider. The New Jawbone isn't particularly comfortable to wear, and its battery doesn't last very long, either. For some folks, those factors are just as important as a headset's price, feature set, and range—and may swing their decision in a different direction.
Here's a look at the best Bluetooth headsets we've tested recently. With more than a dozen products, you're bound to find the perfect hands-free solution in this guide.
Headsets Featured in this Roundup:
Aliph New Jawbone
$129.99 list
This is our current top performer, but you should take note of reader comments: Many users found that they couldn't get a proper fit, which degraded the headset's audio quality—not to mention its comfort, which, as we noted in our review, was one of its biggest weaknesses to begin with.
BlueAnt V1 Voice Control
$129.95 list
If you like your gadgets to be futuristic, you'll like the V1 Voice Control, which works entirely by—that's right—voice commands. It also includes a superb tutorial.
BlueAnt Z9i
$99.95 list
Drop the V1's voice-enabled circuitry and you get the Z9i, a good-sounding headset with performance that belies its small size and unobtrusive design.
Callpod Dragon
$99.95 direct
It wasn't the most comfortable or best-sounding headset in our tests, but the Dragon is the only one we've tested that offers about 50 feet of real-world range—a sizable jump from the 12 to 15 feet most models offer. The Dragon also works as a two-way communicator with another nearby Dragon, which is great for biking enthusiasts.
Iqua 603 SUN
$100.00 list
Sick of charging your headset all the time? The Iqua SUN 603 maintains a charge pretty much indefinitely, thanks to its built-in solar panel—provided you talk about an hour or two per day. (If you talk more often and it runs down, you can still charge it as you would a normal headset.)
Motorola H780
$99.99 direct
The H780 is a good midrange performer, with a strong balance of size, comfort, and endurance.
Motorola MotoPURE H15
$129.99 direct
The MotoPURE H15 is another top contender in terms of audio quality. I had a little trouble with the fit of this one, and its battery life isn't the best—but you'll be hard-pressed to beat its noise-canceling circuitry.
Plantronics Discovery 925
$149.99 list
Style mavens should head straight for the interesting-looking Discovery 925, a true head-turner that also happens to sound good.
Plantronics Explorer 370 Rugged
$79.95 direct
Heading for the outdoors? The Explorer 370 Rugged stood up to serious abuse in our testing—succumbing only when it was run over by a 4,000-pound SUV.
Plantronics Voyager 520
$99.95 list
The battery-life champ in this roundup and our former Editors' Choice, the Voyager 520 offers almost 9 hours of solid talk time on a single charge. It sounds terrific, but it's a little large and lacks the noise-canceling circuitry common in newer designs.
Plantronics Voyager 835
$119.95 list
The Voyager 835, one of the newest designs in this roundup, may not look like much, but it's the most comfortable headset I've tried recently. It also sounds clear and crisp to other callers and has solid battery life.
Plantronics Voyager 855
$149 list
The 855 looks like a regular mono Bluetooth headset, except that it comes with a detachable second earbud on a wire. Hook that up and you'll get stereo sound over Bluetooth. It's not a replacement for high-end stereo earbuds, and it looks a little odd, but it's a comfortable, easy-to-carry compromise.
Samsung WEP700
$89.99 list
Another one for the style-conscious, the WEP700 is small and unobtrusive, and it doesn't sound half bad, either. Its lack of additional earbud and loop sizes and ineffective noise canceling mean it falls short of the class leaders.