PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.

Plantronics Voyager Legend UC

 & Jamie Lendino Executive Editor, Reviews

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

Our Expert
LOOK INSIDE PC LABS HOW WE TEST
65 EXPERTS
43 YEARS
41,500+ REVIEWS
Plantronics Voyager Legend UC - Plantronics Voyager Legend UC
3.5 Good

The Bottom Line

The included UC receiver makes this version of the Plantronics Voyager Legend Bluetooth headset better than ever, although you'll pay for the privilege.
Best Deal£105

Buy It Now

£105

Pros & Cons

    • Clear, crisp voice quality.
    • Comfortable for a Bluetooth headset.
    • UC receiver adds VoIP compatibility for extra flexibility.
    • Expensive.
    • Headset is larger than your typical model.

The Plantronics Voyager Legend UC ($199.95 direct) Bluetooth headset is a deluxe version of the standard Voyager Legend, which is one of our favorite models. But in addition to working over Bluetooth, the UC version comes with a tiny USB-compatible receiver for hooking up to a PC or Mac for use with Skype, Avaya, IBM, and other UC standard VoIP clients. It's a good choice if you make a lot of VoIP and cellular calls from your desk, and prefer a wireless, mono headset to something like the Plantronics Blackwire 720, which offers a more traditional stereo headset fit and a wired USB connector. That said, the Voyager Legend UC's price gives us pause, the same way the two-year-old Voyager Pro UC did; the included accessories, while useful, shouldn't double the price.

Note that there's also a separate B235-M version of this product; that one is Microsoft-certified and optimized for use with Microsoft Lync 2010 and Microsoft OCS 2007 only. This review focuses on the standard Voyager Legend UC. In this short review, I'll just focus on the differences with the UC model; for more on how the headset itself fits, works, and sounds, read our full review of the original Voyager Legend. With both models, the headset itself is the same.Plantronics Voyager Legend UC

The UC version of the Voyager Legend comes with a bunch of accessories. The biggest news is the tiny USB UC receiver, which plugs into a free port on your PC or Mac and lets you make calls with VoIP clients like Skype. Also of note is the small desktop dock, which also plugs in via USB and keeps the Voyager Legend charged, thanks to its nifty magnetic power connector not unlike the one on a MacBook Pro. (The original Voyager Legend also has this connector.)

Plantronics also includes a hard plastic carrying case with a smoked, translucent lid. The case holds the headset and the USB receiver. There's a micro USB port on the side, so you can charge the Voyager Legend while it's inside the case, which is a nice touch.Plantronics Voyager Legend UC

Otherwise, the Voyager Legend UC works and sounds just like the original, Bluetooth-only Voyager Legend we liked so much. Sound quality is exemplary in both directions, using both Skype and over Bluetooth. I tested the Voyager Legend when paired with an Apple iPhone 5. As with the regular version, the Voyager Legend UC is a little more susceptible to office fans and outside wind noise, thanks to its long boom mic which can "catch" the breeze and shift around a bit. Plantronics' noise-cancelling circuitry is also still a small step behind what Jawbone has accomplished with the Era Bluetooth headset.

Plantronics also makes available Spokes, a free PC download that makes controlling calls from multiple sources easier. It installs a battery meter for the Voyager Legend UC in your PC's icon tray, and updates your UC presence status whether you're on a mobile call or a PC call—useful stuff to have on your PC.

All told, it's tough to go wrong with the Voyager Legend to begin with. This latest UC version makes it that much tougher to resist, although I think it should cost $150, not $200. Working professionals looking for more range should have a look at the Plantronics Savi 440, which can travel four to five times as far from its source as the Voyager Legend.

More Bluetooth Headset Reviews:

Best Bluetooth Headset Picks

Further Reading

Final Thoughts

Plantronics Voyager Legend UC - Plantronics Voyager Legend UC

Plantronics Voyager Legend UC Review

3.5 Good

The included UC receiver makes this version of the Plantronics Voyager Legend Bluetooth headset better than ever, although you'll pay for the privilege.

Get It Now
Best Deal£105

Buy It Now

£105

About Our Expert

Jamie Lendino

Jamie Lendino

Executive Editor, Reviews

My Experience

I’ve been a technology journalist and editor for more than 20 years, including for PCMag since 2005. I've also written seven books about retro gaming and computing. Previously, I was the editor-in-chief of ExtremeTech. I’ve been on CNBC and NPR's All Things Considered talking techplus dozens of radio stations around the country. My articles have also appeared in Popular ScienceConsumer ReportsComputer Power UserPC Today, Electronic MusicianSound and Vision, and CNET.

Before all this, I was in IT supporting Windows NT on Wall Street in the late 1990s. I realized I’d much rather play with technology and write about it, than support it 24/7 and be blamed for whatever went wrong. I grew up playing and recording music on keyboards and the Atari ST, and I never really stopped. For a while, I produced sound effects and music for video games (mostly mobile and online games in the 2000s). I still mix and master music for various independent artists, many of whom are friends.

The Technology I Use

I’ve been cross-platform for decades, with PCs and Macs, iPhones and Android, Atari and Intellivision, NES and Sega…I’ve been doing this a while. Especially everything Atari, from the 2600 and 800 through the Atari ST, Jaguar, and Lynx. I bought my first 286 PC in 1989, the same year I bought my first issue of PC Magazine from a newsstand. I subscribed in the 1990s and upgraded to a 386, two 486s, and beyond.

Today, I use a 16-inch MacBook Pro, a custom AMD Ryzen 7 PC, and an Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop. My phone is an iPhone 14 Pro Max. For music recording, I work in a variety of DAWs (and review them all for PCMag), but my main ones are Logic Pro and Pro Tools. I use an LG 27-inch 4K monitor, a pair of PreSonus Eris E8 XT studio monitors, Beyerdynamic and Sennheiser studio headphones, and a Focusrite audio interface. For my books, I use Scrivener, Microsoft Word, and Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. I also use a zillion emulators of old computers and game consoles for…work. 

Read full bio