Bluetooth Headsets: Jabra BT500 Vs 8Com BH220
Posted by Steven on June 19th, 2006
Earlier this week my good old BH220 died on me. I had been using it for the last year and it had proven to be quite a cost effective and reliable a model. Its primary uses were as an audio gateway connected to my PC when using skype, and ocasionally for answering mobile calls while I was out (thought that habbit died out pretty soon seeing as the device was too … alien looking).
As for sound quality the BH220 wasn’t too bad. It suffered from the same problems that all headsets suffer from which is a constant low humming. Although annoying at first eventually I was able to just blur out the crackilng in my mind and just be bothered with the conversations i would be participating in. What really used to get to me was the fact that after about fifteen minutes of use my ears used to end up very sore.Seeing as earlier this week the BH220 headset died out on me i decided to take a shot at going for a different style of headset (something less possbily a little more comftable to use in long term). After a little googling about i noticed that the new Jabra headset was recieving quite a few positive comments from the community. Unfortunatly it also seemed to have a history as do most bluetooth headsets to be very inconsistent as to support for the transfering of voice services from a computer to the headset. So soon after i went on ebay and aquired myself a brand new BT500.
The packing of this headset was quite bulky, thankfully the device arrived intact and within a couple of hours was charged and in use. The first thing that I tried out was the Jarba’s ability to pair with more than one device. So I went to my Mac Mini and tried to pair it. The pairining progressed flawlessly and all seemed to be working ok (much to my relief). Next I paired it with my Nokia 6680 and tested it on it. The final test which I performed was the try and swap the ongoing connection from one device to the other. The headset worked like a charm, allowing me to start calls on skype and receiving calls on my mobile phone without the need to re-pair the headset with the desired device every time (though it had to be reconnected from one device to the next but thats quite painless). The quality of the voice connection is nothing exceptional, but I do think it is a little clearer than my old headset.
Overall I am very happy with this device. It has worked as well as advertised and outperformed any of my expectations.