Plantronics Voyager Pro

In my home office setup I have three devices, my IP phone, my laptop and my BlackBerry. Until recently, I have also used three headsets, one for each device. This can get frustrating when switching from one device to another. In addition, when I "go mobile," it's a real pain to drag around a wired headset. So I set out to solve the problem.

I had three criteria for my search: 1) the solution had to work with all three devices, 2) the quality of the sound had to be as good as my wired headsets, and 3) the battery power had to last all day. After researching the available options I selected two Bluetooth headsets to test. In this review I will focus on the Plantronics Voyager Pro (will cover the other in a different post).

The Voyager Pro received an excellent review from CNET. They rated it as the best sound quality of any Bluetooth headset they've ever tried. However, they did express concern about the bulkiness of the device. Here's a video from CNET:



Personally, I don't find the Voyager Pro bulky. I was used to wearing a full wired headset, so the Voyager Pro is considerably less hardware and a refreshing change. I do agree with CNET's statement about the quality of the sound. The quality is EXCELLENT, which meets my second criteria.

As for the first criteria, ability to work with all three devices, the Voyager Pro is able to connect to two Bluetooth-enabled devices at the same time and switches automatically between the devices. Since I have my work phone set up to also ring my Blackberry (thanks Mark!), I decided to eliminate the IP phone for my testing and just use my Blackberry and my computer. The Voyager Pro connected to both devices seamlessly. I simply put the headset in discover mode (hold down on the on/off button) and both my computer and Blackberry recognized it and connected. Painless. I could have also used it with my IP phone (after enabling Bluetooth) but I don't really need it with my Blackberry rollover setup.

As for the third criteria, a battery that will last all day, I have only run into a couple of situations when the batter level ran low. In both situations I was on back-to-back conference calls most of the day. Plantronics says the battery will last for about 6 hours of talk time. I think they are pretty close on that estimate. However, I've developed the habit of plugging it into the power when I am off the phone for an extended duration. As a result, I haven't experienced any battery power problems since.

I love some of the call control features of the Voyager Pro. For example, if I am on a call and I want to switch from my headset to my Blackberry, I just hold down on the call control key for about 3 seconds and the call is transfered. I can answer incoming calls by clicking the same button and I can hang up calls by doing the same. If I am on a voice call and get an incoming video conference call I can toggle between the two devices with a touch of the call control button. I can even use voice commands to dial calls without even touching my Blackberry! I will admit that it takes a little practice to get familiar with the key sequence, but once you get it down it is a very flexible device.

To summarize, I want to repeat that the quality of sound with this little device is excellent. I was honestly surprised at how clear the sound is, even connected through Bluetooth. The Voyager Pro is the sixth Bluetooth device that I have used over the years (even used a JawBone at one point) and it is the only device so far to meet my three criteria. As CNET says in their review, it is quite possibly the best Bluetooth headset ever!

OK, I better get back to work before my boss finds out I am blogging during business hours. LATER!