Good BT headset for 8530

I'm in the market for a new BT earbud for my new 8530. I've been reading the reviews here and on other sites, and would like to inquire of the crackberry nation what BT headsets are working for you with the 8530?

For me, I'd like a jawbone. Main concerns for me are 1-2) sound quality and durability are VERY, if not equally important, 3) talk time and 4) features.

I thought I'd had one picked out, but I read a review about the lack of durability, and now I'm back to square 1.

The current BT bud I have is a cheapo. It works fine, but the talk life is short. 2 hours is the max. I'd like at least 4 hour talk time before a recharge. The BT I have has a thick earhook and no earbuds. It isn't easy to put on, but it's comfortable when on except with sunglasses!!

The two headsets I was most interested in were the BluAnt Q1 and the Aliph PRIME. However, they've received mixed reviews from the crackberry nation. Durability is really important so I am not sure if a jawbone-style is right for me.

Please let me know what you recommend, the good and the bad. I really appreciate it. :p

Blue Ant, Blackberry Bluetooth, and Plantronics are all highly rated. I thought the Jawbone was really good, but I really didn't care for the fact that it has to touch your face to work properly, though if you don't mind that, it works really, really well.

Touch your face or not the Jawbones are still excellent at noise canceling. I now have the Jawbone Icon and it works great! It's a huge improvement over the Prime and answers many of the concerns expressed with the Prime reviews. It was newly released at the end of January so check it out if you were not aware of it.

One feature I love with the new Icon is that it now has a micro USB charge port which matches my blackberry wall and auto charger, eliminating the proprietary cable that was issued with the Prime.

Durability will always be an issue with these tiny plastic devices. I've already had a knock off incident with my Icon. I'm 6'3" tall and I accidentally brushed the headset off my head slinging a strap over my head and onto my shoulder. The Icon fell ~5 feet to asphalt and survived. The earloop separated cleanly and was easy to put back on the device. It hit the corner of the housing and I can barely tell there is a mark. It would have broken the Prime's loop in the same instance.

I'd love to see a small sturdy case available for the Icon, especially when stowing it in a pocket or bag.

You know my vote.

I'm still using my old Plantronics Voyager 520. I used it with my Centro for a couple of years, now with my 8530. Working very well so far.

Thanks for the suggestions, please keep them coming. I'll take a look at the Icon and Plantronics.

Have a Samsung WEP470 that I got for $5 after a $20 rebate, works great.

Originally Posted by Willamette

Touch your face or not the Jawbones are still excellent at noise canceling. I now have the Jawbone Icon and it works great! It's a huge improvement over the Prime and answers many of the concerns expressed with the Prime reviews. It was newly released at the end of January so check it out if you were not aware of it.

One feature I love with the new Icon is that it now has a micro USB charge port which matches my blackberry wall and auto charger, eliminating the proprietary cable that was issued with the Prime.

Durability will always be an issue with these tiny plastic devices. I've already had a knock off incident with my Icon. I'm 6'3" tall and I accidentally brushed the headset off my head slinging a strap over my head and onto my shoulder. The Icon fell ~5 feet to asphalt and survived. The earloop separated cleanly and was easy to put back on the device. It hit the corner of the housing and I can barely tell there is a mark. It would have broken the Prime's loop in the same instance.

I'd love to see a small sturdy case available for the Icon, especially when stowing it in a pocket or bag.

You know my vote.

Wow, that's great and I'm glad to hear the results about the Icon. One question, just for clarification - are you saying that the new Icon does NOT have to touch your jawbone to be effective? The original and the Prime worked best only if touching so I'm just curious if they changed that or not. I will agree, that when used properly, there is no better BT headset than the Jawbone, it is phenomenal, but I just could not get used to having it touching me, but that is a personal preference, nothing more.

I had a blueant z9i, didn't like it.
Before that a plantronics 510 and 520. Loved them.
Just picked up a plantronics pro from verizon for 50.00 shipped.

Comfortable and LOUD! Don't regret it at all.

Sounds weird probably but the ones that came with my 8330 work great for my 8530!

Originally Posted by kwkid

Wow, that's great and I'm glad to hear the results about the Icon. One question, just for clarification - are you saying that the new Icon does NOT have to touch your jawbone to be effective? The original and the Prime worked best only if touching so I'm just curious if they changed that or not. I will agree, that when used properly, there is no better BT headset than the Jawbone, it is phenomenal, but I just could not get used to having it touching me, but that is a personal preference, nothing more.

It still has that feature. I'm just stating that it works best if the little nub touches your face when you are in a noisy environment, but if it's not touching your face it's still as capable as the other offerings available out there since it still shares their dual noise-canceling mic technology.

Like the Prime, you can manually disable the jawbone feature on the Icon to compare quality with and without it active (call your home phone and leave a message, have a friend record your call, have a friend use it and call you, etc.).

There are some good youtube videos and reviews of the icon on the web with sound comparisons that I found very helpful when I was researching BT headsets.

I agree, it is a great BT device. I bought mine after I took part in a demo at our local ATT store with the Jawbone rep. I was sold immediately. I just couldn't get used to it having to touch me to get the full benefit so I was just curious if that had found a way to overcome that. I ended up selling my Jawbone and getting a Plantronics that I really like, but I will freely admit it isn't quite as good as the jawbone, but close enough that I have had it for almost a year now. I also like the Blackberry BT and the Blue Ant, though the Blue Ant seems to be really odd. People who have tried them either love them or hate them, no in between, and I'm not sure why. Thanks for letting me know about the Icon.

Currently testing two models; Plantronics Voyager Pro and BlueAnt Q1. Like voice command on BlueAnt. Not sure on voice quality yet, had complaints. Not as loud as Plantronics but the Plantronics is honking big,has long battery life and blows your hair back with its' volume. Sound qualities issues with it too. This is a black art if ever there was one. My main concern is that the customer hear me clearly on the other end. I think I'll have to fool around with sound "enhancement" both on the 8530 and Bluetooth headset to see if I can clear up sound quality issues. You're just asking for trouble piggybacking two wireless signals together (cell and bluetooth). And often this is a personal preference decision. Read reviews. One person loves it, the other person stomped it to death :-) Not much help on making decision. Just make sure that who ever you buy from the return policy is no hassle.

And the winner is...BlueAnt. Just can't handle that big honking appendage on the Plantronics. It's actually bigger than on my 520. Love the voice prompts. And they hired a real over talent so it's not like you're listening to an alien) But having said that, here's one trick you need to do every time you have a phone conservation on the BlueAnt. And I don't why you can't set it permanently one way or the other. As soon as your conservation starts, you have to touch the "big" button on the headset and change from "standard voice isolation" to "maximum voice isolation" (Mr. voice-over man will confirm). When the call ends it reverts back to standard mode. IMO, that's pretty stupid but there you have it. People indicated if I switch, like I'm talking with a handset (your mileage may vary. this is on the mighty Sprint network). It's sketchy if I don't.

I use a Plantronics stereo headset myself, but I listen to a ton of music on my phone. Never had complaints about call quality unless I'm outdoors and it is extremely windy. Vlingo understands most of what I say when using it as well - occasionally it gets a few words wrong but I think that has more to do with me sounding Texan/Southern than the actual headset. YMMV.