VXI BlueParrot B250 review

Well, I've now had time to play with the B250, so here are my thoughts:

This sucker is big, but very comfortable once you adjust it properly. The sound quality is just amazing on both ends. You can crank the volume up until it hurts (just don't keep it there!), and the audio quality is rich and full. When you talk, all the other person hears is your voice.

I called a few people from the car, rolled the windows down all the way for a while, rolled them back up, and asked at the end how I sounded. I was told perfect each time. Of course, being the skeptic that I am, I had to call my office voice mail and leave a long message while playing the radio, lowering the windows, etc. All I can say is - WOW. Nobody knew I was on a headset, much less in my car cruising down the freeway at 70.

The negatives to this headset are that it uses a Ni-mh battery and it will scrunch up your hair while wearing it due to the headband. Not a big deal to me since I have short hair, but it could be a deal breaker to some. Also, you'll look pretty foolish wearing it in public. Great for home, car and office use, but not at Starbucks if you are like 80% of the people I see there in the mornings (it's all about looking cool).

...but not at Starbucks if you are like 80% of the people I see there in the mornings (it's all about looking cool).

That's a double oxymoron - if you're at a Starbucks wearing any bluetooth headset in your ear there's no possibility of being the slightest bit cool.

Thanks for the write up, look forward to getting mine, it'll solve a lot of problems for me. Look forward to using it in the convertible, working in the yard, etc. 100' range sounds pretty compelling as well, have you tested that yet?

Truer words have never been spoken. :p

Originally Posted by kwsmithphoto

That's a double oxymoron - if you're at a Starbucks wearing any bluetooth headset in your ear there's no possibility of being the slightest bit cool.

I haven't tested out the range - truthfully, I hadn't even thought about it since I'm usually no more than 15 feet away from the phone. I'll have to test it out; hopefully it gives good range.

Originally Posted by kwsmithphoto

100' range sounds pretty compelling as well, have you tested that yet?

Just to add to your review, I got mine and tested in some worst case scenarios. Here are my thoughts:

On the suggestion of a truck driver friend I just picked up a Blueparrot B250. It's big and ugly but it freakin' WORKS, it's the best sounding headset (bluetooth OR wired) I've ever used before, and I've tried most of them, include the Plantronics 925, BlueAnt and Jawbone 1 (haven't tried the JB2), which are all known for working well in noisy places.

The first thing that surprised me is that both the incoming and outgoing audio quality is BETTER than my 8330's handset, which is amazing enough (well not really, Blackberry's have never been known for good audio).

The best part is the noise canceling microphone and high quality, very loud speaker. Nothing harsh or tinny about it, incoming callers sound warm and clear and my voice sounds better than the mic in the 8830.

I was an audio engineer for 20 years and still have friends in the industry. I called one earlier today from my quiet home office for a baseline and he said I sounded better than just using the phone. Then I called him back later and said "how do I sound now?" He said I sounded exactly the same.

Interesting, because I was jamming down the freeway at 70MPH in my small car with it's loud motor, A/C at full speed, radio on just a bit, and both windows down! He couldn't even tell I was in a car! How awesome is that?

Called another engineer friend and he said the same thing. Right as I was talking a Harley with open exhaust ripped past me in the next lane. He couldn't even hear it and he's got an ear for everything (he mixes sound effects).

I just did another test: a carpenter is here at my house fitting a door to the frame with a skill saw. While he was cutting I was leaving a message on my answering machine - from 20 feet away the saw was inaudible, and just barely so from 5 feet away. I was talking very quietly specifically to check the signal to noise ratio. Amazing.

Point being, there is NO better bluetooth headset for noisy environments than this one! Not even close, forget the rest! It's SO nice to finally be able to talk in my normal quiet voice even in very noisy environments. Oh, and the range is great, about twice what I got from other BT earpieces.

The only practical downside is that when you turn off the headset then turn it back on, you have to tell the phone to connect to it. My 8330 just picks them up again with other headsets except this one. Minor inconvenience though.

Other than that - pure awesomeness, if you don't mind looking like you're launching the Space Shuttle while driving, and I don't, as long as it works. It most definitely does!

Quick update:

After screwing around with it some more you can indeed re-connect it to a Curve without touching the phone. 1 second press of the MFB to turn it on, followed by a quick press, and you're connected. The next quick press takes you to voice dialing, or lets you answer/end a call.

The microphone works with the voice notes recorder but the speaker doesn't. Not a major issue for me but it might be for some. I'm gonna call VXI next week and see if they have a fix for that in the works. Also, the media player doesn't work with it at all but that's a non-issue for me personally.

Also, it's a little too thick on the side to work with a bicycle helmet so I can't use it on my bikes, which is a bit of a bummer since I ride them a lot more now these days, but they didn't design it with that use in mind. Good area for them to get into though, since bicycle commuting is growing fast. It works fine without a helmet of course, but I'd rather miss a call than relearn the alphabet (or worse).

Another minor nit: no sidetone. You can't hear your own voice in the speaker at all. Took all of 5 minutes to get used to it though, it just isn't an issue, I simply talk in my normal, calm, quiet voice and people hear me just fine in literally any environment.

I stand by all my other comments though. The noise rejection is just flat out incredible, nothing else even comes close.

Glad you're liking yours. I'm really enjoying mine. It really is the best performing BT headset I've owned.

Just got my B250 a few days ago. It is fantastic and definitely lives up to all your claims. I can drive in my noisy old car, windows down, next to an 18 wheeler, and my wife has no idea. AMAZING.

I'm concerned that I have a bad battery though. I initially charged it for more than 16 hours, as per the instructions. I used it like this yesterday : full overnight charge, 30 mins talking, off while at work, 30 mins talking, turned it off and went to bed without hooking it up to the recharger. This morning I went to turn it on and...dead. That is a grand total of 1 hour talk time, and 0 hours standby.

Anybody else have similar experience?

Man I hope all of you people posting these rave reviews don't work for this company. I hope, by wednesday, that I am raving just as much when I get mine delivered. I am one of the people who've spent at least 700 bucks on every noise cancelling and non noise cancelling POS out there. Its gotten to the point where I just stopped using BT or any hands free unit. So far, no cellphone tickets and I haven't killed anyone. But the 7 inch straight pipes on my Peterbilt 379 are killing all my phone conversations with my 8330, even when I've used no headset. Hope my world changes on Wednesday.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Well you all should know one thing. This blueparrot is undoubtedly the best system ever made. I used it all day long with no complaints from anyone I talked to. I've got to say this unit is no BS. Does exactly what was claimed it does. 70 miles an hour in a big rig with the windows down and crystal clear broadcasting. Excellent.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I've been using the B250 for 4 days now. I noticed something. When I get an incoming call, I push the answer (green) button on my BB 8330 and it takes quite a while before I can hear the person. If I push the volume louder button on the B250 it connects. I think it may be due to the 4.5 upgrade. I'm on Verizon. Anyone else find this happening?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Originally Posted by brazilboytroy

Just got my B250 a few days ago. It is fantastic and definitely lives up to all your claims. I can drive in my noisy old car, windows down, next to an 18 wheeler, and my wife has no idea. AMAZING.

I'm concerned that I have a bad battery though. I initially charged it for more than 16 hours, as per the instructions. I used it like this yesterday : full overnight charge, 30 mins talking, off while at work, 30 mins talking, turned it off and went to bed without hooking it up to the recharger. This morning I went to turn it on and...dead. That is a grand total of 1 hour talk time, and 0 hours standby.

Anybody else have similar experience?

A friend of mine did. I told him to try leaving it on the charger any time he doesn't need it (his car outlet stays alive when the car is off). After a week of doing this the battery sorted itself out.

Originally Posted by Mamaluka

I've been using the B250 for 4 days now. I noticed something. When I get an incoming call, I push the answer (green) button on my BB 8330 and it takes quite a while before I can hear the person. If I push the volume louder button on the B250 it connects. I think it may be due to the 4.5 upgrade. I'm on Verizon. Anyone else find this happening?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Ya, I get that too, at times, with the same phone. I'm not running the 4.5 beta so that's not it, I think it's just a glitch in the way they interact.

In my case the microphone connects but the speaker does not. Using the BB volume controls wakes it up too, in addition to the headset controls. Haven't tried it was another phone so I don't know if it's a Curve problem or a Blueparrot problem. At least it's quite rare, and know what to do if it happens.

Originally Posted by Mamaluka

Well you all should know one thing. This blueparrot is undoubtedly the best system ever made. I used it all day long with no complaints from anyone I talked to. I've got to say this unit is no BS. Does exactly what was claimed it does. 70 miles an hour in a big rig with the windows down and crystal clear broadcasting. Excellent.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Nope, we weren't kidding, these big ugly things just freakin' work! I put a bigger foam thing on the mic and there was no loss of quality, just a big reduction in wind and breath noise.

TIP: The microphone itself is flat. If you position it just below your lower lip then point it up towards your mouth that seems to work best. If it's right in front of your mouth callers will hear breath noise, and "p" words will "pop" the microphone.

FWIW, the size of it is a blessing in disguise. It works so well I'd like to use it all the time, but I don't wanna be "that guy" wearing an earpiece and looking like a complete tool like everyone else who does that. I only use it in the car and around my home/office, but don't dare to wear it in full public view. Actually, if I worked in an industrial environment I wouldn't care but I don't.

One exception: I had nothing to do except wait for a conference call last week, so I took it with me to the beach, which was windy and crowded with high surf. The call eventually came in so I just activated the sucker. The suits on the line had absolutely no idea that I was even on a cell phone, but I sure got some funny looks from other beachgoers.

Had a weird problem with mine today. It would connect, let me pick up a call, end a call etc. but the only audio it passed were the status and ring tones. As far as the phone was concerned it was working perfectly so it muted the internal speaker and microphone. But the headset itself wouldn't pass voice audio either way.

Drove me up a wall all morning - I'd get the ringtone in my ear and it would let me answer the phone but I couldn't hear anybody and nobody could hear me! Tried the volume up/down trick. Did a battery pull on the Curve. No go.

So I thought, hmmm, battery pull? Unlike every other BT headset on the market, these things have a replaceable battery. I opened it up with a screwdriver, disconnected the battery and plugged it back in.

Problem solved. Sucks that it happened but at least I could fix it myself without waiting for a warranty repair, or even calling VXI. So...if you have any weird problems like that with one, remember that it has a microprocessor and firmware in it that can be re-booted with a screwdriver.

I had an opportunity today to show off this device to about 4 or 5 people. I stuck my head under the hood of a 475 horsepower diesel engine while idling. With a normal phone I would have been completely inaudible, I know, I've done it before. The people I showed this too also knew what "should have" happened. When I was able to speak and hold a conversation with each of them, they were floored and each wrote down the website to purchase one. Like me, they didn't care about the bulkiness or how ugly this device is, just the quality..and it is superior to anything out there.

UPDATE: My delay problem I listed above was gone for a week or so, and just started back up today. I noticed that when it's paired up fully charged, this delay does not occur. I'll keep tweaking around with it.

Try doing the battery disconnect. It's super easy, just take out the 2 bottom screws and slide the cover off. There's an insulated resistor over the battery connection that you need to move just a bit, then you can pry the connector off with a tiny flathead.

Before you do that, delete the BT250 profile on the phone then re-pair them when the battery's back in.