It’s an almost universal rule: Everyone who owns a Bluetooth headset hates their Bluetooth headset. The reasons vary — it’s not comfortable, the sound quality is terrible, it looks dorky — but I’ve never met anyone who didn’t have at least a few complaints.
To help headset shoppers avoid some of the more common pitfalls, PC Magazine offers 8 points to consider when buying a Bluetooth headset. Here’s what they had to say on the subject of battery life:
As for endurance, a guiding principle: If you don’t want to charge, go large. Some of the bulkier, less fashionable headsets like the Plantronics Voyager 520 can last almost 9 hours on a single charge. The original Aliph Jawbone makes it to about 6 hours. The new Jawbone drops that down to a shade below 4 hours owing to its smaller, slimmer design, which lacks the room necessary for a large battery. The same is true of the Motorola H15.
Other things to consider include noise-cancellation capabilities, mono vs. stereo sound, and bonus features like multi-device pairing. Definitely some worthwhile reading for anyone in the market for a new Borg implant — er, Bluetooth headset.
Have you had any luck — good or bad — with a headset? Hit the Comments and tell us which models work best, which ones fail miserably, and why.
