The Best Bluetooth device for the Touch......

[bkrodgers]

Originally Posted by cortez

did you upgrade to the 3.4 firmware on the Z9? the Z9 has been the loudest headset i've used. i'm also using the jawbone 2 and it's pretty loud/clear with the Touch.

I don't recall if 3.4 was out back when I had to return it (30 days were about up). This was back in January. The problem wasn't that it wasn't loud enough. The problem was that if I turned it up loud enough for me to hear it in some environments, I would hear this buzzing in the background. It wasn't bad enough to drown things out, but it was enough to bother me. But I bother easily on such things. Given that I tried two different phone models (coincidentally -- not because of this) and two copies of the Z9, I concluded that there's some incompatibility.

Actually, as I think back more, I think part of the problem was that the HTC devices have such low BT volume. While the Z9 did very well on volume for an HTC device, it was still quieter than when I paired the Z9 with my Dad's Treo at Xmas. With the Treo, I could get the volume I need without having to crank it. With the Mogul and Touch, I had to crank it closer to the top to get the volume I need. When I did that, I got the intermittent buzzing. Still, it's very strange that nobody else has had this issue.

[trakslacker]

Another vote for the Z9. Picked this thing up last week and love it. Really works well.

[osmany21]

I have had a few headsets. I currently have the jabra jx10 seies 2 and all I get are complaints from people saying that they cant understand me or say that it sounds muffled. I have a deep voice so that might not help. I need a new one as holding the phone to my ear is very annoying. I am between the z9i or the jawbone 2.. any recomendations as iIdont want to blow another $100+ on a useless earpiece. I have a touch with the latest "oem version of 6.1"
thanks

[tivoboy]

I have been using the JB2 for about a month now, and I wasn't able to use it/them at all times. The first one had a bad earpiec speaker, which made the sound very crackly (something that often occurs with a poor bluetooth connection or implimentation so it was hard to dicern) and even ALIPH said, just return it to ATT (the only place one could get them at the time) and swap it out - known issue.

The second one, I couldn't get the volume high enough.

Fit CAN be an issue, because the device MUST HAVE the activity sensor touching your cheek. It JUST doesn't work at all unless that is the case. It isn't a question of it not working WELL if it doesn't, barely NO sound comes through if it isn't touching your face. On the one hand, this is great because ONLY what it can relate to the sound coming through the two micro microphones is transmitted as actual caller sound, but on the other hand one's VOICE gets filtered if the unit cannot properly compare it to the sound vibrations.

When it works and it fits, it works pretty darn well. I think the previous generation had better sound in the earpiece, I am still not happy with the sound in my ear. But, callers say that the sound is excellent. Very rich, strong signal and volume and not a lot of background noise.

Except for wind. I cannot even open the window in my car, and not have the wind COMPLETLY destroy the entire call. It isn't even a question of it being garbled, there is just NO discernable voice call coming through. I have tried calling MY HOME and leaving a voice mail on the AW, and even I cannot understand what I am saying when there is wind.

So, windows must be up. but, walking down a busy street, standing in a starbucks, being outside when the plane is turning up the engines, even the obligatory LAWN MOWER test my callers could BARELY tell that anything else was going on.

The earpiece on my mogul, treo, KRZR and iphone ALL sound better to ME in the ear than the JBII headset, but that really isn't the whole purpose of the unit. What with the new CA law going into effect TODAY for requiring headsets, I'll stick with it.

All in all, probably one of the best, if not THE best headphones.

Just a note on pricing. The original one I bought was full boat, 129$ OUCH! but, with about two weeks ATT had them for 95$, (83$ with my disc). I think we'll see them by July in the 85-95$ range, or LESS.

[mosdef29]

im using the moto H700. on the actual unit it says h700c. I like how i can flip the mic to turn it off when i dont want it on to save batt.

sounds good. loud enough for me to hear. Sounds good on the other end too according to those on the other line. its light and small.

[Etrnlwanderer]

Which would be the best "in ear" BT headset that goes well with the Touch? The usual BT headsets keep popping out of my ear all the time and since they're quite loose audio qulaity isnt the greatest. So I was wondering if someone could point me to a headset that lets you plug into the ear canal, then clarity as well as fit would be perfect

[osmany21]

I had a plantronic voyager and it was great, it fit in the ear and sounded great. got rid of it for the crappy jabra jx10 and regret it. The plantronics also has an ear hoop that helps on top of the in the ear gels. I am looking to get either a blueant z9i or the jawbone 2. I am currently leaning towards the blueant and it has two sizes so it might fit.

[Gowry]

I've been through quite a few headsets and I love the Plantronics 855.
It fits into the ear canal, is very comfortable, and has an extensible boom. People usually complain that they can't hear me on headsets, but this one has been great.

I've also used:

Jawbone: people could hear me if music blared in the background but not when it was silent. I hated the earpiece. I like canal-headphones like those made by Shure and wish more headsets would adopt the same style of earpiece with replaceable foamies.

Plantronics Voyager 510: Great sound quality but had some problems with static every now and then.

Motoroloa ???: just didn't work well with the ppc6700. No motorola device seemed to. (I'm on the Touch now)

Plantronics 665: had a nice in-car charger but no one could hear me on it.

Plantronics 640: I still have and use this one. Not quite as nice as the 855, but still very good. I wish it had the same earpiece as the 855.

Gowry

[bkrodgers]

Originally Posted by Etrnlwanderer

Which would be the best "in ear" BT headset that goes well with the Touch? The usual BT headsets keep popping out of my ear all the time and since they're quite loose audio qulaity isnt the greatest. So I was wondering if someone could point me to a headset that lets you plug into the ear canal, then clarity as well as fit would be perfect

I've been attracted to this too. I absolutely love my in-ear phones from Etymotic Research. I use the ER-6i model (here). They're similar to the Shure, but I liked them even better than the Shure models in a similar price range. Anyway, I was very excited to see they've got a bluetooth headset now that uses the same type of ear canal plug. It's called EtyBLU, and you can read about it here. However, iLounge reviewed it and gave it a lukewarm rating (see it here). But Amazon user ratings have been pretty good (just 5 reviews so far though), and CNet liked it here. I might try it out at some point. I've had a lot of problems with headsets not fitting securely in my ear, and this one has anything going for it, it's certainly going to have a tight fit.

[Etrnlwanderer]

Thank you osmany21, Gowry and bkrodgers. A nice array really, now... to make up MY mind, that's gonna be the difficult part! lol
Kind of shifting towards the Plantronics 855, but I'm keeping an eye on the blueant z9i for its multiphone connectivity... decisions.. decisions...