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treocentral.com >> Stories >> Hardware
Review: The Astounding Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth Headset


Thu Oct 22, 2009 - 3:01 PM EDT - By Annie Latham

More on the Astounding Plantronics Discovery 975

Comfort:

If you are used to headsets that over the ear hooks, trying to figure out how to fit the Discovery 975 can be challenging. I played around with the ear tips provided (three sizes) until I found one that seemed to work. There is a stabilizer loop, which seems kind of strange. The surprising thing is that somehow the Discovery 975 fit without slipping AND without being inserted way into my ear. Super comfortable just moving around the office. The real test would be when I hit the road in my Jeep (more on that later).

Pairing: First of all, pairing was a snap. I tried it with a bunch of devices and it was easily discoverable. Adjusting the fit took lots longer than actually pairing it.

Sound quality: The Discovery 975 certainly delivers in the sound department. I could hear my callers very clearly from my desk and from a moving vehicle. The people I talked to couldn't tell I was on a Bluetooth device.

The reason is probably because Plantronics packed this headset with all kinds of technical "goodies." To start, it uses the company's noise canceling "AudioIQ2" (probably pronounced AudioIQ-squared) technology. There are dual microphones, which capture your voice while also canceling background noise. They threw in a 20-band equalizer that also helps to make the voice quality sound fantastic.

Moving on to the boom part of the headset, Plantronics has incorporated its WindSmart technology that supposedly offers three levels of wind noise protection. Grooved vents deflect wind, acoustic fabric blocks wind, and electronic filters remove wind noise. When you look at the boom, the WindSmart technology is not truly visible. I saw some skinny openings on the top and the bottom of the boom and that's it.

Jeep Test: I was curious to road test the Discovery 975. Not only did I want to grade the sound quality, but I also was very interested in whether it would stay put in my ear as I zoomed 65 mph over the San Rafael Bridge with the top down.

Sound wise, it passed with flying colors as long as I was on city streets or merging into freeway traffic. Long before I hit the bridge, my brother (who is my testing partner) said to call him later. I heard him clearly. He found the background noise annoying.

The awesome news is that the Discovery 975 held in place the whole way over the bridge and beyond. It didn't budge. Plus, I hardly noticed it. That's huge for such a tiny headset.

Conclusion: The Discovery 975 ($119.95) is a winner. By far, it is the best Bluetooth headset I have ever used. The "magical" charging case puts it over the top. Anyone with small ears will find this headset especially great to use.

It packs a lot of technology into a very sleek and elegant form-factor, plus it is super simple to use. Investing in one of these is money well spent!

###

Ratings:

Design/Comfort: 5
Features: 5
Usability: 5
Sound Quality: 4
Cost/Benefit: 4
Overall: 4

Pros

--Super lightweight with comfortable fit that doesn’t slip
--Easy to pair/ Easy to use
--Awesome charging case lets you store and charge up while on the go
--Does a great job canceling out background noise under normal conditions

Cons

--Didn’t seem to handle super windy conditions well
--Takes a while to do initial fitting

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