Plantronics Foldable USB Stereo Headset

5 comments

1. 

   Z. Lei on December 8, 2009 at 3:47 am

   It took me about 15 minutes, trying 4 pairs of scissors, and a couple of cuts on my hand to open the package!

2. 

   AmazonCust on December 8, 2009 at 5:54 am

   In a nutshell, very good headset, bad amazon shipping service. The headsets sound and mic are great, as you would expect from Plantronics. The shipping service from Amazon is another matter though. The ‘free’ shipping was poor. First, it was late, which is really bad, given the rediculously long ‘window’ of time they allow themselves to get it to you. Taking weeks, instead of days, is poor even for the mail. And they dont give you a very obvious idea of exactly what service it will be shipped by. And the tracking link was worthless, as it would just show repeated lines saying ’scanned’, which is useless information. I called and emailed customer service several times, and while prompt and courteous, they couldn’t provide any additional information. To Amazon’s credit, they shipped another unit free of shipping charges. But that was at my request and only after repeated contacts initiated by me, and after they told me several times to ‘just wait another week, and were sure it will be there. Free shipping is just a marketing gimmick then, as it doesn’t work well if they can take weeks in simple delivery. They tried to blame it on the service they use for delivery, but that is irresponsible as well as bad business as well.

3. 

   dud dew on December 8, 2009 at 7:41 am

   Impenetrable package, poor design of headset (insufficient tension to stay on
   
   smaller or narrower heads), no little manual (which is the mic plug, which the phones?
   
   what about the in-line switch?), and, to top it off, my desktop, after a quick
   
   setup of DNS with my stock mic, failed this one on the volume test (tried every combo
   
   of plugs and switches with and without USB) – then said it couldn’t find the sound
   
   system! Re-plugged my old mic, no other changes, and dictated a perfect paragraph…
   
   so no fundamental problem with system. Boooo!!!!

4. 

   Kenneth A. Winston on December 8, 2009 at 10:25 am

   Well Amazon.com
   
   To me and a lot of others you are the bomb

   Each time (a lot) I have ordered something from you
   
   With flying colors you always come through

   You have not sent me items late, so I can’t whine
   
   Matter of fact you’re usually ahead of time

   My ordering from other sites have come and gone
   
   And, for now and aways I’m with you Amazon!

   So, proudly I write this review
   
   And say a great big huge thumbs up to you

   …….Amazon.com

   Kynne Winston
   
   Content Customer

5. 

   narojoku on December 8, 2009 at 10:35 am

   I bought these headphones because they are recommended by MacSpeech for use with their Dictate speech recognition software (well, this is actually the successor to the one they recommend. Amazon apparently ships this one in place of the Audio 400)

   First off, the build quality on these headphones is rather poor. I can’t see the headband staying intact for more than a few months and looks like it might snap at any minute just by putting them on my head. The foam ear pads are flimsy and uncomfortable and the cord is also very flimsy and tangle prone. Overall, they remind me of the free headphones that airlines give out with an added microphone (which is no gem to look at itself)

   Sound quality, both microphone and headphone, was subpar (or worse). The sound was clear, but had a very quiet maximum volume as far as maximum volumes go. It got distorted at max volume too, forcing me to keep it at about medium. I suppose this would be fine for conversation as long as the other party spoke loudly enough, but don’t expect to use them for music (very poor bass and mid range).

   And finally, the purpose I bought this headset for: speech recognition. I use a Macbook Pro, and I originally tried the Dictate software out with the built in microphone. Sitting about 3-4 feet away from my computer and talking at a normal conversational volume and pace with no particular regard for where the microphone was relative to myself, I was able to get a 2/5 star rating from the Dictate software. In actual use, I managed to speak about a page worth of text (after the software had calibrated everything and I was speaking into a text editor). I averaged about 8 misspelled or misunderstood words per paragraph.

   Again, that was with my built in mic 3-4 feet away. So I figured with a proper, certified, headset I could get that inaccuracy down to nearly zero words per paragraph. Well, the audio 470 certainly did not perform. In fact, I couldn’t even get the software to advance past the calibration stage. It asks you to read several lines of text and the software checks to see if it can understand you. After about an hour of trying and frequently having to repeat words and sentences up to 8 times before they were recognized (something I never had to do when using the computer’s built in mic), I gave up and decided to return the headset.

   Others gave this headset good reviews, which makes me wonder if I just got a lemon. Regardless, the build quality and performance combined don’t even warrant giving this product a 1. Buy at your own caution.