Motorola HS850 Bluetooth Headset

This is my second blue tooth headset, the first being the Motorola H500 that I thought I had lost. I bought this as a replacement off of eBay, and got a good deal off of it. I had bought this headset by mistake, and realized that the H700 was the more modern version, still, I decided to stick with this one.

Voice quality. I've read a few reviews stating that there is a problem with echo. I've made test calls in different environments and have heard no echo. The people I've called have heard no echo either. And one person I called said the quality of the sound from my end was "far and above" what it was when I was using my H500, even though the H500 is a newer model headset. The person said he heard an echo when I was using the H500, and not the HS850 which I was currently using. I don't know, perhaps I'm fortunate that I'm not having the problems that others are having. One reviewer also noted that the opening for the microphone is facing the cheek, which resulted a muffled sound. Do not buy this headset if you're one of those people whose ears stick out. I haven't had a problem with it.

Ergonomics. The boom mic doubles as an on/off switch, which is very handy. I know exactly when it's on or off. With the other headset, you'll have to press the call button to see if the LED lights up, because we ALL forget sometimes if we turned off the headset. This feature saves a lot of battery power. With the H500, if you hold the call button just a little too long, you'll be back in discover mode and will have to pair it with your phone all over again.

Volume. Some reviewers have said that the maximum volume isn't loud enough. To me, the volume actually goes louder than the H500. The earpiece comes with a rubber cup around the speaker, it seems this is to help focus the sound better. The rubber piece is removable if you don't want to use it.

The outside ear design is typical of all outside ear designs: it tends to flap around after a while. And this is no different. But the design is much more comfortable than sticking the earpiece inside the ear canal, which becomes uncomfortable after more than a few minutes. The drawback is it will not fit some people's ears very well. I recommend that before purchasing ANY outside-the-ear unit like this one, try it on at a store first. That way you'll know if this design will fit you well enough. The piece that goes around the ear is bendable and can be shaped to fit your ear.

Pairing. Pairing this headset with a cellphone, is only slightly more involved than the H500. With the boom mic in the closed position, you will have to press the call button for 4-5 seconds until the steady light comes on. Then you press the call button again and immediately open the boom mic to start the pairing process. Once pairing is complete, the headset has no problem connecting to my RAZR. So far, not one single dropped connection, which is unlike my previous headset.

Charging the unit. The battery supposedly lasts for 8 hours of talk time, but I haven't put that to the test yet. Since the unit is an older model, it doesn't use the same mini USB charging port that my RAZR, H500, or the H700 does. That disappointed me a little bit until I realized it was an older model. So I will have to use two different chargers, instead of one because the RAZR and my H500 used the same mini USB charger. The charging unit does use the same chargers as the other non RAZR/SLVR cell phones.

After a couple of weeks, I found my H500, and decided to use that unit as my back up headset to the HS850 because the HS850 performs much better.

Update: March 6, 2007

Voice Dialing. If you have a voice dial enabled phone, this particular headset is a very good choice. With my old H500, I had to say the name or word AT LEAST TWICE before my phone would dial, and many times, it didn't work at all. With this HS850, apparently the sound quality is so good, that it always works on the first try. I'm impressed to say the least.