Plantronics Foldable USB Stereo Headset (Optimized for Laptop Use) (Audio 470 USB)
by Plantronics
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Our Price: $129.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Plantronics Foldable USB Stereo Headset (Optimized for Laptop Use) (Audio 470 USB)
Customer Review: Great Sound, but will it break easily?
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this headset for my HP Mini which has a combined jack for mic and headphones -- you can only use one of those devices at a time ! So, the only way I could find to use a separate headset was to buy a USB model. Having used Plantronics products for years, I anticipated a quality unit. The audio quality from both the headphones and microphone is excellent. Listening to music is a pleasure with quite good bass response and what my ears consider to be a good range of frequency response. Using the headset on Skype, the reports from those I have called are good.
My only real concern is the durability of the headset. It is plastic and there are a lot of joints to deal with. With care, it should last. When folded it fits nicely into a larger size soft-side sunglasses case which may offer some protection in my briefcase. Time will tell. Another minor issue is the length of the cord. It is about 9' long and simply WAY too long for use while traveling. I ended up bundling and tie-wrapping about 5' of the cord neatly to keep it out of the way.
As usual, Amazon shipped it reaonably quickly in a box but with minimal packing material. Thankfully Plantronics packaged it well enough that it didn't get destroyed enroute. Come on Amazon, learn to pack things properly ! ! !
Overall, if this headset doesn't self-destruct, I'll be a very happy buyer.
Customer Review: Great Value
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this headset to use with Dragon NaturallySpeaking and Windows speech recognition. I've been using it for over a month with great success. Although I'm glad it comes with a USB adapter, I don't use it with any of my computers since it works great with all of the built-in jacks I've tried. I've transported a number of times and it's quite nice that faults up into a very small bundle not much larger than a mouse. This fold ability sometimes leads to a sloppy fit and some slipping, but once I get it positioned properly I can go for hours without adjusting it. It would be nice if the headset came with a small bag like my Logitech Bluetooth mouse. The size of the headset as well as the left-hand boom are adjustable enough but I imagine it would work for most people. My head is larger than average and I find it quite comfortable. It is incredibly light weight which is important if you intend to wear it for extended periods of time. The cord runs about 9 feet which is good since it allows for the option of limited movement and seating within a few feet. The in cord volume control and mute switch are handy, although I don't use them that frequently since I find it more convenient to disable my speech recognition via voice. I feel that this product is of sufficient quality that I should be able to get many years of use out of it and I highly recommend it.Customer Review: Great sound and comfortable
Summary: 4 Stars
I tried a few differed headphones before sticking with these. They are really lightweight (translation: comfortable). Previous attempts (including a different plantronics model) were uncomfortable because (1) they squeezed my ears or (2) they used a wrap-around feature that pressed in the back of my head if I wanted to lie (lay?) down.
The sound quality is surprisingly good. Watched a recorded HD program on my computer yesterday and was blown away by the sense of immersive sound.
I plugged the headphones in using the USB adapter - connected easily (if you have problems with the headphones switching off the speakers, shut the program that you're using (e.g. web-browser, WMC) down and restart after plugging in the headphones).
I wanted to extend the length of the headphone cord, so I simply plugged in a USB extension cord... worked perfectly.
I haven't tried the microphone for voice recognition yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's as good as the headphones.
Seems to be a great price for what you get. The headphone plastic looks a little flimsy - the sort of plastic that looks like it could get snapped easily, so if you plan to fold these up and shove them in and out of a bag whilst traveling, you might want to be aware of that potential weakness.
Customer Review: very happy=====speech recognition
Summary: 4 Stars
I think I've looked at 50 headsets of microphones and these are the only ones that I could find any review on that did expressively talked about speech recognition.ease of use is exactly right I plugged them in and ran them through check your audio system signal-to-noise rating with the USB I received 16 reading when I removed the USB and just jacked them and I got a rating of 22. My spouse had some good ones but not as good as these. The headphone are excellent to but in my case I found if you have the phones up very loud the microphone will try to print what's coming from the headphone no problem for me I just turned way down. Durability I give it a 3 star they philatelic it so I'm careful with them within their best to add or speech recognition. Comfort they're very comfortable I sit at this computer for hours and these are the first ones that don't heard my head or my heirs. Speech recognition they're doing very well on that score to I'm very happy and I would get another pair if I or my dogs Brooke these. Be good consumers so read all the reviews especially the bad ones sometime they tell you a lot.
I did the review with Dragon naturally speakingm and I don't pronounce words all that well either so this microphone helps a lot. if you choose them I hope you like them as I do.
Customer Review: Good for gaming, durable
Summary: 5 Stars
I do a lot of gaming, so use a mic'd headset for Ventrilo just about every day. Previous headsets that I have used have broken down fairly quickly, because I have to wrap up the wires and put the headset in a drawer when I am done with it, otherwise the cats will chew it up. This frequent wrapping and unwrapping of the wires has done in other headsets in a matter of months...even more expensive headsets. I bought this one about two years ago because it was cheaper and I figured it'd be less costly to replace it later, and it only just now broke down. It LOOKS fragile, but it definitely is not. I will be buying the exact same item to replace the one that finally broke down.
Sound is also great, both input and output, and the headset is comfortable to wear for hours at a time. The earphones are not noise-cancelling, but for me that's a bonus, because I like to have the game sound and music come out of my regular speakers (and sometimes have the TV on too), and I can easily hear both the game/music (or TV) sounds and the chat on Ventrilo through my headphones at the same time.
I agree with others that the cord is way too long, but I prefer that over a cord that is way too short, which is more frequently the case.
I love this headset. SRSLY