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: good headset bad amazon
Summary: 4 Stars
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.Customer Review: USB Audio ALERT!
Summary: 2 Stars
Warning to those who do not know:
If you do not have a sound card that supports USB sound connectivity, do NOT purchase any microphones or headsets that run on USB! These will not work unless you plan on purchasing and installing an all-new sound card in your computer that will support playing & recording audio via USB port.
For those with older computers, it is a simple task to look at your sound card port (where you plug in your speakers/microphone - usually in the back of your PC)... If you see the green, red, and black standard audio ports, but NO USB on the same metal plate, then you should not get a USB driven audio device unless you are ready to upgrade your sound card in order to fully support these devices.
There may be updates to the software or drivers on your sound card manufacturer's website, so check there as well before you decide not to get a USB sound device. However, 99% of the time, these USB speakers, microphones, headsets, etc. will not work without the proper physical USB plug on the sound card itself.
Just a little FYI for those about to buy without checking.
--Xo
Customer Review: Great Skype-ing Headset
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm currently in Afghanistan and while my laptop has built-in mic, the quality in my room sounded like I was far away so I wanted to try a headset. I bought these for skyping with my family back in North Carolina and (contrary to some reviews) I LOVE the VERY long cord, it aloows me to move around and talk at the same time.
Now for the 4-star portion. They are comfortable and I realize that when wearing a collapsable headphone, there is going to be some loss, and for me, it's the tightness at which they hug my ears. The inline volume wheel is AWESOME, but I find that if I press them a little tighter to my head, I acn hear soo much better. Now, I wont discount the fact that I just turned 40 having SOME impact on it :) but a little more snugness would be great. But as far as the quality goes, I could NOT be happier!
One addition that WOULD be nice...a small carrying bag and tie wrap (ok that's two additions) to help with ensuring the ginormous cable doesnt get entangled in my travel backpack, cause you know us geeks...well prepared and cables/gadgets galore in our trusty backpacks.
Great job Plantronics!
Customer Review: Nice headset, good speech accuracy
Summary: 4 Stars
Does what it says - foldable plastic headset with good speech accuracy in programs like Dragon Naturally Speaking.
The cord has a volume and mute switch. You can either plug its two output jacks directly into your laptop's twin audio/mic jacks, or, you can plug the 470's output jacks into the included small USB audio device, which is basically a tiny box with a USB plug on one side and two jack sockets on the other. On my system, speech-to-text dictation accuracy was the same via the USB device or by just plugging the headset right into my laptop. (Dragon NaturallySpeaking actually rated the direct-plug approach as a better signal to noise ratio than the USB-plug approach.)
Sound seems adequate while playing music, but oddly, I thought Skype telephony was better with a $10 budget cellphone headset than this $30 name-brand PC headset. (You get a little cord attachment for about $3 which lets you plug a regular cellphone headset into your two-jack PC; "2.5 mm mobile headset to pc converter" @ amazon.) A little spooky to watch the Amazon price of the Plantronics 470 go up and down 20% or 30% day to day.
Customer Review: Packaging
Summary: 1 Stars
Dangerous. Very, very dangerous. This packaging cannot be readily overcome with a pair of heavy kitchen shears. To even try to open the package with a knife or scissors is just inviting frustration and hazard. Plan to devote your time to a concentrated effort with a razor (utility knife). Work on a protected surface, as you will have to cut through two separate layers of heavy plastic before you begin to free the headset from the packing tape used to secure it to the cardboard. Pulling the headset, even slightly, presents a high degree of risk of ripping the very fine wires to the microphone and ear pieces free, an impossible situation to repair.
The packaging folks at Plantronics have taken the field to an entirely new level. Anti-consumerism on steriods. Its hard to imagine they are unaware that simply opening their product puts their customers in a situation that could be so frustrating. Frustration leading to impulsivity leading to injury.
No doubt, their corporate position is that packaging doesn't sever tendons, customers do.