Review: The BlueAnt V1 Bluetooth Headset

Posted by: dgoldring on Nov 10 2008

I have reviewed a lot of headsets since I started writing for JAMM.  In fact, I have tested and reviewed many of the most prominent names in Bluetooth headsets: Jawbone, Plantronics, SoundID…you name it, I have probably reviewed it.  All, that is, except BlueAnt.  So, when I had the opportunity to review the Blueant V1,compliments of the JAMM Store, I jumped at the chance.  And I have to say, this is a headset like none that I have reviewed. 

So, what made this one so special?  Well, let’s start with the fact that it talks to you.  Talks??  Yeah, I had the same thought.  The last time I played with a gadget that talked to me, was in the 1980’s…my cousin got one of those talking cars.  It was supposed to be useful, the wave of the future.  Instead, a strangely mechanize female voice just kept chanting, “Your door is ajar…your door is ajar…”  Over and over.  It started to feel a little like a cult.  The cult of talking cars…but I digress.  The point here was that when I heard the BlueAnt V1 would talk to me, visions of that car danced through my head like sugarplums the night before Christmas.   Fortunately, I was wrong.

[The Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT), a different talking car than the one I used.]

To the contrary, unlike that talking car of my youth, the voice inside this headset was one of the most useful features I have ever seen in a headset.  In fact, the voice commands are one of the reasons I love this headset so much. 

One of my biggest problems with most headsets is that I can never tell whether it is connected to my phone or not.  Typically, you get the standard three chimes and flashing blue light, but what does that really mean?  Generally, it tells you that the headset is turned on.  But connected?  Could be.  This has led me to many frustrating mistakes when I thought the headset was connected, only to find it was not.  With the BlueAnt V1, this problem has been completely eliminated.  When you connect to BlueAnt to your phone, a polite voice will pipe through the speaker informing you that the connection has been established.  Likewise, when you disconnect, that voice will return again with a status report.

The other problem I have with many headsets is pairing.  Generally, pairing requires you to hold one or more buttons until the phone enters pairing mode (which is designated by a series of flashing lights.)  Not that this is terribly complicated in most cases, but it is different with every headset, which can lead to confusion.  With the BlueAnt, all you have to do is turn on the headset.  If it is not already paired to a phone, it will walk you through the pairing process.  I have never found a headset that was this user friendly.

Of course, as we all know, talk can be cheap.  My wife is very fond of telling me that what she really wants is someone who can listen.  And headsets are no different.  It is great that this headset can give you verbal status reports, but what about when you want to give it a command or take some action.  

In most headsets, this means pushing a button (or series of buttons) or using the controls on your phone.  Obviously, neither of these options is ideal.  Pushing buttons can be difficult when you have the headset in your ear.  Many use a small design with small buttons, meaning my large fingers often struggle to find the right combination.  Likewise, controlling you call from the handset…well, doesn’t that sort of defeat part of the purpose here? 

With the BlueAnt, there are no complicated controls to remember.  Just tell it what you want to do.  you can program up to nine speed dials, as well as at least a dozen simple commands.  Want to ignore a call?  Don’t fumble with the buttons and risk pushing the wrong one, just tell the headset to ignore the call.  Just speak the commands, and the headset will listen.  I know a lot of wives who wish things were that easy.

OK.  So where does that leave us so far?  Well, we know this.  If you want to have a conversation with your headset, this is going to work great for you.  But the point of a headset is not to converse with you.  All of those voice commands and controls are designed to facilitate your conversation with someone else.  So, if all you can do is talk to your headset…well, that might be fun but not terribly useful.  So, how does the Blueant V1 work when you are talking to other people?

I tested this headset in a number of different environments: walking down the street, hanging out in the train station, boarding the train, riding the train, and even the grocery store.  All of these are generally noisy environments, which find me competing against wind, train engines, and other people talking loudly.  None of them are ideal for carrying on a conversation.  Exactly where I like to test my headsets.

Really, when we talk about holding a conversation, we are actually talking about two different things.  The speaker, or how the call sounds to me; and the microphone, or how the call sounds to someone on the other end.  Let’s tackle those in order.

Like I said, I tested this headset in a variety of different loud environments, and I can truly say that I never had any trouble hearing.  Every call was crystal clear.  And if the environment did get too loud, just use the volume buttons on top (which are large and easily identified) to adjust the volume.

Really, though, it is not surprising that the call sounded great to me.  That is the easy part, and it is a rare headset that does not have at least an adequate speaker included.  The more important question is how the call sounds to the recipient.  Ever since the original Jawbone introduced a new level of noise isolation, there has been a heated competition between many of the biggest names in Bluetooth headsets to push the envelope of noise isolation technology further than any other.  BlueAnt’s contribution to this competition is their Voice Isolation Technology.  BlueAnt’s Voice Isolation Technology uses dual microphones to filter outside noise and focus on your voice.  What sets this apart from other noise isolation headsets is the dual settings.  Set it to standard when you are in a low noise environment (home or office) to give you a natural sounding voice with minimal filtering.  When you are in a noisy environment, just switch it to max, which will heavily filter noise while making your voice more intelligible (not more intelligent, unfortunately.)  This setting is ideal for vehicles, crowded areas, walking on the streets, or (of course) the train.

This is all, of course, a fancy way of saying that it sounded great.   I will admit that it took me a few tries to get the settings figured out, so I was using the standard noise isolation in some relatively noisy environments.  This led to a few complaints from my wife, which were quickly explained and rectified once I realized that I was using the wrong setting.

Once I did have the settings figured out, my wife commented that she could rarely hear background noises.  In fact, she mentioned that she could not hear the person sitting next to me on the train, even though she knew he was talking to me as well.  I found the Voice Isolation Technology to be truly impressive and worked extremely well.  This is exactly what you need in order to ensure perfect clarity in all of your calls. 

I want to end this review by talking briefly about the fit and comfort of the headset, and also making a note about the battery and charging.  I used to talk about the fit and comfort earlier in these reviews, but I realized that I was probably overemphasizing the fit and comfort of a headset.  Obviously, the most important aspect of a headset is how it sounds, both to you and the call recipient.  That is followed closely by the controls.  Only then does the fit and comfort become an important factor.  In other words, you are much more likely to use an uncomfortable headset that sounds great, than a terrible sounding headset which fits perfectly on your ear.  So, I think this is a far more appropriate time in the review to discuss the fit and comfort (and style if you will) of the headset.

I really liked the design of this headset.  It was extremely compact, which meant it did not hang down in my face.  Additionally, since it relies so heavily on voice commands, there was plenty of room to make the few buttons on the headset large enough to be usable.

The ear hook is in a swivel which allows it to be adjusted at any angle to fit either a right or left ear.  There are two hooks included, so you can use the one which is most comfortable.  Likewise, there are a variety of different shapes and styles of earbuds, including a comfort foam variety.  I recommend you give all of the different buds a try.  At first, the BlueAnt did not fit well in my ear, but I played around with the earbuds until I found one that fit perfectly (I prefer the foam pads.)  There are enough different sizes and shaped in here that you should be able to find a perfect fit as well.

My favorite feature, though, is the clip on the underside of the headset.  Now, I am the kind of person who hates having things jammed in my ear all the time.  So, when I am not using the headset, it generally slips into my pocket, where it gets lost until my phone rings.  Then, it is a furious fumble trying to fish the headset out of the deepest recesses of my pocket.  Of course, by that time, the caller has hung up.  BlueAnt directly addresses this problem by attaching a clip to the underside of the headset.  This allows the headset to clip onto your collar, pocket, shirt, or just about anywhere else.  When not in use, the clip will lie flat against the headset.  All I can say is why has no one thought of this before now?  Genius!

Finally, I was extremely impressed by the battery.  I was able to go several days without charging the headset.  Even more impressive, however, was the array of charging accessories.  Not only will you find a standard USB sync/charge cable (the connection to the headset is a microUSB in case you were wondering,)  but you will also find an AC adaptor and a car adaptor, so you can charge the headset from anywhere.  Heck, they ever threw in a mini USB to micro USB adapter so you can use virtually any sync/charge cable to charge this battery.  I have always regretted the trend away from including these accessories.  far too many devices include only a USB charging cable, without the additional adaptors.  I think that is a mistake and was extremely happy to find them here.

Overall, I was extremely impressed by the BlueAnt headset.  I had heard great things about this company, but I had never had an opportunity to test out any of their offerings.  I am glad I waited.  The voice commands are nothing short of fantastic, not at all like those annoying cars of the mid-80’s.  The headset both gives and receives instructions with ease, and I found the headset’s voice reminders to be extremely useful, for example, when trying to determine whether your phone has successfully paired or connected to the headset.  And the pocket clip…oh the pocket clip.  So simple, and yet so perfect.  BlueAnt has really done a fantastic job of raising the bar with this one, and I think they have left much of the field far behind, stuck in their perpetually ajar doors.

What I Liked:

• small and comfortable design
• great battery and charging adapter
• pocket clip
• voice commands and instructions

What Needs Improvement: Not a thing.

Where To Buy: JAMM Store

Price: $89.99

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