Preface: I’m taking a little different approach with this review. Plantronics offers the Voyager Pro headset in several versions; the Voyager Pro targets the common portable application accompanying mobile phones, while the Voyager Pro UC extends it reach to use with soft phones or Unified Communications (UC) clients on computers. Since these use cases might be considered separately I’ve decided to offer the review in two parts, one addressing each use case specifically.
In the fall of 2009 Plantronics gave me a Savi Go Bluetooth headset to use in the presentation that I was developing for Astricon. Given the project at hand I had some very specific needs, including wideband audio capability to compliment a SIP soft phone. The new generation of cordless headsets targeting “Unified Communications” application seemed like a good match for my needs. “UC” implies wideband audio.
Although I was prepared to be disappointed yet again, my experience using the Savi Go was much better than I had expected. Unlike the BT headsets I had tried previously, it sounded good to me as the wearer, and also to the person on the far end of the call.
At least in part I attribute the audio quality to the fact that the Savi Go has a mic boom that reaches around to the front of the wearer. This is relatively unusual amongst Bluetooth headsets, and provides very direct pickup of the dialogue. While I used the Savi Go with both soft phones and cell phones, that very mic boom makes the Savi Go a little less than ideal for mobile applications. It simply doesn’t fit in the pocket as neatly as other models.
Early in 2010 Plantronics introduced the Voyager Pro & Voyager Pro UC, a pair of new models, reputedly their best ever. Like so many of the latest Bluetooth headsets the Voyager Pro series claims considerable technological sophistication, employing advanced techniques to reduce noise and increase voice clarity.
The difference between to Voyager Pro and Voyager Pro UC comes down to target market and accessories. The Voyager Pro is aimed at the retail consumer who wants a great headset for use with a cell phone. It sells for around $80 and can be found at numerous online and brick & mortar retailers. In part one of this little saga let me consider the use of the Voyager Pro headset in mobile applications, paired to my cell phone.
I received my Voyager Pro UC in September 2010 and have been making regular use of it in a variety of applications. Whereas the Savi Go lived on my desk much of the time the Voyager Pro UC can more often be found in my pocket or computer bag. It travels with me all the time.
Unpacking the headset I found an array of nicely considered accessories including; a wall charger, USB charging cable, a nylon bag for storage , and the BUA200 USB Bluetooth dongle. The package also included a CD with some driver software intended to manage the use of the headset with a PC.
The Voyager Pro UC is physically compact. It’s stubby boom rotates and swivels making it adaptable to be worn on the left or right side. You might initially think that the boom is potentially fragile, it is in fact a carbon impregnated plastic, making it remarkably light, rigid and very tough. It has survived in my computer bag many months without incident.
The soft plastics tip of the headset that fits into your ear comes in several changeable sizes with soft foam covers. If you’re like me you’ll probably find the one that fits you best and promptly lose the rest into a junk drawer. The fact that they are replaceable may be handy over the long term.
The headset has four buttons; power on/off, volume up/down and a multi-function button that is used to answer or hang up the current call.
To pair the headset with a Bluetooth device simply put the headset into discovery mode by holding the power button until the light just above it flashes. The BT host should then find the headset and establish the pairing relationship. You may be asked to enter a pass code to establish pairing. The default pass code is “0000” I had no issues pairing the Voyager Pro with any BT host that I tried.
Initially I used the headset with my cell phones and laptop, only occasionally using it with my desktop. Since I could pair the Voyager Pro UC with the built-in Bluetooth radios on my HP laptop and netbook I didn’t make much use of the BUA200 in the first month or two.
When used with the Blackberry 9700 and T-Mobile G2 (aka HTC Desire Z) the Voyager Pro UC worked very well. It’s comfortable to wear over the long haul. It sounds good even in narrrowband applications with mobile phones. My wife tells me that it sounds as good or better than any other headset that I’ve used. As the person I most often call while travelling, she would know.
This is the first Plantronics headset that I’ve used that featured a micro-USB charging connection. This is great since it means not needing to carry a unique charger or cable. I charge that headset using the same AC adapter that I carry for my phone, or a USB port on my laptop.
The headset provides considerable battery life. From a full charge I found the talk time to be around six hours. The only time I ran it all the way down in one session was on a marathon VUC call. I typically only charge it once or twice a week. The battery is not end-user replaceable.
The Voyager Pro UC actually talks to you, alerting you to various facets of its status. When you first turn on the headset a soft female voice reports its projected talk time remaining. When it connects to a Bluetooth host it advises you of that fact. Lastly, as the battery nears depletion it also lets you know.
Unlike the Savi Go that I have used previously, the Voyager Pro is a Class 2 Bluetooth device. The 2.5 mW limit of the class 2 radio means that it’s cordless range is limited to about twelve feet in free space. This is consistent with my experience with the headset.
I have found that while travelling I can leave my cell phone on the desk or night stand while wandering around my hotel room without encountering any loss of audio quality. In my home office I can wander to the area of my desk & workbench, but not so far as the coffee machine some thirty feet away.
Plantronics has some interesting examples of the Voyager Pro UC being used in very harsh, noisy environments. While I experienced nothing like their wind tunnel example, I do feel that it was markedly better than the Savi Go at dealing with wind noise.
I reach this conclusion since I’ve been making much greater use of the Voyager Pro outdoors with my cell phone. In fact, I’m using it almost daily, even when I’m at home. The reason for this is perhaps unusual and bears explanation.
When I’m at home part of my daily routine is to take both dogs on their twice daily walkabouts. Our walks tend to run from 20 minutes to an hour. With my canine associates on leashes my hands are usually quite occupied. Cats & squirrels abound in our neighborhood, so I must be ever vigilant to keep our little team out of mischief.
It also happens that my working day can be a little on the extended side, at both ends of the day. I work for a UK based firm, so I have occasion to make and receive calls very early in the morning, which is a good time for my UK based associates. Yet our US operation, including my boss, is based on California, so I often hear from the west coast well after 6pm central time.
It has become fairly routine for my boss to call me just as I’m walking the dogs. The Voyager Pro has been helpful in allowing me to conveniently take his after hours calls while suppressing the background noise presented by the neighborhood.
My sense is that the Voyager Pro is very good at conveying intelligible voice even in some of the more common noisy situations. For example, while driving in our car. To illustrate this assertion I’ve created a couple of sample recordings. The both were recorded while driving around the Houston city streets near my home. In fact both recording were made at exactly the same time.
The first recording is a cell phone call placed from my G2 cell phone to my office line, where I am able to record the call to an uncompressed WAV file using a Polycom SoundPoint IP650 desk phone. The second recording is the exact same period of time but recorded using a Zoom H2 flash recorder.
Of course, one recording started out full-bandwidth, while the other is a narrowband cell phone call. To compensate for this fact I have processed the wideband recording, bandwidth limiting it to the same passband as a cellular call. When compared these two samples should give you some sense of the noise reduction processing employed in the headset.
 |
|
| Voyager Pro UC & Cell phone to IP650 | Zoom H2 Down-sampled |
| Click on the text link above to play each sample recording. | |
The two recordings have been trimmed to the same point in time and level adjustments made so that they are as similar as I could manage. The high-end of the full-band recording has been rolled off through filtering and down-sampling. Both are mono MP3s sampled at 16 KHz and encoded to 64 kbps.
The certainly sound very different. The Zoom recording retains a lot more low frequency information, including the cabin and road noise. The Voyager Pro seems to have reduced this noise, although at the expense of making my voice sound a little thinner.
I admit that these few little tests that I’ve recorded are not a serious attempt at accurate measurement of the device. Nonetheless, they do give you some real-world examples upon which to build your own opinion of the Voyager Pro. They go beyond merely stating my personal opinion.
The Voyager Pro also supports the A2DP profile for Bluetooth audio. This allows the headset to be used for audio playback beyond telephony applications. For example, when listing to music from a cell phone. Using A2DP the stereo stream is collapsed into mono so that both channels are heard in one ear. I don’t see this as especially useful for music, but it has proven handy for listening to podcasts, which is something I do quite frequently.
In the months since I started using the Plantronics Voyager Pro UC I’ve recommended it to various friends, family and co-workers, all of whom report that they, like me, are happy with its performance. The Plantronics Voyager Pro UC is without a doubt the best Bluetooth headset that I have ever used for mobile applications. It’s durable, comfortable and has impressive battery life. Best of all it sounds great. For mobile use I give it my highest recommendation…that is, I use it myself almost every day.
In part 2 of this review I’ll share my experience using the Plantronics Voyager Pro UC with soft phone/UC applications on computers, including wideband telephony in office applications. This experience was a bit rockier and thus perhaps a more interesting path to follow.