Plantronics M165 Marque 2 Ultralight Bluetooth Headset - Frustration-Free Packaging - Black..
Buy Plantronics M165 Marque 2 Ultralight Bluetooth Headset - Frustration-Free Packaging - Black By PlantronicsMost helpful customer reviews
162 of 172 people found the following review helpful.
Get the M50
By Daniel Will-Harris
I had a Plantronics M50 headset that I called "the best bluetooth headset in the world." It could do many things, but fall into a puddle and continue to work was not one of them (and it never claimed to be waterproof--oh wait, after two days of drying out, it works again!).
Since I use a headset for everything (all calls, GPS, listening to music), I needed one right away so I went to BestBuy and bought one of these. It's small, light, and I was surprised that the earpiece actually fit and stayed in my ear--oh, it just fell out while I was talking, so I guess I need the ear loop for safety, can't have it falling out while I'm driving--that's dangerous).
LIKE:
Pairing was brilliant--it literally talks you through the process for Android or iPhone.
As with the M50, it talks to you when you turn it on, change the volume, lose or regain the connection. It's great to have these plain-English status prompts.
It tells you the approximate talk time in hours, which is convenient (but not entirely necessary, as the battery meter shows up automatically on smart phones--and perhaps not all that accurate--first it said I had four hours talk time, I talked for 15 minutes, then it said I had three).
When the phone rings, the headset prompts you to say "answer" or "ignore" and that actually works.
Holding down the volume button for two seconds mutes the mic, that's handy.
Vocalyst: I used this Dial2Do service in the past when I didn't have a smartphone and found it very useful--it will read your email to you, let you record reminders (it used to transcribe them, now that's an extra-cost option), read news from various sources such as the New York Times. The service normally costs $25 a year, and a free year is included with this headset.
DISLIKES:
My biggest complaint is that despite this having two mics, the resulting sound is tinny--as if it's cutting out. Perhaps this is part of the noise reduction, but when used in a quiet room, it just makes you sound more robotic than you probably are. I compared the sound from my M50 and this M165 back to back in voicemail I left myself, and the M5 is clearly more solid, richer sounding--and louder.
The same is true for listening volume--which was louder on the M50 (perhaps because it fits more snugly into the ear and makes a tighter connection)
The button, which looks like an iPhone home button, is fine--but on the M50, the entire face was the button, and that was easier to press. And pressing The M165's button pushes it into your ear, which is uncomfortable.
It is not as comfortable in the ear as the M50. That fit so well that I'd forget it was there. With this I keep feeling like something's stuck in my ear.
The MyHeadset app is not very useful. It lets you do a sound check and record, and it has pairing instructions but it doesn't have all instructions and I quickly deleted it. Just the documentation in PDF format for iBooks would be more useful.
Now, I'm a fan of Plantronics products--so I don't understand how the Plantronics M50 can be the best bluetooth headset on the planet, and the M165, which theoretically should be 110 "better" is not as good.
I'm so glad my M50 is working again--and I may buy another as a backup just in case, because it truly is the best.
166 of 179 people found the following review helpful.
Another great Plantronics headset
By atmj
I've had the predecessor to this headset the M155 Marque, and several other plantronics headsets. I never intended to replace those as, I was happy with them, but the Vine program has given me the opportunity to upgrade, so well, I just had to see what's new. For the purposes of comparison my phone is an over 6 month old HTC Rezound smart phone.
In summary the short version:
Pros:
+ Headset fits great and doesn't fall out of my ear
+ Headset is loud enough
+ Long battery life and telling me what is left each time I turn it on is nice
+ Headset picks up the phone well. At least to 10 feet (in the same room), reception was good
+ Voice prompts for being unconnected or connected are great..
+ Seamless pairing
Cons:
- Saying Answer to pick up has not worked well. Predecessor was great.
- Pairing instructions were wrong
- Vocalyst is pointless on a smart phone
The long version follows:
GREAT FIT:
This headset fits well and works well. What is unique about this headset over another is the interesting in ear retention feature. The predecessor I owned had something similar and I loved it. It is one of the few that works well with glasses and doesn't get goofed up by long hair. Prior headsets either competed with my glasses for behind the ear space, or the retention arm would be caught by my hair; flipping out of my ear with a simple movement of my hair.
LOUD ENOUGH OR CUTS NOISE ENOUGH:
I find the headset loud enough to use in the car and also to walk over a 2 story non-covered bridge (over 4 lanes of rush hour traffic) that I walk over every day. I don't know if it is the noise cancellation or the good fit that makes this possible. Either way it works.
PICKING UP WHEN I SAY ANSWER HAS NOT WORKED:
The only difficulty I have had, is with the headset picking up when I say "answer" in the car. I'm not sure why I was not understood. I believe this happened a few times. The prior headset was great at this. I will try this some more before I consider this an issue. Instead I had to push the headset button which was no hardship.
LONG BATTERY LIFE AND INFO ON BATTERY DURATION IS GREAT:
Like it's predecessor, this battery lasts a long time. Even longer that the prior headset per the literature. Mine is always in my purse and when I turn it on, it tells me what time is left. That is a great feature, as then I have a good idea when to charge it. I like to run stuff out, before I charge as usually this improves battery life, so this information is important.
GREAT RECEPTION OF PHONE TO HEADSET
Each time I have used the headset, either I had the phone on my belt buckle, or in my car's beverage receptacle. Anywhere from 2 feet to 3 feet from the head set. There was no issue. In fact at home, I have left the phone on a dresser and walked over 10 feet away with only a slight degradation of quality. That's what clued me in to the fact, I had left the phone somewhere.
VOICE INFO IS GREAT
Like many people I don't leave my bluetooth on. I like that this headset tells me that it does not have a phone connected, if there is none detected. It reminds me to turn on my blue tooth. Also, this headset tells me when it is connected and it can be paired to more than one device. This can come in handy.
PAIRING WAS SEAMLESS
Pairing this phone as well as it's predecessor went well. Unfortunately in both cases, the instructions of where to find the settings to pair were wrong. I know Android can be like that and vary with devices and my HTC Rezound might not be in the sets they tested their instructions with. However many smart phone users know how to do this and I was not too concerned.
VOCALYST IS NOT SOMETHING I WOULD USE:
For Vocalyst, I had tried that with the prior headset (my view is posted on Amazon) and it is a means of calling into a service to get access to your email, facebook etc. Essentially this service reads the content to you. As this burns minutes in my phone's call plan, it has no appeal to me. I tried it and that was enough for me. Since I have a smart phone, this is easy enough to check on this on the fly anyway. Maybe if I didn't have a smart phone or I needed constant access to my email, this would have more appeal.
MULTI-TASKING DEVICE:
Someone asked in a comment below, if this device could be simultaneously connected to two devices. The answer is Yes. I paired this headset to my iPad and connected it, then connected it to my cell phone. While listening to music on my iPad through the headset, I called my cellphone, which interrupted the music to notify me of the call...This was cool.
CAN REMAINED CONNECTED WHEN PLUGGED IN
Another person asked if this headset could remain connected while being plugged in. I checked this out and it could. I had the headset connected to the phone and then plugged it into the charger, where it remained actively connected. This is a mixed blessing because if you forget the headset is connected and your phone rings and you answer it without the headset in, you might be confused as to why you hear nothing. Once you figure out what is happening, I hope you have a means of switching to speaker (my smartphone does). I once left my headset in my purse connected and wondered why I kept getting these soundless calls...
This series of headsets are great.
78 of 86 people found the following review helpful.
Great Headset
By Amazon Customer
Plantronics M165 Bluetooth Headset / B0093TSSGW
I have owned the Plantronics M155 Bluetooth Headset for over a year now, and love it so much that I bought this M165 version to switch between while the other is charging.
These headsets are light-weight and very comfortable for me. (Whether they will work with your ears is largely a function of the individual, but for me these are the most comfortable headsets I've owned, and I've never had them fall out or slip from my ear.) The power switch is on the side -- you simply slide the switch to turn the power off and on, and a recorded voice informs you how much "talk time" is left on the battery, which is a nice feature, as well as whether or not your phone is connected. The switch also has red and green coloring, so it's easy to tell at a glance whether the headset is on or off.
Having setup with a new phone just the other day, I can also note how delighted I am with the voice-guided pairing instructions -- I'm confident that even non-techies could set this headset up without any problems.
I've never bothered to use the voice-answer option, but I do like the single button that can be pressed to answer. I'e used several headsets in the past, and these Plantronics M155/M165 are the most crisp and clear that I've used; my mother (who has hearing problems) almost never has trouble hearing me on this, outside of the usual limitations like outdoor wind or a bad connection. Mostly I use these headsets to listen to audiobooks, though, and I love the extended battery life on these -- the M155 has 4 hours of non-stop listening time (and idles well), and the M165 has 7 hours. If the big talk button would also work as a Pause/Play button with my Audible app (it doesn't), then I'd be in heaven but I suppose we can't have everything.
The only downside to these headsets is perhaps that the range is not so hot. The product description seems to be claiming 33 feet (!); I'd peg it as closer to 8-12 feet. I have noticed that when I'm walking into work, I have to hold the phone in my hand or purse if I don't want my audiobook to cut out -- if I place it in my pants pocket, the connection seems to skip a little, but if my phone is in my relatively steadier hand or purse then the connection is rock solid.
I've loaded up a picture of the M155 and the M165 on the product images: the M155 is very slightly thinner and lighter than the M165, but my ear can't tell the difference. I'm thrilled with both models and highly recommend them.
~ Ana Mardoll
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