Introduction: So, how do you feel about making calls on a Bluetooth hands-free? You don’t think it ridiculous, do you?  Well, that´s good, since we all know speaking on your cell phone while driving is not the brightest idea ever. At all. Which is so not the case when it comes to writing down a long SMS to check on the list of all the groceries your wife wants you to get on your way home. We´re joking, of course. But when driving, your eyes need to be on the road and that´s that. We´ve taken on the task of reviewing the hands-free headset that as the manufacturer claims, features the most advanced noise-cancelling technology to date, namely the Plantronics Voyager PRO. Let´s take a closer look and see whether or not this is the case.

Design:

The manufacturer is aiming at the business segment of the market and this is evident from its colors - black and gray. Come to overall shape however, we´ve seen more compact headsets. The Voyager PRO has been designed to cling snugly to the area behind your ear and that´s why itmeasures a slightly larger size than usual. This isn´t much of an issue for people with dark hair, but is a drawback of the device anyway. There are two major reasons behind it. First, the manufacturer wanted to fit as large a battery as possible and second, provide comfort during prolonged use. We need to say the second goal has not been achieved to our satisfaction. The feeling in your ear gets irritating in about 3 or 4 hours just like with some other hands-frees, which, however, are  holding to their eartips only, so they tend to be more compact as well. As a matter of fact, the Voyager PRO comes boxed with three differently-sized eartips, which makes the headset usable by almost anyone.

There are four buttons on the device. The power-on key is next to the LED indicator that shows the current battery status and loudness is controlled via the buttons, located just above. Unfortunately, we cannot say we are pleased with the position of the Call Control Button. As you might have guessed already, it´s used for answering and rejecting calls, dialing the last number etc. The thing is it´s located facing the eartip that gets into your ear, and we don´t really like how pressing it feels. Functionality:

Now, let´s get down to the functionality of the Plantronics Voyager PRO and size up the manufacturer´s claim about ”Pushing the limits of headset technology.” The Bluetooth accessory comes equipped with two microphones that have been specifically designed to handle noise (even headwind). Moreover, the device utilizes the new AudioIQ2 technology, developed to suppress environmental sounds via an adapting 20-band equalizer. Is this the dawn of a new age for Bluetooth headsets? Hardly. During our tests, the in-call quality was mediocre on the other end… when we happened to be in quiet places. With a lot of noises around us things got much worse and people we were talking to complained we sounded muffled and intelligible. Finally, we were displeased with the overall quality on our end in both cases, not to mention the sound even cut off by itself on several occasions. We are definitely not satisfied.

Conclusion:

There was no time during our tests when we felt impressed by the Plantronics Voyager PRO. It has a stylish design, but this cannot make up for the lack of a compact size. While we can live with that, the fact that it doesn’t feel more comfortable to wear as opposed to smaller Bluetooth headsets simply means that Plantronics has rushed the product. At least the battery is up to its task. According to the manufacturer, it provides 6hrs of continuous talk time and keeps the headset alive for 5 days on a single charge. This is similar to what we found out during our tests.
 
Unfortunately, the Voyager PRO is not up to the manufacturer´s promise of in-call quality to make you feel as if in the same room with the person you´re talking to, something that we clearly evidenced with another product of the company, the Discovery 925. Understandably, the latter comes with a steeper price tag.

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