Logitech 981-000068 ClearChat Wireless USB Headset - Black
See it at Amazon.com for $78.40Average Customer Rating
(3.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
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(2 out of 5)Bad design choices.
This headset had me hooked and I preordered it months before I finally got it. I didn't want to review it until I put it through it's paces. Sadly it comes up short in more ways than I expected. But I'm a fair guy, so let's start with the Positive:
1) It's cordless, gets decent range ~10m in my testing.
2) The sound quality of the headset and the mic are both pretty good (i.e. no complaints in game chat).
3) Headset cushions are top notch.
4) Quality construction - they aren't breaking anytime soon.
5) I was impressed with the ease of setting them up. Plug in the USB dongle, turn them on, set games to use the new headset.
And on to the negative:
1) Granted, I have a fairly big melon, but these have a really tight fit and start to fatigue the ears after a few hours of wear.
2) The Battery life is not much over 3.5 hours in my testing. It doesn't matter what app. I found myself plugging in the power cable to continue (what's the point of cordless?!) and shutting them down even for quick breaks while idle in games.
3) No interchangeable batteries (well, I didn't take them apart to see, but then the case isn't made to be taken apart).
4) Proprietary power cable? Come on! Why this wasn't mini USB, I'll never understand.
5) The Mic only comes down on the left hand side, which I find to be an annoying engineering limitation for no particular purpose.
6) Mic is static - no way to flex it other than up or down. Though it seems to pic up my voice fairly well.
7) I didn't think this was a big deal at first, but now It might be the most annoying thing: The USB Dongle connected to the computer FLASHES green incessantly until the headset is turned on and they sync. Now, I'm a computer guy, I've a truckload of LEDs that keep the office well lit at night, but NONE of them blink and draw attention to themselves except for a few moments. This stupid thing won't stop. I have to put things in front of it to keep it from annoying me.
So, I'm disappointed in this thing. Logitech makes good gear, but engineering needs to review this one and make the following changes for version 2:
1) Use standard USB to power the headset. If you must have a charge indicator, just build it into the headset as another LED and forget the proprietary cable.
2) If you have to drop both earpieces to fit a larger head, there should be an adjustable top pad so it stays in place.
3) Make it so that the mic can flip either way, and the Left/Right speakers change accordingly.
4) Beef up the battery power and make it so it charges faster. 3 hours? Come on... even 6 hours isn't much for marathon MMORPGs or LAN Parties, and your headset came nowhere near that mark. It's not cordless if I have to keep the power cable plugged in. Suggestion: 12 Hours minimum, even if it adds to bulk a little bit. And that's actual 12 hours, not some mathematical estimate.
5. Use two different colored lights on the USB dongle instead of flashing the same one. How expensive can that be?
And for those of us that wear glasses, please make a model with convex earpieces, the concave ones put pressure at the top of the ear and they smash the earpiece of your glasses against the skull. Unpleasant. Okay, this one's more of a wish, but the others above are absolutely requisite.
There you have it. The decent sound quality, construction, and cordlessness don't come close to outweighing the technical issues. I'd give this a 2.5, but when it costs close to a hundo, the price factor says all of these things should never have been a problem. If the next version sucks the same, I'll be looking for another manufacturer (and I'm a Logitech fan).
(5 out of 5)Wireless stereo headset done right
I just got my Logitech ClearChat Wireless headset today, and so far so good. It is the third wireless stereo headset I've tried and it is by far the best of all three. After using my first two wireless headsets, I switched back to my wired one due to echos during Skype calls, poor headset volume (I had trouble hearing people), and low mic volume (people had trouble hearing me). I haven't experienced any of these problems with my new headset. Of the four calls I've made so far (3 Skype to Skype and one SkypeOut) the only comment I received was that I sounded a little more "electronic" then normal. To be fair, the same person who mentioned this, also asked for the product info at the end of the call. Below is a summary of the pros and cons that I have found so far.
Pros:
Audio sounds great (using both Skype and iTunes)
No echo when used with Skype
Volume is more than adequate and louder than my previous wired headset
Comfortable fit (my wife disagrees with me here)
Easy to use volume controls on headset
Slightly better than advertised range (I got about 35-40 feet from the USB dongle before losing reception)
Cons:
Although the range seems to be a little better than advertised, I'd love to see a wireless headset that gets twice this range.
(4 out of 5)Almost perfect
I received mine today. Work just fine with all of the applications I have tested....iTunes, Ventrilo, World of Warcraft, etc. My Vent buddies tell me they sound better than the wired headset I was previously using.
I can get out of range when moving laterally 25 feet or so, but it re-acquires the signal after I move upstairs and get within 20 or so feet line of sight.
Setup was super easy; plug in the dongle, turn on the headset, and DONE.
Very happy with this purchase; Headset is light and comfortable. The boom mic will not interfere with pizza slices or martini glasses.
I only wish the volume/mute controls were on the left side so I wouldn't have to take my hand off my mouse - lefties rejoice!
Agree with previous comments regarding adjustability for large heads...I wish it had an extra 1/2 inch to expand; hence only 4 stars.
(5 out of 5)These are amazingly good
THese are amazingly good. I am pretty sure they use the Avnera technology, I dont think there is anything else out there that it could be. I use them to listen to music and to make skype calls - works great for both, no switching back and forth, it just works. Music is spectacular since it's full spectrum 20Hz-20KHz, and (since I think this is Avnera) no lossy compression like bluetooth etc that messes up the music experience. It certainly sounds like they are lossless.
Skype calls are very clear, the equivalent to a wired headset. Range is very good, better than they claim, I have walked 50 feet away from my PC and still had a perfect connection through walls and doors, which is nice. No interference from/with wifi or bluetooth as near as I can tell.
Installation was nice - I plugged in the usb dongle, and that was it. Vista switched me over so that was my default audio device. Literally no software, no hassling with settings, etc - they just worked right out of the box.
I think my only complaint is that sometimes the battery doesnt last the full day with continuous use. But that's a fairly minor issue to me since it's rare that I have them on for 8+ hours straight, usually I plug them in to charge at lunch or when I go to a meeting.
(5 out of 5)Need to rate down a couple notch
The construction is good. Comfortable to wear. Takes no effort to install on Mac. No said input problem on my MacBook 1.5.4 so far.
This is my first wireless headphone so the freedom it brings feels GREAT. Being able to talk on Skype with no wire attached is wonderful. The sound quality is also much better than I expected. Pop music and casual listening are very good. Don't know the battery life yet.
I noticed with the Plantronic USB headphone, iTune automatically go into pause when I dial on Skype. This unit does not do that and I had to turn off iTune manually. Would nice to have that.
Additional review:
After using it for a couple months. I feel I have to mark it down to about 3. The main problem is the mic problem. My voice went through the mic got chopped very badly whether I use Vista or Mac. I tried some recording and Skype. Sometimes it is good but most of the time, the other side cannot understand me. I have not yet found the source of the problem.
The headphone is comfortable and provides good listening. However, if it cannot be used for VOIP, it is missing the point.