Sound ID 300 Bluetooth Headset

Posted by Bill on January 26th, 2010 at 09:14pm Comments

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Sound ID 300 Bluetooth Headset
Reviewed by: Bill Henderson
SOUND ID - Bluetooth headset | Hands Free Headset | Bluetooth earpiece
Price: $119.99

How many of you like the sound of clanging and clattering in your ears? Or other equally obnoxious sounds? None of you, I’m sure. Well, try talking over that while on your iPhone using a wireless connection.

Lets be clear up front: I don’t like bluetooth. It is not “ready for primetime” and I am not enough of a technogeek to know why or how to fix it. Having said that, we depend on it, and it’s all there is that is affordable, so we have to live with it. A while back, my wife and I bought a very popular headset from a very famous maker. While it sounded great to us, the people we talked to were constantly complaining about background noise intruding into the conversations, loudly - like that clattering I mentioned before. My wife is a busy person, so she is always doing something while on the phone, so this became very important very quickly.

So when we tried the Sound ID 300 headset, we were skeptical, at best. We’ve been using it for a few months now and I gotta say, everyone else is pleased. Admittedly, it’s kind of strange to rate a product based on other’s comments. But that’s bluetooth, I guess.

However, after a few weeks, those distracting sounds began creeping in again. Unless someone actually tells you about background noise, you have no idea. So we were bothered and baffled by this. I called the people at SoundID and they walked me through some steps (after weeks of stubbornly trying to fix it myself) and now, all is well again. We appreciate how helpful Sound ID was.

So on to the unit itself. The 300 model is a light, small and very comfortable unit that has weaved its way into our lives so that it is practically indispensable in our daily routine.

It was a bit of a change from the previous headset we used, regarding setup, buttons, etc., but the headset is very user-friendly compared to the competition’s. We were up to speed in no time while only occasionally needing to consult the manual.

After some early issues with fit, we worked it out so it would stay snug in the ear. Since then, the fit is secure. We did try the  supplied ear hook, but  it was not comfortable for extended use.

Visually, the Sound ID is pretty unobtrusive. It’s not a beauty knockout, but we actually prefer that. It doesn’t make us look like we belong to the Borg or something. (If you don’t know what the Borg is, click:  Borg (Star Trek) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It’s just… there. We call it a subtle appeal.

Sound quality is excellent. We have no trouble understanding or being understood in conversations. The volume button is easily found by touch. Actually, some headsets volume controls are so well integrated into the housing, they’re hard to find, so this was welcome. What Sound ID calls NoiseNavigation is used to cancel background noise (on your end) while you are talking. It is active all the time. And while there are all kinds of scientific processes happening to bring this about, all you need to know is that it works. Also, you can adjust the way you hear three ways in what they refer to as “PersonalSound”. So with a bit of fiddling, you should be able to come up with a setting you like.

The options available are: Mute, call waiting, swapping calls, redial and voice calling. Unless you are ALWAYS on your iPhone because of business or because you are so popular, you will probably only use a couple of these features on a regular basis. Note that using these features requires pressing the main button a certain amount of times is a certain order. It takes some getting used to, but its nice to know they are there when needed.

Range is a small issue in our house. It is a rather large, spread-out ranch-style, rather than 2-story, so we usually need to carry our iPhone with us at all times unless we are stationary to avoid drop-outs.

Charging the Sound ID 300 is a snap. Just plug it into an outlet and you’re set. We usually recharge over night, so battery life is never an issue. There is a low battery indicator that glows red if you don’t recharge regularly.

The Sound ID is a welcome addition into our lifestyle. While I wish bluetooth was more “ready for primetime”, I’m just happy that there are companies like Sound ID who do their best to make it as useful and user-friendly as they do.

7/10

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