Jabra BT530

Pros: Outgoing sound is great. In a quiet room you don't have to talk loud with the BT 530 to be heard. Nice design. Comfortable and secure fit. Compact.

Cons: Noise reduction isn't the greatest, but it is a big improvement from the Jabra JX10 model. Volume on the incoming sound is the biggest con of the Jabra BT530.

Summary: I've had this headset for about two weeks now. My Sennheiser VMX 100 broke and the original bluetooth headset i was waiting for hadn't come out yet (Soundid HD300). From my browsing on bluetooth headset, the claims on the jabra headset made this headset seem like a good buy.

Paring with the headset to my Nokia N82 was no problem. Package came with two earhooks, and a total of about 6-7 eargels. So far this is the most comfortable headset I've used.

Noise Reduction: My expectation is that the other party is able to hear you clearly when there is noise. So here are some scenario's of what noise it's been clearly and un-clearly heard from. On the Hwy, some bluetooth do pick up noise even when the windows up. With the BT530, the person on the other end is able to hear you clearly with the windows up, according to her she hears "wind." But if you were driving with the windows down, the receiving person wouldn't be able to understand you at all. Bottom line is that the BT530 does well in moderate noise environments. In the parking lot with wind at about 10-15mph and cars, the receiving party is able to hear little wind and doesn't hear cars or a conversation that was happening right in front of me.

The thing I liked most about this headset is that you don't have to talk that loud to be heard. The thing that I didn't like is that when the person on the other end is soft spoken, I'm the one saying "I'm sorry what was that?" It's even worse when you're in a environment where there's a lot of noise, you wouldn't be able to hear your friend, even if your bluetooth and phone volume is loud to it's max.

Overall this headset is alright. It's not perfect, but it's something I can use before something better comes out. The BT530 does have it's good values, but it's not the bluetooth I'd recommend. Anyway if you're like me searching for a good bluetooth headset, I'd try purchasing the "Joby Zivio" and giving that a try.

Updated on Sep 17, 2009

On/Off switch just broke for the 2nd time, so now I'm using a paper clip to turn it on and off. Main use for this one is for my computer for now. For around the same price range, I recommend getting a blueant z9i instead.