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- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 56 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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26 out of 26 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"Comfortable and functional. A good headset for the everyday user or tech-savvy individual."
Pros: Excellent ergonomic design and fit, great incoming sound quality, intuitive multipurpose button, good battery life, voice-activated dialing/commands, supports Bluetooth v1.2
Cons: Mediocre outgoing sound quality in noisy/windy environments, unreliable in cold temperatures
Summary: Here is a detailed review (several pages) for anyone having a hard time deciding whether to buy the Explorer 320.
I have been a proud owner of a Plantronics Explorer 320 since October 31 this year, so I have had plenty of time to put my new device to the test. Overall, I have been very satisfied with its performance, but there have been some situations in which it has been mediocre at best. I will try to describe those situations as well as I can so that you can figure out if they will apply to you based on your needs.
On a technical note, I should first point out that I use the Motorola E815, which does independently support Bluetooth v1.1 but not 1.2, which the Explorer 320 supports; I can only assume that my connection only has the functionality of v1.1. If you have a similar phone, that means that you will not have Adaptive Frequency Hopping (reduces interference; 1.1 does have a basic frequency hopping method) or Enhanced Voice Processing (uses error detection methodologies to improve sound quality, especially in noisy environments). Be sure to check the Bluetooth version of your phone or adapter to see if you can support all the features of 1.2. (I am now a bit more skeptical of all the Bluetooth headset reviews, in general, that stated interference or especially poor noise reduction as device weaknesses because many phones still only support v1.1, so be cautious with the reviews that don?t state the phone Bluetooth specs.)
Now, I would like to explain the pros I have experienced, the top two being ergonomics and incoming sound quality. The excellent ergonomic design utilizes a flexible rubber ear hook that fits comfortably over either my left or right ear and an earpiece that is made to fit right inside my ear. These two pieces create a secure and comfortable fit; I have worn the device for extended periods of time with the confidence that it won?t fall off (unless I shake my head violently, which I decided against for fear of inducing a headache). The Plantronics website mentions a ?Wall of Ears? that they use for ergonomics testing, and after wearing the 320, I believe it. In addition to securing the headset fit, the shape of the earpiece also enhances sound quality by directing, almost injecting, sound into my ear, which is a definite plus compared to other headsets.
Incoming sound quality is great as long as you keep the phone within five to ten feet (approximately; I have not made measurements) and free of major obstructions. Now that the weather is cold enough for me to wear a jacket, I normally put my phone in my upper front right pocket. I wear the headset on my right ear, and the incoming sound is excellent; in some cases, it is even clearer than when I use my E815 handset, which is significant considering that the phone itself has also received very high marks for its own sound quality. I sometimes do receive static when holding the phone in my hand when talking or when it is tucked away in my pants pocket, but it is not as bad as other reviews have stated. However, when straying close to the outer Bluetooth range or when I have a thick obstruction in my way, such as a CRT television, regardless of my phone to headset distance, I get a lot of static.
Other pros include the light weight, dual-color LED, single multipurpose button, reasonable current price, and excellent battery life (close to a week or more, or at least several days if I have been making calls on the headset).
The LED, which others have said is too dim, is just right for my tastes; I like to stay discreet, and the light is very bright in low light. Fortunately, it only flashes once every six seconds when the unit is on, which should help one keep a low profile in the dark while saving a touch of battery life. Unfortunately, the device does not allow you to shut the LED off entirely. I do like how it will flash purple instead of blue if I have missed a call, so I just have to look at my headset. Of course, I often have to wait as much as six seconds for this sign, and I don?t think that it will notify me for incoming/missed text messages. Another small but important detail is that when the unit is first turned on, the number of red flashes (up to three) indicates the remaining battery power.
The multipurpose button handles everything from volume, taking and dropping calls, switching to and from handset to headset, and voice-activated commands (my favorite feature). At first, the controls seemed like a lot, and I worried that I might accidentally drop my call when adjusting volume, but neither of these issues has actually turned out to be a problem; the controls are very intuitive. I love the fact that I can be walking or driving with my hands full and still be able to make a call using voice commands; I admit that I feel very sophisticated and tech-savvy when doing this. In addition, if your phone supports voice commands other than dialing, as the E815 does, you will have full access to these as well.
The Explorer 320 also can compensate for features that your phone lacks. Anyone who owns a Motorola E815 knows that its vibrate feature is surprisingly and disappointingly weak, and this has been a downside for me before owning my headset. Now, even when my phone is set to silent or vibrate, I will hear a soft ring tone. However, the phone will ring or vibrate up to a full second before my headset chimes in. I?m not sure if this is just due to the discrepancy in Bluetooth versions I mentioned earlier between my phone and the headset, but I know that you might prefer both rings to be synchronized more.
Now that I?ve discussed my pros with the 320, I will discuss the cons. The single most significant con is the outgoing sound quality (in other words, the sound that the person on the other line hears). The two people that I have spoken to most on the headset are my friend Nick (an audiophile in the sense that near-perfect sound quality is extremely important to him) and my friend Ryan (who has often been calling me while driving his car, which is very loud; I have had some difficulty holding a conversation with him when physically present in his car). Unless specified, the following ?field tests? with him involve him in his car. Because I have not yet been on the other side of a call using my headset, I have to base my outgoing sound opinions on my friends? comments and on the quality of conversation (pauses, requests for me to repeat something, flow of conversation).
One of my first calls was from Nick while I was in the lunchroom at work. Shortly after starting the call, he asked me if I was on my new headset, and he told me that it sounded like a lot of people talking. Once I switched to my handset, he told me that I sounded about 200% better and that it sounded like I was now in an empty room. I could blame this on the fact that the microphone is omnidirectional rather than unidirectional or something relating to the 320?s ability to reduce ambient noise, but I have to take into account that my Bluetooth connection only has v1.1 functionality (once again, recall my earlier discussion). (Rating: 2/5)
On the upside, in one of the situations in which having a wireless headset is most important, driving a car while using the 320 worked wonderfully. This road test was based on me driving to a friend?s apartment at night with the windows fully closed and the radio down low while talking to Ryan, who, as I recall also was on the road. We were having a fairly serious conversation, so any sound degradation on his end could have easily disrupted the flow of our discussion, but we were able to go on without any problems. (Rating: 5/5)
Here are some other ?field tests?:
On the bus: I?ve spoken to Nick and Ryan. The first time I spoke to Ryan, he commented on the ambient noise being a bit loud, and he did ask me to repeat myself at least one or two times more compared to a non-headset call, but we were able to carry on a casual conversation for at least 15 minutes. I do recall speaking a decibel or two louder than I would if I was on a handset, in which case the microphone would be a bit closer to my mouth. Another time I spoke to him, the call flow was better, and I decided to ask him about his incoming sound quality. He said that it sounded like I was ?talking directly into a speaker,? but also that it wasn?t a problem. (Rating: 3/5)
I spoke to Nick at least once on the bus. The first time, I recall him asking if I was on my headset because he was having trouble hearing me, and he reported the sound quality being much better once I switched to my handset. He told me that it sounded like I was talking into a tube; in a later discussion about this particular call, he also described the sound being similar to me having a glass bowl over my mouth. We both agreed that the noise reduction was most likely to blame. (Rating: 2/5)
Outside, downtown, city streets, breeze/wind, traffic: After the first call on the bus with Ryan, I exited the bus in downtown St. Paul on the way to work, at which time I recall him noticing the loud sound of the bus engine as I passed it. There was some wind that day, and although it wasn?t too strong, the gusts were noticeable. He soon started interrupting me saying that he couldn?t understand what I was saying at all, so I switched to my handset. (Rating: 1/5)
I also recall speaking to Nick at least on a different day on the same route to work. He called me right before I was about to cross a busy city street, but we were able to carry on the conversation for a surprising amount of time (between five and ten minutes) considering my surroundings and his threshold for sound quality. However, once I started crossing a bridge over the river, the sounds of the wind combined with the nearby traffic made him comment that it sounded like ?constant explosions?, but we still were able to continue our conversation. Once I turned the corner by my building into the wind, I became inaudible, as in the previous example. I tried putting my hand over my mouth to shield the wind and cup the sound into the mic, but it wasn?t enough for him to decide after a moment to get back to work. (Rating: 2/5)
(Note: in the previous example, I had spoken to Nick several times in several different sound settings, so I asked him to rate his overall incoming sound quality out of ten. He gave it a five and said that my headset performed best in quiet settings.)
Outside, college campus: I have spoken to my friends a few times while on foot on my university campus. Despite walking by a busy street for part of it, I don?t recall any significant issues. (Rating: 4/5)
Indoors, breakroom at work: I have spoken to Nick at least once or twice in an empty breakroom at work. Sound quality on both ends seemed fine, our conversation flowed normally, and I was even able to stray several feet from my phone to test static levels (which remained low). Even when I finally asked him about the sound quality, he said it sounded fine. (Rating: 5/5)
Indoors, house: I have taken a few calls while at home, usually with little ambient noise present, and conversation flow and understandability has been good. (Rating: 5/5)
Indoors, party: I took a few calls while at a family gathering last weekend, and the ambient noise was moderately loud. Coincidentally, they were both from my friends Nick and Ryan. Although the conversations flowed well and I only received one or two comments about the noise, I will give these calls a conservative rating because it was probably louder to them than I thought and I still need to hear what my headset calls sound like from the other end. (Rating: 3/5)
Indoors, conference call: I decided to take a conference call at work on my cell phone instead of my desk phone just so that I could use my headset and type at the same time. I can?t rate the outgoing sound quality because I didn?t speak much, but my sound was very good. This example is worth mentioning to show the headset?s value to working professionals.
Indoors, PC lab: Lastly, I was surprised by the mic?s performance in a computer lab on campus. Ryan called me on his way to work, but because I was in a lab starting to fill with other college students, I had to keep my voice tone low and volume just above a whisper. I expected him not to hear me at all or for him to ask me to repeat myself a lot, but in most cases he responded to what I said quickly and normally. This call was a pleasant surprise for me. (Rating: 5/5)
Out of ten, I am bringing my overall rating for the Explorer 320 down to seven, primarily for the outgoing sound quality. (I could still give it the benefit of the doubt based on the Bluetooth version issue, whether I was able to get Enhanced Voice Processing on my phone, but I will leave that decision up to you.)
I have one more weakness that I need to discuss: based on my informal observations, the headset tends to drop its connection when exposed to cold air for more than several minutes and/or after it warms up again. Yesterday and today, the temperatures dropped below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and I normally like to wear my headset when I am outside walking. This happened several times yesterday: twice outside after two or three minutes, and at least twice after going inside and letting the headset warm up. I encountered similar situations today, mostly after the headset warmed up instead of while outside this time. This may not affect most users, but for those who have a cold winter ahead, the time that we may need a headset on while outside most is just up ahead. Having to fumble with a phone beneath layers of clothing and with gloves on is inconvenient, and having to expose your hands to frigid air while pressing tiny phone buttons even for a moment is uncomfortable. Fortunately, Plantronics does state that its minimum operating and storage temperature for the headset is 10 degrees Celsius, so I was warned before I went out in temperatures below zero degrees Celsius. Consider this analogy: if you were told in writing that you could not use your cell phone in direct light, the more important issue would be the inconvenience of not being able to use your phone despite the fact that the company was responsible enough to warn you. My point is that if my headset truly is dropping its Bluetooth connection because of the cold, I am going to need a more rugged headset so that I can use it when I really need it. By the way, I should point out that the headset dropped its connections when I wasn?t on any calls. All that I had to do was press the multipurpose button once, in most cases, and my connection was restored.
Lastly, I should mention the style issue. With Bluetooth headsets starting to become more common, you have many styles to fit your fashion sense (although form doesn?t always follow function, especially as far as ergonomics go). In my opinion, the side profile of someone wearing the Explorer 320 looks very sophisticated or simply, very cool; it almost shrinks in size when looking at someone from this view. I measured the main unit length to be about 2.5 or 2.6 inches, which is slightly bulky, but the advantage of this is that people might actually notice that you?re wearing a headset so that they?ll understand you?re on a call rather than talking to yourself. (I could discuss some humorous anecdotes about this, but this review is too detailed as it is to allow for me to jump into any tangents.) The face-to-face view, on the other hand, makes the headset seem a bit larger than it is because of the tiny bit of space between the headset and one?s face. I recommend tucking the headset as closely to your face as possible, but the headset will remain noticeable on your ear unless you have long, thick hair or a hat that goes over your ears.
In summary: I have used my Plantronics Explorer 320 in many situations, and it has excelled in low-noise environments while only providing mediocre performance when a lot of ambient noise is present; some of these downfalls may be due in part to my phone?s Bluetooth connection. The deal-makers for this headset are the excellent ergonomic design which allows for a comfortable, secure fit and the great incoming sound quality that may even surpass your phone handset; the deal-breakers for this headset are the wind and noise-reduction capabilities and the apparent connection unreliability when moving from between freezing and normal room temperatures. If you are a casual everyday user or one that likes to talk while on the road, I would especially recommend this headset to you, but I would urge caution if you normally talk outside or in noisy environments.
- 5 replies to this review
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Thanks for the amount of information you provided about the headset. Very useful!
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Thanks for the excellent review. I have seen none better. You did a great job of explaining what you thought were the good as well as the bad points of this product.
Thanks again. -
I can't say how helpful this review was in making my decision. Specific and very objective. Thank you so very much.
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Thanks for taking the time to submit a review of this caliber. Being an individual that checks all of the major electronics review sites and smaller discussion threads this sort of post is first class. I am sure I speak for many others who don't want to take the time to register with c|net when I say that your review was great and it helps give others an idea of what they are getting into with a given product. There are too many people out there that can't figure out how to turn something on so they decide to give a product 1 star and bash the entire company. Kudos!
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Very helpful in deciding whether to buy this model. All reviews should be this good !
Where to buy
Plantronics Explorer 320 Bluetooth headset:
$43.00
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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Clary Business Machines Co.
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$43.00 | No |
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