Sony DR BT50 (Black)

Pros: Awesome sound, very comfortable fit, noise cancellation, playlist execution/navigation button

Cons: questionable mids; useless mic for calls; tiny ambiguous volume buttons; somewhat clumsy bt connectivity

Summary: First of all these sound great. I'm no audiophile, but my roommates are musicians and were all very impressed with the sound quality. I have, however, read some reviews that say the mids are lacking. I found the overall sound to be anything but. Once you connect them to your mp3 phone (a Samsung wafer in my case) you can activate your play-list by pressing the rocker navigation button which can then be used to, yes that right, navigate or pause your mp3's. In contrast the adjacent(very adjacent) volume buttons are a royal pain. Unless you have the digits of a neurosurgeon china doll you will end up pressing the volume-up button when you really wanted to press the rocker to pause. You will also inadvertently switch tracks instead of pausing, major party foul. In the end I am glad the buttons are there at all so I'll just drop it.

I am also having trouble connecting my headset to my Zoom Bluetooth USB transceiver. I suspect that this is the fault of that device since I have no trouble making connections to my phone. Speaking of which, if you are outside the range of your phone for a few moments the headset will go into standby. Reconnecting is a snap because you merely have to reactivate the connection from your phone. Great feature for us space cadets who often find themselves leaving their gadgets behind.

Now for the one real flaw that I've found on this phone. The built-in mic is useless if there is anything going on in the background unless you feel like punishing whoever has been unfortunate enough to receive your calls. I was excited about this feature because I ride my bike often and like to be able to take a call without taking my hands off the handlebars. Unfortunately this was completely impossible as calls were rendered inaudible due to echoing on the receiving end. I wish there was a way to make my phone permanently excluded from my phone's call features because I have to awkwardly switch from headset to phone on my cell's menu. This is a big hassle for us Samsung Wafer users. Sometimes you may forget the devices are paired and leave them laying around. When a call comes in your phone rings so you pick up your phone only to be greeted by silence upon pressing the call button. Then after five seconds of "hello... is anyone there..." you remember the headset and scramble through the phone menu to disable it. By that time your caller has hung up after hearing your background screams of hello. You know, frantic and muffled as if it were coming from the bottom of a well. Kind of apt if you ask me.