Sony Ericsson HBH-IS800 Stereo Bluetooth Headset user reviews (Black)

Pros Auto Pairing with most models, easy to use, excellent form-factor. 3 size provided for good ear fit. Completely un-obtrusive (except inside the ears!) Decent audio quality...

Cons Audio can be better..... much better.... however a bit of work with the equalizer does fix part of the problem.

Summary Setting up was a breeze specially with my Sony mobile phone. My laptop also detected it easily. I find the unit comfortable to wear since I am used to (and prefer) in-ear designs.
Call quality is pretty good and very easy to use for that. pretty invisible and fits in with the wardrobe quite easily....

Audio needs work... if your cellphone or mp3 player doesn't support an equalizer you need to think a little on the product because the audio is always very high side and mushy. Setting the equalizer bars to the lower ends does address most of the audio clarity issues.... So that is an important feature.

Pros The size and the package were great. Small form factor was very impressive. Liked the case.

Cons Mine suffered from frequent sound drop outs. I live in Central London which is obviously an electromagnetic nightmare for bluetooth devices. These headphones didn't seem to cope. Also had a problem with fit as they're quite large in diameter.

Summary I hope that the problem with sound drop outs was caused by a fault in my particular set. I chose not to have a replacement set because I wasn't convinced that it was a faulty unit and may have been a general design fault. I didn't want to spend a lot of time sending another set back.

I'd be interested to hear if any other readers experience the same problem.

Happily, Play.com the retailer were very good and refunded my cash and postage without a quibble. A much better experience than I had with the execrable Carphone Warehouse which I'm still trying to get a refund from for a previous unsatisfactory bluetooth headset purchase.

Pros no wires !! I had been waiting for this product, because I was fed up with seeing onlookers struggling to stiffle laughter on the metro as I struggled for long minutes to untangle the cord for my glasses from the headphone cord on my MP3 player !

Cons I'm a serious music listener, and not familiar with bluetooth headsets, so was disappointed in the sound : not as clear and not nearly as loud as with wired headphones. The battery doesn't last nearly as long as the MP3's battery - annoying.

Summary I agree with the CNET review that the fit to the ear is not good (altho there are 3 different size earbud rubber ends). The ear buds are small for bluetooth headsets I guess, but heavier than the normal buds I'm used to.
The difficulty in getting a good "seal" to the ear is probably the main cause of my disappointment in sound quality and volume.

Pros No cord! decent sound.

Cons The charger is a joke.

Summary I have had mine for about a year and no problems. The sound quality is very good, not quite as good a a high quality wired ear-bud, but hey, it's Bluetooth. It's very lightweight and comfortable. Ditching that cord makes it all worth it. Overall it exceeded my expectations.

My only complaint is docking with the charger. It works fine, but it looks like someone got a deal on 20 cent surplus chargers designed for another device. It's a pain to line things up when connecting. Once you gt used to it it's OK, but it's certainly not elegant. I only use mine for an hour or two at a time, so I can't speak to battery life.