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Finally, after writing several blog post, clamoring over this little device (even talked about it on my Podcast). I am a proud owner of a Jawbone Bluetooth Headset. If you remember, the Jawbone is that headset that has the incredible noise cancellation technology, and to be honest, I just don’t understand why more people aren’t talking about this headset. As you all know, there are a lot of bluetooth headsets out there, and its really a crapshoot as far as quality when it comes to those headsets. Ive had this set for a couple of weeks now and wanted to let you all know what I think of it so far….so lets get started.

Give me the facts sir…

If you have had a look at the spec sheet, the Jawbone looks like many other bluetooth devices. 6 hours talk time - 200 hours standby, very lightweight (14 grams) and the highly touted noise shield. Other than the Jawbone itself, in the box you’ll find 4 ear pieces, 4 ear loops, and a wall charger.

First I’ll talk about the specs. My experience so far has pretty much proven the specs to be very close to advertised. Id say I get about 5 or 6 hours talk time on one charge (which takes about 2 hours to charge) and a couple of days of standby…which I only use a cell phone…no land line so getting by 200 hours straight without a call to test the standby would be almost impossible. But battery life hasn’t been an issue so far. As far as the headset itself, it has a very unique design, its light enough to where you can forget you have it on your ear, and the looks of it is nice enough that you don’t feel like a dork wearing it.

The wall charger comes in 2 pieces that work together. You have the actually wall portion, then you have a USB cable that connects the Jawbone to the wall portion of the charger. If you plug it into the wall, you have to use both the wall portion and the USB cable together. The good thing about it is that you can disconnect the usb cable and plug it into your PC and charge your Jawbone headset that way also. The bad thing about it is the usb cable has a proprietary connection to the Jawbone, so if you lose it, you have to buy another one from Aliph (the makers of the Jawbone). Coming from using a Jabra BT250V, that wasn’t a big deal, but it is something to keep in mind.

Did someone say Problems?

One problem I have had with the Jawbone headset is the fit. it comes with 4 earbuds and 4 earloops, seems like it would be easy to find a combination that would work, but I haven’t found that to be the case. None of the earbuds really fit in my ear the way I like it, and the ear loops doesn’t really help at all (but they are almost a necessity to use). Its not completely bad but I would think that you should be able to get a better fit with all that is included.

Lets talk about sound quality and the Noise Shield

On to what most of you are wondering about…do that noise shield really work? Well the noise shield feature of the Jawbone is something that can be turned on and off by pressing the hidden button on the headset. It is on by default, and for good reason. The noise shield in the Jawbone headset is really a pretty awesome piece of technology. When tuned on, the people I’m talking to can hear me clearly and it really does eliminate a lot of the background noise. That means if your in a car that is pretty loud, you don’t have to keep raising your voice to be heard. I would say that the noise shield feature makes the Jawbone headset well worth the $90 bucks I spend on it.

As far as me hearing the people I’m talking to, the sound quality is pretty good. I have found that It seems a bit on the low side, but that may just be the phone I’m using (Treo 650). If you are in a normal environment, where there is not much noise, it works quite well. but in a noisy car, I found myself holding the Jawbone with my hands to make sure the earpiece is as close to my ear as possible. Again, this is a problem that would probably go away if I had some ear buds that fit. And its a problem that is only noticeable when you are in a noisy environment.

As far as pairing the device and using it with my phone, it works pretty much like the rest of the headsets Ive used. Pairing was pretty simple and there are 2 buttons on the headset that are hidden, a talk / hang up button and the noise shield button. They are hidden but are pretty easy to use.

So what do you think?

Well I would definitely say that the Jawbone headset is probably the best bluetooth headset I have used so far and I would buy it again if needed. The noise shield works like a charm, it has pretty decent battery life, its lightweight and easy to use. If your in the market for a new bluetooth headset, the Jawbone should probably be your next purchase. It retails for about $120 but you can find it on sale for about $89 bucks if you look around. Cingular / AT&T had an exclusive deal with Aliph to sell the Jawbone but I have found it at many other places online.