Motorola H700: Good clarity, easy to use, fits well

I am most certainly not an early adopter when it comes to electronics. I don’t like being on the cutting edge of technology. Mind you, I am not still stuck in the Stone Age, but I like to wait awhile before I shell out my hard-earned money on fancy new electronics.

About a month ago, I finally accepted the fact that life would be a whole lot easier if I had a Blackberry. Almost everyone that I know has a smartphone, and I certainly needed one for my job, especially with all of the traveling I do.

Talking on the Blackberry is, to say the least, a bit uncomfortable. I have a Blackberry Curve and it is a bit on the bulky side. It doesn’t fit my hand all that well as far as a telephone goes, and I found that I was using my speakerphone function more often than not, and as most people know, the speakerphone is not kind to a cellphone’s battery.

I decided that I required a new piece of technology – one that would allow me to experience far greater comfort with the Blackberry when used as a telephone and something that wouldn’t involve wires tangling around my head, my arms, the seatbelt of the car, etc. I must admit that in the case of hands-free use of a cellphone, I am part of the Late Majority. I don’t buy into the safety aspect of hands-free usage. So, when I have bothered to use a headset with my cellphone, I have always used the cheapest means (in other words, I use the free headset that comes with the phone) to accomplish the task.

My Blackberry has a setting to turn on and off Bluetooth transmission. Bluetooth is something that I am also not entirely familiar with. I do know WiFi, as it is something I use all the time with regard to both my Palm Pilot and my laptop. And, while my Palm device has Bluetooth capability, I’ve never had a need for it. But, I was aware that millions of people were walking around this country, chatting to themselves with a blue blinking light on the side of their head, and I wanted to join the crowd.

I did a bit of searching at Epinions for Bluetooth handsets. Truth be told, I found that people said certain models were great, and other people said the same models were terrible. This conflicting information made the search a bit difficult, so I decided to check out eBay to determine what, if anything, was affordable and rated decently on Epinions.

I stumbled across an auction for a new Motorola H700 for $20.00 plus free shipping, and the auction was set to close in about 15 minutes. I looked up the item on Epinions, read the conflicting reviews, and noticed that a new unit retails from between $32 and $100 in 21 listed stores. I considered that the $21.00 that I would pay to win the auction would be a bargain, and that I had a 50/50 chance of being satisfied with the product.

Upon receipt of the headset, I did what few men do, and I actually read the instructions. They seemed straightforward enough, you unpack the unit, charge the battery for two hours, engage the Bluetooth feature on the phone, pair the headset to the phone, and I should be on my way to use the headset.

Right? Wrong!

I discovered that the instructions to actually get the unit to work were far different than what the instructions suggest. To turn the headset on, the instructions state you should hold down the power button until the indicator light flashes, and then release the button. The unit turned on with no problem, just as the instructions indicated. However, to turn the headset off, you are supposed to press and hold the call button until the indicator light flashes rapidly and then turns off. This is where I experienced the first deviation in the instructions – I held and held and held that power button, and at no time did it flash, either rapidly or slowly, and turn off. I discovered, however, that if you simply closed the microphone boom, the unit turned off just fine.

The next problem with the instructional manual was pairing the headset. When the headset is powered off, you have to hold the button six-to-ten seconds until the blue indicator light turns on and remains lit. I held the button, with the power off, for over two minutes before I gave up. The instructions said to power off the headset if the indicator light does not flash or go steady. I went through this routine about a dozen times before I again gave up.

I then telephoned Motorola to inquire if I had a defective unit. After going through the nightmare of a voice-prompt system at 800-331-6456, I finally discovered the means to talk to a real live human being. The operator kept telling me that the problem was with my Blackberry. It took my reassuring her that the problem was indeed not my Blackberry, but that the printed instructions on the manual did not match the actual functionality of the headset. She did tell me that the light never will flash, that it just goes steady, and at this point it is ready to pair to the cellphone.

Actual use of the Motorola H700 headset is simple. There are only three buttons to concern yourself with – the call button and the up- or down-volume buttons. Hold the call button briefly, and it prompts for voice dialing. Hold the call button longer, and it simply redials the last number on the phone.

Powering on and off the unit is a cinch. You open the microphone boom to power the unit on and close the microphone boom to power the unit off. If the phone rings, I hear a few beeps in the headset and I push the call button to answer the phone or to hang it up.

Clarity is surprisingly good. I am able to drive in the car and I experience no echoing, I can walk down a busy sidewalk and carry on a conversation just fine. My wife is quick to point out if a cell phone transmission is poor, and she makes no complaints when we speak to each other and I am on the headset.

The over-the-ear piece is surprisingly comfortable. It is soft and flexible, yet at no point does it feel as if the headset is going to fall off. I do not experience shifting or sliding while it is on my ear. And, while it comes out of the box ready to fit over the right ear, it is very easy to switch the unit so it can fit the left ear.

The retail package includes the headset, printed instructions, and the power cord. If you have a phone that uses a mini-USB plug, such as the Blackberry does, you only have to carry around one plug as it will fit both the headset and the phone. Also, the Motorola headset will charge off your computer when you use the USB to mini-USB plug that comes with a Blackberry (and presumably other mini-USB phones).

From an affordability standpoint, I don’t think I could have done better than $21 for a decent-quality Bluetooth headset. From a clarity standpoint, I am very, very pleased with the Motorola H700. From a consumer-friendly standpoint, I don’t think Motorola could make the functionality of the headset any better.

The only complaint that I can make is that the printed instructions were written by a team of fools, but this should not detract from my recommendation to purchase this great headset.