I've bought my share of headsets in the past, so I know that not all are equal, and price is not an indication of quality. This time, I was not only going to research the opions of others, but also purchase models that seeemed likely, and if they didn't stack up, return them.

The Aliph Jawbone got rave reviews at the ATT store, but comments online about poor performance with wind noise steered me away. Well, I finally decided to give it a shot, and I'm glad that I did. This thing is awesome. I jumped on the lawn tractor, and started it up, and called my girlfriend. She said I sounded fine and was surprised when I told her I was on the tractor. Then I turned up the throttle, engaged the mowing deck and nearly went hoarse shouting over the racket, but still, conversation was clear and intelligible for both of us. I was stunned.

As one final test, I threw the top down on the spider and took off up the highway. The results were disappointing, but then I rolled up the driver's side window (I use the Jawbone in my left ear) and the converssation improved dramatically. It was still noisy, but far better than I expected. We could communicate clearly.

The Aliph Jawbone is my new headset. I believe this is the best bluetooth headset currently on the market.

TimP

mikedilv

There is a small "nub" -- looks like a very small eraser head and I can't think of a better name for it -- that rests against your face. This bit has to touch your face for the noise cancellation to work. I think what it is doing is "feeling" the vibration from your jaw and using that as a cue to interpret what's coming through the microphones. So, no, it's not using transduction for audio but it is using transduction to discriminate between sounds coming out of the user's mouth and external sounds. It works very well, whatever it's doing.

donut_boy1965

techno77

Ive used this headset today in a server data center and it worked great for the party on the other end but not for me, when i was walking downtown in chicago today back to my car with the wind blowing the jawbone was complete crap the other person just hung up, couldnt hear me well at all. I was in the cae with music and it worked soso. Also when you push the talk button it is very awkward, feels like your pushing in on a 10" speaker. nice noise filtering, the way it feels and wraps around your ear is very very aggravating and uncomfortable, I will be taking this POFS back to the store and gettin the "Soundid Bluetooh headset"
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/first-look-soundid-...

Also I noticed alot of cutting in and out with this, I used this with my Blackberry 8700G, this is not what i expected I will use my Motorola hs810 which doesn cut in and out like this garage

kane77573

downwindz

downwindz

downwindz

It definitely looks cool, and something different from the throngs of bluetooth headsets out there.

Axtell

robg

And yeah, the demo video rocks! His voice sounded a little processed, but I guess that's better than having all the crap background noises.

$120 is a little steep for me though... I'd have to really think about it. My tiny Plantronics Explorer 640 was only $70, but then again, it has issues with static and I don't have the noise cancel version...

Annoying that it's only available in Cingular stores... They'll probably try to hard-sell convert every customer that's not on their network. And if you're already Cingular, they'll try to get you to upgrade phone and/or service.

Tony C

weatherman

If it is really bone conduction, then why would it possibly use noise cancellation?

In response to Ariel's statement that there's just something about noise cancellation, I'd just like to point out that not all noise cancellation algorithms are created equal. One might sound like total crap, while another may work beautifully.

Keebler

I've also tried the scenario of windows rolled down and radio on while on the highway and it too worked like a dream. I haven't used mine near a leaf blower... yet. The only downside to these noise-canceling products is they are too quiet... the number of times people feel the need to check if I'm still connected since they don't hear the normal hissing of background noise is notable.

Now... if only someone would design some sort of protective holster for these headsets the headsets would be truly complete!

ArielZusya

I've had nothing but bad times with BT in it's various forms (Logitech MX5000 I'm looking in YOUR direction. You too, Verizon.)

Seriously, every single attempt at using BT devices has met with dissapointment, some of it bitter. (I'm looking in YOUR direction, Verizon.)

strider_mt2k

Geisrud

Penchum

Hestika

but this one seems cool too.

Crazyglues