I’ve been using a Plantronics - Voyager 5200 headset with my phone for the last year and like it a lot. (Still using the Sennheiser SC 160 with computer).
This headset excels at blocking out background noise as it has a microphone array and DSP processing. In one case I was in a room where my daughter was playing the piano (very loud) and the person I was talking to could barely hear the piano.
Most headsets focus on blocking out background noise for you – this is important when working in a noisy environment and listening to music. However, I think a more important consideration when trying to communicate with someone else is to block out your background noise as headsets that do not do this tend to amplify background noise making it difficult for the other people on the call. This also greatly reduces your stress on a call if you don’t have to worry about your background noise leaking into the call.
The battery life is not the greatest (about 6 hours), probably due to the power required to do the DSP processing to cancel out background noise. However, this is more than adequate for my needs and it charges quickly.
It folds nicely and despite being rather large fits nicely in a pocket as it lays fairly flat.
Audio quality is good.
Overall, an excellent product and helps improve communication in our noisy world.
My 5200 failed after about 3 years. I started getting complaints about people not being able hear me, so I suspect the noise reduction was reducing my own voice due to a failed microphone array connections or something. Research also indicated that it could be caused by clogged ports in the mic boom, but I was not able to get it working.
After doing some research, I concluded that the latest version of this product, the Poly Voyager Legend 50 is the best replacement. Most of other other options only had two mics in boom instead of four, so the mic noise cancellation was is not as good. Some things are improved and overall feels like an upgrade:
USB-C connector (instead of micro-usb)
Much better battery life
Buttons and switchers are more ergonomic
The sensor feature that starts call when I put the headset on is still randomly starting podcasts playing in my pocket, so I turned that off through the phone app.
What I like about this product is:
I don’t need to worry about background noise when I’m on a call. This allows conversations to be more effective, as noise at the other end of the call is much more distracting than local noise that our ears/brain can more easily tune out.
The form factor fits nicely in pocket on top of phone.
The folding actually helps the ear piece last longer as it is not protruding out of the headset when folded like most other headsets.
It is big enough that it does not get lost or need to be placed in a case when not in use.
