There are no service lights for either indication or for illuminating the place where you should insert the headset in the dark, and you are supposed to guess where to put it or to use the car's interior lightning we'd like some discreet white light in the cradle's nest when the headset is not in it.
The latter may be inserted upside down and we did it the first few times we used the kit. In this case it sits pretty still and you don't have an idea that it is actually not charging. The right way is, to insert it with the ear bud facing the upper site, and once you do that the LED on the headset changes from Blue (indicating it is ON) to solid Red that indicates it is charging. Once the charging is complete, you don't get solid Green to show this but just back to flashing Blue, and you can't know if it is fully charged or disconnected by a mistake.
The headset itself has common prolonged design with about average size and weight. The ear-bud is inserted into the ear-canal and that is how the whole headset stays on your head. This allows it to be put on very easily with one hand, since it is expected that you are using the other one to steer the car's wheel.
Weight Comparison:
| Manufacturer/Model | Parrot Driver Headset | Logitech Mobile Traveller | Gennum nXZEN PLUS 5500 | Cardo Scala 500 | Jabra BT800 | Jabra BT250 |
|---|
| Weight in Grams | 14 grams | 14.2 grams | 17 grams | 16.7 grams | 22.7 grams | 22.7 grams |
| Weight in Ounces | 0.49 oz. | 0.5 oz. | 0.54 oz. | 0.58 oz. | 0.8 oz. | 0.8 oz. |
The Driver Headset passed very well our vigorous head shake test and did not wobble or fell down. The only small problem is that after having it on for a while, the microphone instead of pointing to your mouth, slightly twirls and starts to point at your neck.
Our expectation was that the in-ear-canal design would create discomfort after a short usage, but we were wrong even after an hour we hardly felt anything.
It has three buttons a couple of volume keys on the bottom and top and a power key on the front side it's relatively easy to use the volume keys as you hold the headset to press them, but pressing the power key pushes the whole device into your ear-canal, which after prologned used might create discomform.
TECHNICAL AND COMMERCIAL SPECIFICATIONS
Bluetooth wireless headset for drivers
- Headset with automatic pick up/hang up
- Volume adjustment via two buttons
- Button for call management
- Ringtone and LED for incoming calls
- Bluecore 3 processor
- 10 mm speaker
- 3 high-intensity LEDs
- NiMH 90 mA battery
- Reset controller
- 5 hours' talk time on a full charge off the cradle
Bluetooth®
Built-in Bluetooth receiver
Profiles supported: HSP 1.1 and HFP
Range up to 10 metres
Dimensions and weight
Cradle: L=130mm W=58mm D=35mm
Total weight: 60 grams
Headset: L=68mm W=25mm D=23mm (with insert)
Headset weight: 14 grams
Garantee
One year parts and labour as from the purchase date
BLUETOOTH® WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY
The Bluetooth wireless technology enables voice and data to be sent via a
short-distance radio link. It connects a wide range of electronic equipment
without requiring additional cables.
Furthermore, it extends the communication possibilities for mobile phones
and a large number of devices.
PHONE COMPATIBILITY
Compatible with all Bluetooth phones.
During a call the incoming quality is very good with realistic voices and no noise, but the volume is low and in a noisy environment you will hardly be able to hear the other side. While we were testing it, we found ourselves pressing the headset as close to our ear as possible to make the sound louder. The volume loundness of course also depends on the phone the other party is using, but regardless of that Parrot should have designed the headset to have louder volume.
The party on the other side of the line also reported very clear sound, with almost no difference as if we were using a phone. The Driver Headset does not utilize any kind of echo or noise supression, but if the car windows are not rolled down, and if the stereo is not blasting, the other party had no problems hearing us.
The Driver Headset clearly shows its purpose by its name it is designed for in-car use only and for people who won't bother to carry the headset with them all the time. But as it is designed for that and is not just an ordinary headset with car-charger, we'd prefer a better charging station, with illumination in the port and better visual indications of the battery charghing status. The sound quality is excellent but the main drawback is its low volume which makes it unusable in noisy environment (windows down, playing music). If you are looking for a cheap in-car hand-free solution which will be just occasionally used, the Parrot Driver Headset is recommended.
Things that are NOT allowed: