Plantronics Voyager Edge Review

Introduction

The Voyager Edge is a the latest premium Bluetooth headset in Plantronics line-up. At $129.99, it is not affordable, but the Santa Cruz-based company went out of its way with the design and extra perks that come with it. The end result is a high-class, but also stylish Bluetooth headset.

So how much is $130 worth to Plantronics, and what exactly will that get you? Let's find out.

In the box:

• Bluetooth headset
• Charging base (built-in battery) with LED battery indicators
• USB to microUSB cable
• Car lighter adapter with USB
• S, M, L size silicone eartips for in-ear support
• Optional plastic clip-on earloop

Design

If your line of work requires the use of a Bluetooth headset, but you're also looking for something a bit fancier, then the Voyager Edge should be among your first stops. The sleek, but compact, accessory is beautifully-designed, and comes in three color options: black, white, and grey. At 9 grams, the headset is fairly lightweight and also comfortable – we often forget that we have it on after a while. Very helpful with that are the silicone eartips, as they are both comfortable and provide a reliable grip.

The exterior, treated to a nano coating, is water resistant, so use in rainy weather is of little concern. The construction of the piece is also commendable – it's plastic, obviously, but that's not at all detrimental to perceived quality.

The Voyager Edge makes room for 4 functionally different buttons – a volume rocker, an on/off slider switch, a key to access voice commands, and a separate 'Answer' button that seemingly spans the entire length of the microphone. We're happy to report that all four of these are pronounced both in the cue they provide (you have to feel them out, after all), and also the amount of feedback you get.

The same high level of craftsmanship and attention to detail has gone into the charging cradle. Shaped like a tear when looked at from above, it's got a premium-looking and feeling rubbery texture. Snapping the Edge into it is easy, and we do like the fine touch with the touch-sensitive LED battery indicators. Also, thanks to its petite proportions, it can act as an on-the-go power bank, though it's certainly too bulky to wear in your pocket. And yet, if you do a lot of field work, the idea of 10 extra hours of talk time is likely too good to pass up (that's twice the talk time of the headset itself).

Functionality

As a top-of-the-line model, the Voyager Edge packs quite the feature set. It supports Bluetooth 4.0, though you can also pair up through NFC, but the important thing is that either is a seamless process. Voice commands are activated by pressing a small button near the microphone, and span from a simple “Call back!”, down to checking your remaining charge and pairing status. Best of all, any upcoming calls activate the headset's voice listening feature, and let you accept or reject calls by simply saying “Answer!” or “Ignore!”.

The Edge is also advertised as HD Voice- and A2DP-compatible, though both these settings are only available through the Plantronics Hub app, which is a massive disappointment. For starters, the app requires Android 4.4 KitKat or higher, but more importantly – we couldn't even download the application as it was listed as unsupported in our country. That's weird, considering we tried to install the app through an US-based Google account.

Call quality

Now, if you have any experience with Bluetooth headsets, you'll likely already know that a sacrifice in call quality is, inevitably, a part of the deal. Unfortunately for the Voyager Edge, however, we were a little surprised, and not in a good way. The Edge's in-ear speaker is medium loud, and call quality is just poor at max volume. Toning loudness down helps, but we still encountered grow-ly voices that only exhibited key traces of their actual, real-life tonality. The Edge's microphone is worse, but also similar in the way it twists your voice. The other side reported a rather bass-y output, and tonal information is just irrecoverably lost. We were also a bit disappointed with the noise-canceling capabilities of the Edge – we've definitely seen better.

All of this adds up to poor overall call quality, and even though we're far more lenient with Bluetooth headsets, we were still expecting more. For example, we had the cheaper, $99 Plantronics Voyager Legend at hand, too, and that one comes with a significantly better microphone, and even the earpiece is a notch better.

Conclusion

As far as cool and flashy gizmos go, the Plantronics Voyager Edge is right up there. The bespoke design speaks volumes about the priorities of the California-based company, and we definitely liked what we saw. The Edge is well-crafted and distinguished, but not overdone. It's also a pleasure to wear as it's lightweight and provides a reassuring grip without forcing you to wear the clunky earloop.

Unfortunately, at $129.99, we expected more out of the headset, and almost exclusively in the call quality department. Quite frankly, if you value proper voice transmission over style, you'd be better served going for the cheaper, $99.99 Voyager Legend – its microphone is miles ahead, while the in-ear speaker also performs a tad better.