Review: Plantronics Discovery 925

Plantronics has been producing audio headsets since 1962 and seems to have always been present in the wireless headset market. There latest offering is the Plantronics Discovery 925 Bluetooth Headset ($89.95). Sporting a unique design, this semi-compact headset has a lot of potential boasting excellent sound quality in an eye catching design.

To see how the Discovery 925 comes out in the wash, read on!

Out of the Box

The Discovery 925 comes packaged with a charger cradle/case, an assortment of various sized ear gels, a USB Cable and an owner's manual. Taking out of the packaging, the first thing that stands out is the weight. At only .28 ounces, Plantronics wasn't too far off by adding a feather to the packaging art work. The device is a little on the long side due to the triangular boom, measuring about 2.5 inches in length. I don't know if the boom has audio purposes but I don't see where anything functional (e.g. microphone) is on it. In reading the product material the V shaped boom helps capture your voice, funneling towards the microphone. However, this would really be a nifty headset if you could cut off the boom.

The Discovery 925 has two controls, a call control button and a volume control button. The main surface of the headset is the call control button and the volume control button is located on the rear side of the unit. A multi-colored LED rests behind the call control button to verify/alert users of functions. A variety of tones and beeps is also present for verification/alerts.

Battery life is reported to be up to five hours of talk time and up to a hundred seventy-five hours of stand-by time. If you use the headset's multi-point feature (allowing it to pair with multiple devices) the standby time drops to one hundred hours. The nice thing about battery life with the Discovery 925 is that the charging base doubles as a portable charging solution. The charger itself makes for a nice case, wrapped in synthetic leather but, when fully charged, it will also provide one full charge to the 925.

Performance

Pairing the Discovery 925 is an uneventful process and within minutes I was connected to my Samsung BlackJack II. The connection was very good with no static present. The 925 was comfortable to wear but felt a little loose. You really need to try all the ear gels to find the best fit. I don't think I'd go jogging with the Discovery 925 but once you got used to the feel, it handled routine activities well.

Call quality was a mixed bag. Reception was really good for incoming calls and the microphone filtered out background noise equally as well. My voice was picked up with no problem using normal tone and volume but it sounded strange, almost robotic or digital. You can understand what is being said but it would be easy to mistake someone by the sound of their voice.

The Discovery 925 has the standard features including voice dialing (phone dependant), last number redial, call reject, mute, and call transfer. Additionally, the 925 has multi-point capability allowing it to pair with multiple devices at the same time. This feature can be turned off to converse power. All the functions, except volume control, are handled through various touches, taps, and holds of the call control button. The button is easy to access and while it may sound like a lot for one button to control, once you get used to the activation patterns, it's easy.

Overall Impression

As far as performance goes, the Plantronics Discovery 925 Bluetooth Headset ($89.95) is a very good headset. Earpiece volume was good, the connection between the 925 and phone was solid, and a good amount of background noise was filtered out. The only weak spot was the odd twist it would put on my voice at times. You could still hear me without problems but it made my voice a little unrecognizable.

The feature set is standard and the ability to turn off the multi-point signal should you not need to pair the Discovery 925 to multiple devices, does help conserve power.

With respect to comfort, the 925 rode well but I just couldn't get used to the triangular boom. The main part of the Discovery 925 is a little thick but because the headset is so lightweight, you don't notice it.

If you can live with the Discovery 925's longer size, you should give it strong consideration when shopping for a Bluetooth headset. Especially one with multi-point capabilities.