Jawbone Bluetooth Headset

I’m always looking for the “best” bluetooth headset. Until now the best one for me was the Jabra BT500. Why? Because it was the most comfortable and worked well with my Treo 650. Then I caught wind of this New Jawbone Headset and I was intrigued by the “military grade” noise reduction that it sports. So after doing a quick search on eBay and a “Buy It Now” link, the Jawbone was on the way. I must admit that I was also digging the modern cheese grater/Mac Pro design. I also liked that it doesn’t have any visible buttons. However, I was a little concerned about comfort. After all I’m not a fan of over-the-ear headsets.

I gave the Jawbone a workout this weekend and unlike other over-the-ear headsets, this one actually feels much better on my ear. However, the fit is not as snug as I would like (no headset is a perfect fit on me). Jawbone measures the ambient noise and adjusts the incoming and outgoing audio accordingly via its “noise shield.” The sound quality is better than average. I’ll have to continue testing it in noisy environments. I’m really curious as to how it will perform with the top down on a convertible on the highway which is one of my worse case scenarios.

Jawbone redThe Jawbone comes with a set of different sized ear buds and ear clips to attempt to fit most people. The default “round” ear bud was not a good fit for me at all. Luckily there was an elongated choice that fit much better. It also comes with an AC adapter for charging and the cable between the AC adapter and the headset has USB on one end. So you could just travel with the cable and headset to charge via the USB port on your laptop. I wish that it used a standard USB cable though. Although it’s USB on one end, it’s a proprietary connection on the other. This means that you have to use their cable. The Jawbone comes in Silver, Black or Red. I got the silver version as red was just going to clash too much with my wardrobe.

I can’t say that I Love the Jawbone just yet. I’ll have to use it more and take it on the road. However, my first impressions are better than any other headset I’ve tried so far. I need to give it a full day’s use to see if it is comfortable enough for all day use.

Jawbone offers 6 hours of talk time and 200 hours of standby time. It goes for about $110 on eBay. Cingular sells them too at a slightly higher price.

32 Replies to “Jawbone Bluetooth Headset”

  1. I had this for about 3 months now. It was sold old wherever I went in Las Vegas where I live. I was lucky to find one. The design is definitely eye-catching and gathers stares and starts up conversation. The battery-life compared to my previous ear-pieces lasts the whole day while I’m at the bank. The fit is snug and comfortable.

    My complaints are that it isn’t as effective as advertised. Sure, it adjusts to the ambient sounds around you, but the volume you receive doesn’t adjust enough if your surrounded by loud sounds. Also, I’ve tried this several times in the wind. Jawbone WILL work ONLY if you cup your hands over the entire unit, allowing the pin that touches your cheek to pick up the vibrations and emit the proper sounds. As you know, Jawbone doesn’t have a boom mic as most other ear pieces do, but its based on tech that captures the vibrations caused by your voice and translates it to proper sounding words for the receiver on the other end. However, when you’re in the middle of some strong wind (eg. your top down) the wind hits the pin and distorts the sound/words.

    Overall, its a good tech device with great battery life that’s easy on the eyes. But, it isn’t as powerful as advertised.

  2. I picked up on the Jawbone from a recommendation from John Dvorak in his PC magazine column. Any headset will not work in a windstrorm – as above – but this one does work very well in a car, canceling out the usual car noise. I’ve had it for a few weeks and any callers that I have asked support it – which was not the case with some of the others I have tried. I had no trouble with the fit. The insert that fits into the ear is solid and comfortable. I bought mine direct from the company, shipping was immediate.

  3. Doug or Terry

    I have a Motorola H500 and have had some trouble from time to time with those I am talking to hearing me. It works decent for the most part but would you recommend the Jawbone? I usually just use it in my car which is not a convertible. I also have air so I only have the windows down from time to time when I’m in the mood for wind.

    Would it work decent with windows down?

  4. Here’s the thing about the Jawbone, I think it will work for most people however, the problem that I run into is that it doesn’t fit snugly in my ear and therefore doesn’t seem loud enough. If it fits in your ear, then it should be fine.

  5. After having my Jawbone go thru the wash in a pocket, I sent the following note to their Returns Dept. in the hope that they might do at least something to help me out (maybe $25 off a new one or soemthing?). Sadly, here’s the note I sent, and their response. I really thought they’d do better. They do make a pretty nice product.

    I love my Jawbone (Black), but, sadly, I left it in a pocket and it went throught the wash. Needless to say, it’s fried.

    Is there any way I can send it back for replacement at a reduced cost? I don’t think I’ve had it even a month.

    Hope you can help me out.

    Scott,

    Unfortunately, we do not have any such program in place yet. While I am sorry to hear about your unfortunate accident, there is not much that we can do for you from here. What I may suggest, though, is purchasing your Jawbone from another source who may sell it for less.

    Best regards
    Brad

  6. I love my Jawbone when it works, which is becoming rarer and rarer. It fits my ear perfectly, very comfortable, sound quality is excellent and people I’m calling can’t tell I’m on a headset event with a lot of ambient noise.

    However, it loses it’s connection with my Blackberry 7130e – very frustrating. I contacted technical services, received a prompt reply and tried what they told me, which was to reset and re-pair the Jawbone. No luck.

  7. The sound quality is great but I cannot get the thing to fit and be comfortable. I’ve tried every cobination of earloop and ear bud but it never fits well. I love the performance but hate the fit I think I’m going to have to send it back!

  8. I am REALLY interested in buying the Jawbone, but I dunno about the comfort difference from my current Cellpoint Flamingo headset. I use my bluetooth which is hooked to my office phone, so my headset is usually in my ear for at least 8 hours in a day, and the Flamingo’s “Ear Click” design is the most comfortable and least ear-sweat inducing headset I have ever used, but it’s boom mic picks up EVERYTHING (as I find with every headset I’ve used), so I really want to get the Jawbone for the noise cancellation. But of course, not many people are willing to let you shove their Jawbone ear-bud in your ear to try it out. Has anyone used the Cellpoint Flamingo and have since tried the Jawbone? If so, what’s the comfort comparison? I really would appreciate some help on this one! Cheers!

  9. Can’t get it to fit in my ear. Tried every combination. If i put the earbud into my ear it fits perfectly, when I attache it to the Jawbone and try to insert it, it pops out and is loose.

    Guess my ears are the 1% that do not fit.

    I like the set, but not happy about the fit. It needs to be just a little longer where the earbud goes into the ear canal.

  10. Well, I’ll chime in here and say the Jawbone doesn’t fit my ears either. In fact I just contacted thier “Support” page with this description.

    Message:
    Hi, I was hoping you could help me. I am having a terrible time getting my Jawbone to fit on/in my ear comfortably? Trying to go on the right side, I have broken two of the bows so far and I’m not putting that much pressure on them? I’m trying to use the round ear-piece since it is the one that feels the most comfortable. Am I mistaken trying to wedge the rubber into my ear? If I don’t do this I find the volume is not correct? I’ve tryed the other ear inserts and none fit comfortably, it’s like I need a slightly smaller (round) ear-piece and a bow that turns some direction as to push the jawbone harder against my ear? Are there any suggestions you have for me?

    Thanks

    It’s been a few hours and haven’t herd back, I’ll report back here with thier answer (if any?)

  11. well my jawbone was working fine until now. There is a blue/red light on constantly, even when i try to charge it, it doesn’t charge. I tried ressetinng it, but nothing. Can someone help me please.

  12. For Paul and Craig. I have fit problems with all combinations of earpieces and ear gels. JAWBONE is GREAT headset. I’ve broken two bows too trying to fit it. I think I need smaller bows and have tried to find them but no luck. Still trying

  13. Just a quick plug for the Motorola h500. It is relatively comfortable, but the most impressive thing I discovered was that when I accidentally washed it in a washing machine and dried it in a drier, it still worked! The only casualty was that the ear clip broke off in the process but I wrote to Motorola and since I had only had it for a few months, they sent me a free replacement ear clip (actually 3 of them) that just snapped right into the headset. Very impressed with the product and the support.

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  15. I own a Jawbone and I am very satisfied with it. However, an analysis of the web demonstration makes me laugh.

    While you can hear the woman talking clearly even with the background noise due to the noise reduction ability, she never has to listen to anything through the earpiece.

    The person called may not have any difficulty hearing the caller speak, but with that amount of background noise the caller will never be able to hear.

    So much for a clever demo!!!

  16. The ear clip broke on my Jawbone and I can’t seem to locate a replacement. Where would I go to order one/some?

  17. I have the newest Jawbone which is a huge improvement in both sound and fit versus the previous.

    The problem is that I have had one in the last month that worked flawlessly for a few weeks and then just stopped. I had another where the volume just dropped to about 20% and can’t be changed.

    I love the fit of this new unit. It actually fits me better without an ear loop. The sound is fabulous.

    Can’t wait until they get the early kinks worked out.

  18. My Jawbone I worked great until the ear loop snapped in my backpack. Apparently NO ONE sells a replacement anymore, not even Jawbone. They want you to buy an entirely new unit. Not very customer friendly, especially given the cost of the unit.

  19. This is JawBone’s response:

    Since Original Jawbone accessories are no longer being produced, we will be happy to send you a complimentary warranty replacement earloop if you are still within the Jawbone’s one-year limited warranty period.

    Pretty sad support from a manufacturer. While they have a decent product, other manufacturers have competing products now and better support.

  20. I received an Original Jawbone for a Christmas present and when charging it up the top came off when I removed the charging cord. Then, you could hardly hear my voice on the other end of the connection. I went through the reset procedure and tried it on the other ear. Now no one can hear me (probably from the top coming off while doing the initial charge). I consider this a poorly made piece of electronics but I have had limited experience with bluetooth earpieces. Now, when I asked for a RA to return it for warranty repair I really got a belly full of bad customer service. According to the date code on the piece it is out of warranty. I thought warranty starts from the day of purchase??? Anyway I explained that the person who gave me the present passed away the beginning of January and I would not have a receipt Ye Ye from customer service did not respond with an answer. I just emailed them back and told them I would throw it away and forget trying to get fair consideration. I would never buy a product from Jawbone!!!

  21. I’ve had the original jawbone a bit over a year–but most of the time it sat charging becuase I just don’t use it that much. I’ve used it maybe a dozen times and the earloop has already broken. Based on research, I don’t have hopes of finding a replacement and even if I do, it seems futile because they break frequently. I won’t buy another Jawbone product again. I wish I’d seen this feedback before I bought this overpriced poorly made product.

  22. I’ve had my red Jawbone for a year now and love it. When I can ride in my old and fairly loud 1980 Mercedes 450 SEL with all 4 windows down AND the sunroof open and call my 91 year old Dad with no problems, well that says it all for me. Luckily for me it fits well and I have zero problems with it. My Dad, who is also hard of hearing (all his life) and wears two aids, doesn’t even know I’m on a cellphone let alone using a headset.

    My problem is I am about to upgrade to a smart phone, finally ditching the PDA (yeah, yeah, took me long enough). I’m very interested in the Black Berry Curve 8330. However, today at the store the rather cocky salesman told me that it wouldn’t work well with my Jawbone, which he saw on me when I came into the store. When asked why, he said he’s the epitome of blue tooth knowledge (that kicked off bells for myself and my friend) and had tried them all and that unless you had the 8330 right in front of your face or front pocket it sounded terribly tinny and broken up. He recommended a small Motorola headset that, along with a case and car charger, would cost $165.00. I declined and left the store. The oddest thing was that less than 2 months ago when I was in there with the same friend, when he got his 8330, the sales rep commented on my Jawbone and how good it is and would be a nice compliment to the 8330.

    So my problem now is will my beloved Jawbone work well with the 8330 or not? I’m not about to give it up as I truly do like it and it spends a good portion of my day in my ear. When I called the wireless company the person I spoke with couldn’t give me a definitive yes or no about it and suggest I contact RIM/Black Berry. Meanwhile I’m digging around online and decided to post here to see if anyone can come up with an answer or even experience with this combo. Thanks!

  23. Hey, Terry. Reading your account of how the Jawbone has “never really fit” reminded me of my past Jawbone experiences. I purchased the Jawbone because of the noise cancellation/style, but it never really fit. I tried different earpieces, called the company (where I was talked down to and made to feel that my problem was unique and the occurance of the problem not sufficient enough for them to affect a solution. Recently I saw a new kind of ear cushion for the Jawbone, fashioned, it said, for folks who had a problem with the fit. It looks like the number 8, and with the right earpiece makes the Jawbone so secure that I can wear it on my bicycle, which is the primary reason I first bought it. The Jawbone is the best bluetooth earpiece I have ever owned (and there have been…well….a few).

    The reason I found your blog is that I am finding that my Blackberry Pearl Flip seems to turn on the Jawbone on its own, so when I attempt to answer the phone (and I am carrying the Jawbone somewhere on my person) the caller cannot hear me, nor I them because the signal is going to the Jawbone. The button is NOT being depressed on the Jawbone. The phantom switch and new static make me believe something is wrong, so I guess I will talk to Jawbone tomorrow. Thanks for your blog and effort!

  24. I purchase my jawbone 2 in May, 2009. I purchase it from the cell phone shop. it cost me only $64.00. every few minutes it disconnects and then connects back to my LG UX830. Is their a reason for this, also can you recommend a place for repair. I live in the south suburbs of chicago, illinois. Any answer’s would help. or comments.

  25. Buddy King, did you get an answer to the phantom switching on issue, I’ve had the same issue with my Sanyo Katana and assumed it was just me (since I usually keep the jawbone in my pocket).

  26. I’ve had my Jawbone Icon for just less than 30 days. I’m starting to get some use out of it, but it has started disconnecting and connecting JUST as calls come in.

    Should be called the Jawbone Ironic.

    Problem is increasing in frequency. I intend to return and replace it. Hope the new one works.

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