I recently bought a Verizon Treo 650 and tried to use my old BT headset (a Jabra) with it. For some reason I had a difficult time pairing it (could be because it was designed for phones without BT) so I decided to look for a replacement. Jabra has a similar model, the 250, but I was told it wasn’t that great with the Treo. Jabra also has a model with caller ID, but again, I heard there were issues. I settled on the HBH-660 because I was told it was flawless with the Treo and sported caller-id.

First, some pictures:

With the Treo:

Reported battery life of 5 hours talk, 150 hours standby is more then enough for 1 day’s use for me. The kit includes the headset, an A/C charging cable, and a neck strap. The strap plugs into the charging port on the headset…a neat idea IMO.

There are only 2 buttons on the unit, a call/answer/hangup button and a volume rocker switch. The LCD is small, but backlit. There is a battery indicator on the LCD that allows the user to know how much total battery is left.

I was able to pair it to my Treo instantly and I was off and running. I placed several test calls and I was able to get the range to be about 25 feet before I started hearing static. When walking around (right ear, left pocket) it sounded clear as day. Nobody could tell that i wasn’t using the phone regularly. When I end a call the device automatically goes into standby and it wakes from standby (when getting a call) almost instantly.

Even on its loudest setting, however, sometime I have difficulty hearing people. It could be because I went to one to many concerts when I was younger, but I would have liked the device to go just a tad bit higher.

I found it awkward to put on the first few times but eventually got the hang of it, and once it’s on I really don’t notice it.

As for the Caller-ID display…it’s not big enough to do a full phone number… 123-456-7890 so it scrolls the number 12345 and then 67890. To me this occurs too quickly and I can’t make out the numbers quick enough, so I just end up not using it.

Overall i think it’s a great headset, lightyears beyond my older Jabra. I would buy it again in a seconds. I paid about $80 and it included a car and 9V charger {eBay}.

Erik

In a quiet room, is there background hiss on incoming sound during a call on the 660? My sony ericsson BT headset (300) has some background hiss. Outgoing audio is completely clear though, kind of strange.

It’s not your ears. The Akono line is known to have low volume due to the fact the earpiece does not sit directly outside the ear canal. If it really matters to you, Jabra eargel should fix it.

For the caller ID feature, it’s supposed to show the Name in the phone book. If the phone doesn’t support it (no handsfree profile?), it falls back to show phone number which is somewhat pointless.

[quote author=“sugo”]In a quiet room, is there background hiss on incoming sound during a call on the 660? My sony ericsson BT headset (300) has some background hiss. Outgoing audio is completely clear though, kind of strange.

It’s not your ears. The Akono line is known to have low volume due to the fact the earpiece does not sit directly outside the ear canal. If it really matters to you, Jabra eargel should fix it.

For the caller ID feature, it’s supposed to show the Name in the phone book. If the phone doesn’t support it (no handsfree profile?), it falls back to show phone number which is somewhat pointless.

I haven’t noticed a hiss, but ill listen for it next time I use it. The test call I made for Caller-ID was in my phone book, so I guess the Treo just doesn’t support it.

Thanks for the tip with the jabra thing, I may try that.

Erik

I used it extensively today and didn’t notice a hiss on incoming or outgoing calls. That doesn’t mean it’s not there…I just didn’t notice it.

Erik