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Jabra SPORT Bluetooth Stereo Headset

Bluetooth is great for voice when talking on your mobile phone with headsets like the Plantronics Voyager PRO HD (see earlier post), and works nicely for wireless peripherals to use a mouse or keyboard with your laptop or tablet.

But more and more Bluetooth is for music. At home you can go wireless with products like the Logitech Wireless Boombox (see post) or Logitech Wireless Headset (see post).

So when you find yourself using your smartphone more as a music player than as a phone, then there's an obvious flaw with using a tiny Bluetooth headset in one ear to listen to two-channel stereo music.

You can plug in wired earphones to enjoy your music when you're travelling or exercising, but they're clumsy to juggle between music and calls.

Instead, check out the Jabra SPORT Bluetooth stereo headset, with a pair of earpieces that fit comfortably behind the ear, especially while you're in motion and sweating.

The two earpieces are connected by a cord that runs behind your head, but the connection to your smartphone (or other media player) is Bluetooth wireless, so you can play music, with volume and skip controls, and switch over to pick up phone calls.

For playing streaming music, the SPORT features bass boost and Virtual Surround Sound audio enhancement. It also includes a built-in FM radio with auto-search, although you'll probably want to set it to one favorite station since skipping manually through stations without any visual feedback can be painful.

And the SPORT is designed for workouts, with U.S. military grade rain, dust and shock protection and a wind-shielded microphone.

It also includes a free download of the Endomondo Sports Tracker app that work with iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry smartphones as a motivational tool for running, updating your speed, distance, and times with GPS tracking.

The Jabra SPORT Bluetooth stereo headset is available for around $99, and the companion non-wireless SPORT-CORDED stereo headset is around $69. No sweat.

See my Audio Accessories Gallery for details and related products.

And see my Holiday Gadgets 2011: Portable and Wireless feature for more on Bluetooth headsets and other holiday goodies.

Find the Jabra SPORT headset on Amazon.com


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This entry posted on January 6, 2012.

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