Digital Trends

Epox BT-HS02 October 25th, 2004 | by Nino Marchetti

Usage and Functionality

Getting the BT-HS02 to communicate with a Bluetooth enabled Sony Ericsson T616 was a snap. After going through the Sony's setup menus and turning on the headset's paring mode, the two devices were quickly acting like old friends.

Epox's headset, comfort wise, did okay. The headset, which is so light you hardly notice it, rests on your ear and not in it. This makes careful adjustment of the flexible ear hook necessary in order to get a proper fit. Without a proper fit, it often felt like the BT-HS02 was loose and might fall. With the headset secured, trying to figure out the buttons and how they worked in combination was somewhat frustrating. Multiple attempts to try different functions as addressed in the owner's manual, such as redial, were met with failure because the proper timing or button sequence was slightly off.

In terms of battery life and charging time, the BT-HS02 met with what the manufacturer provided on the box. Talk time was just around five hours, while it took about two hours to fully recharge the unit.

With regards to communication with others, our tests showed the BT-HS02 to be consistent with other Bluetooth headsets providing mixed results. Situations like dropped calls, spotty cellular coverage and potentially inferior cell phones aside, the BT-HS02 tended to show stronger results for those on the other end. Most listeners said they heard the conversation well, with only one reporting some low level hissing. On the headset user side, listening to others sometimes produced static-like sounds and other times did not. Volume control was useful in situations where there was static, helping to make it easier to hear the person talking. A talk range of 30 feet worked as advertised, with drops in sound quality beginning at approximately 25 feet.

Summary

The Epox BT-HS02 offers up a decent attempt at a Bluetooth headset. Few things hamper it from being one of the better units out there, but those things are enough to keep it from being the best it could be. On the positive side, the BT-HS02 is one of the smaller Bluetooth headsets on the market and also offers a solid battery life between charges. It is also a good value on the dollar. The pluses however are offset by the general problem which plagues most wireless headsets: moments when listening quality, on both the receiving and sending ends, is spotty.