Plantronics Voyager 520 August 10th, 2007 | by Jason Tomczak
Full Review
Features and Design Noise Cancellation Lefty Righty Audio Quality Battery Life Bluetooth Range Skype
The Plantronics Voyager 520 is a very well designed, lightweight and strong-performing Bluetooth headset engineered primarily for business professionals. Of course, individual users will appreciate the robust noise cancellation/reduction technology, the ease of use and the surprising level of comfort that the 520 offers.
The Voyager 520's exterior is made of a sleek but durable plastic. Both the earbud and ear rest are soft and rubberized so as to be gentle on your ear. The 520 is well built and looks like it can withstand the rigors of heavy daily use. To test its durability, I intentionally dropped the Voyager 520 from my desk (several times), carried it in a briefcase, and even dropped it from ear height (roughly 6 feet) to simulate an accidental drop. The 520 didn't have a scratch on it and continued to work perfectly. While I don't recommend mistreating your own Bluetooth headset, it's nice to know that this one stood up to exaggerated abuse.
One of the key features of modern Bluetooth headsets is noise reduction technology. Noise reduction or cancellation features are primarily used for blocking wind, road noise and even chatter from noisy restaurants and meeting locations. Plantronics has long been at the forefront of developing and offering this essential technology, and the Voyager 520 is a very good example of this technology in use. With road noise from 65mph highway travel and four open windows, I was able to call friends and family (and even my own voice mail box) to test the noise levels. The verdict is that the calls were clear and lucid and my voice wasn't overpowered by external noises.
The Voyager 520 has a neat little articulating arm that holds the headset to your ear. It easily rotates from lefty to righty configurations. Personally, I use the 520 on my right ear everywhere except in my car. I want passing motorists to know that I'm using a headset, not talking to myself like a nut. Or if I am, in fact, talking to myself like a nut, the Voyager 520 gives me perfect cover.
When placing and receiving calls, the Voyager 520 is crystal clear at low and medium volume levels. Even though the higher volume levels hurt my ears (naturally), the 520 emitted no hissing or other distracting noise. (While technically a flaw in cheaper Bluetooth headsets, the high-volume-hiss acted as an accidental but useful warning that the volume was jacked up too high.)
The Voyager 520 can provide up to 8 hours of active talk time and upwards of 180 hours standby time. In my lengthy tests, I found that the 520 never lost battery strength even though I left it off the charger for 2 days and used it for countless calls each day. The 520's battery life is pretty impressive.
Bluetooth 2.0 headsets are supposed to have about 10 meters (32 feet) of functional range. The Voyager 520 meets this spec and in some open locations, it does slightly better than 32 feet.
When Plantronics released the Pulsar 260 headset, I was hoping it would work well with Skype. Alas, it was buggy or totally resistant. With the Voyager 520, however, Plantronics has a solid Skype performer. I was able to connect the 520 to Skype in a matter of seconds and the call quality was as good as any other Bluetooth Skype headset I'd ever used. I was even able to use the Voyager to record audio directly into QuickTime (Mac) and other audio applications.
The Plantronics Voyager 520 in its docking station
by Paul Graham on November 8, 2009:
“I have had it on my ear for the last 2 days. I use it for work and private use and have made and received a lot of calls on this machine. No complaints, it does everything that I want it to do, including redial last number, handle 2 phones etc. Most comfortable,...” More...