11/01/2011

Logitech ClearChat Wireless USB Headset - Black Review

Logitech ClearChat Wireless USB Headset - Black
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
This headset had me hooked and I preordered it months before I finally got it. I didn't want to review it until I put it through it's paces. Sadly it comes up short in more ways than I expected. But I'm a fair guy, so let's start with the Positive:
1) It's cordless, gets decent range ~10m in my testing.
2) The sound quality of the headset and the mic are both pretty good (i.e. no complaints in game chat).
3) Headset cushions are top notch.
4) Quality construction - they aren't breaking anytime soon.
5) I was impressed with the ease of setting them up. Plug in the USB dongle, turn them on, set games to use the new headset.
And on to the negative:
1) Granted, I have a fairly big melon, but these have a really tight fit and start to fatigue the ears after a few hours of wear.
2) The Battery life is not much over 3.5 hours in my testing. It doesn't matter what app. I found myself plugging in the power cable to continue (what's the point of cordless?!) and shutting them down even for quick breaks while idle in games.
3) No interchangeable batteries (well, I didn't take them apart to see, but then the case isn't made to be taken apart).
4) Proprietary power cable? Come on! Why this wasn't mini USB, I'll never understand.
5) The Mic only comes down on the left hand side, which I find to be an annoying engineering limitation for no particular purpose.
6) Mic is static - no way to flex it other than up or down. Though it seems to pic up my voice fairly well.
7) I didn't think this was a big deal at first, but now It might be the most annoying thing: The USB Dongle connected to the computer FLASHES green incessantly until the headset is turned on and they sync. Now, I'm a computer guy, I've a truckload of LEDs that keep the office well lit at night, but NONE of them blink and draw attention to themselves except for a few moments. This stupid thing won't stop. I have to put things in front of it to keep it from annoying me.
So, I'm disappointed in this thing. Logitech makes good gear, but engineering needs to review this one and make the following changes for version 2:
1) Use standard USB to power the headset. If you must have a charge indicator, just build it into the headset as another LED and forget the proprietary cable.
2) If you have to drop both earpieces to fit a larger head, there should be an adjustable top pad so it stays in place.
3) Make it so that the mic can flip either way, and the Left/Right speakers change accordingly.
4) Beef up the battery power and make it so it charges faster. 3 hours? Come on... even 6 hours isn't much for marathon MMORPGs or LAN Parties, and your headset came nowhere near that mark. It's not cordless if I have to keep the power cable plugged in. Suggestion: 12 Hours minimum, even if it adds to bulk a little bit. And that's actual 12 hours, not some mathematical estimate.
5. Use two different colored lights on the USB dongle instead of flashing the same one. How expensive can that be?
And for those of us that wear glasses, please make a model with convex earpieces, the concave ones put pressure at the top of the ear and they smash the earpiece of your glasses against the skull. Unpleasant. Okay, this one's more of a wish, but the others above are absolutely requisite.
There you have it. The decent sound quality, construction, and cordlessness don't come close to outweighing the technical issues. I'd give this a 2.5, but when it costs close to a hundo, the price factor says all of these things should never have been a problem. If the next version sucks the same, I'll be looking for another manufacturer (and I'm a Logitech fan).

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