Bluetooth headset (iChat AV & S700i compatible)

[Steve]

Ok, so recently I started to realize how cool chatting to my friends, free of charge, on iChat AV was. Now I only have a mic in my PowerBook, and NOT in my PowerMac, so i've been forced to use this whenever I want to chat. Also, the voice output coming out of the speakers can be kind of hard to hear.

- All in all, i realize that I wanted a Mic for my PowerMac.

...Then I realized that I wanted a headset, so I can speak and hear clearly in one unit.

...Then I realize, "Hey why don't I get a Bluetooth compatible one, so I can use it for both my phone and my computer?"

So this, is what I'm after:

A bluetooth headset, that I can definitely pair with my Mac's running Tiger and indeed my Sony Ericsson S700i.

I've never been interested in all this before, so pardon any apparent ignorance I may have show to these devices and their potential compatibility!

Cheers for reading,

Steve

[GothTeddy]

First off, any headset you get will only pair with one device at a time - so, every time you want to switch from one to the other you'll have to re-pair.

Secondly, as long as you don't buy cheap tat, there isn't really all that much difference between modern headsets. I'd recomment an SE headset, purely from the point that you can charge it with the charger from your S700 (and the possibility of having two charge points around the house, ie, one in the office & one in the bedroom). When it came out, the HBH-300 was the daddy, but i'm not sure how the newer models compare. I've used my HBH-600 with Skype & iChat, and it worked well. Take a look at the HBH-610, it looks to be the new daddy, but, I haven't read any reviews...

[Steve]

Cheers,

I actually bought a HBH-660 from eBay for about ?40, hopefully it'll be all good. I never thought about the situation with pairing the devices, but then again, that's because i've never used one of these before. Hopefully i'll get it before the week is out, and I'll post up how it goes.

Cheers for your comments.

Steve

[GothTeddy]

No probs.

From what I've read, the 660s are great :) So you've done nicely there.

Pairing's a snap, anyway: simply hold down both volume buttons and press and hold the on/off button until it blinks red, then simply start the pairing on the mac or phone. Piece of cake. :D

[Steve]

Sounds good, I'm looking forward to getting it, hopefully this week! I'm glad to hear yours worked with iChat ok, I think most of the articles i've scoured the web for, referred to problems spurning from Panther and Bluetooth modules that aren't compatible.

[QuarterSwede]

Hands Free Insanity

A friend's blog ... sorry, I couldn't resist.

[Steve]

Ok so I just got the headset today. Seems to work great with my PowerBook, and indeed my brother's Mac miini. However, both machines have built-in Bluetooth, whereas my PowerMac unfortunately does not. I just went to pair my headset, and it tells me my Bluetooth module doesn't have headset support. So now, I'm a little lost. Can anyone confirm whether the Apple endorsed D-Link 120 module would support headsets? I'd grab one, if I knew it'd work...

Cheers,

Steve

[Steve]

Scratch that, i've just ordered a Rev. B4 from someone eBay, which according to their support pages will work. :) Damn why does things have to be so complicated?!! :(

[lieb39]

That sucks but let us know how it goes - i think this would be very cool!

Cheers,

lieb39

[jlmodell]

what else can you do with a wireless bt headset connected to the computer? ....

can i listen to music wirelessly.. this has got me checking ebay to see if i should get an hbh 660 as well lol =P

can you update when you find out if that dlink bt module works. my mac mini doesnt have it installed

;;edit

$70 usd shipped, does that compare well to your 40 bp.. ? i got an s700i as well lol, at the very least, ill finally have a headset for it since i lost the wired one long ago

Edited September 2, 2005 by jlmodell

[Steve]

It basically intergrates with your Mac (I have i running flawlessly on my PowerBook). It becomes and input and output device, in your 'Sound' system preferences. If you want it to, you can define it as your audio output, so then yes it'll allow you to wireless stream music to it. Of course it won't sound all to awesome over BT though, but it does indeed work. I'll update when I get the device, but for the moment I can tell you it works just as I hoped with Mac OS X, and indeed iChat AV, with my PowerBook on Tiger. :)

[Amnesia]

good to see you got the 660.

Overall, it's a good headset and since you're using it with the laptop, the screen will be usefull.

You shouldn't have rushed on ebay though.

I got mine brand new for 30 3-4 months ago.

[GothTeddy]

I was going to mention the bluetooth dongle, slipped my mind :p I'd been using a cheap Epox dongle for the last few years, worked fine until I tried to pair the headset - profile not supported (what can you expect for something I bought over 2 years ago). I bought a BT-120, and updated the firmware, which now works flawlessly.

I wouldn't bother with it for music, though :p

[danbalsh]

wow, nice thread, never knew i could pair my handsfree with my iMac :D

I've got a HBH-600 and it's working fine.

[jlmodell]

So i played with the headset for a week..... and now i put it back up on ebay..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=5808248135

lol, its crazy how wasteful i am. i stand to lose like $20-30 usd on the entire ordeal.. x_x;; *smacks self* no more impulse purchases