Plantronics M3500 Bluetooth Headset

Plantronics M3500Well, let us try this again, shall we? I actually wrote this review once before, but in a last minute rush to get the last few bits and pieces of the 4 reviews together, before I left for New York for the CeBIT America show, I managed to copy the text of the Tekkeon ezTalker review over top of the Plantronics M3500 review. Oh well.

So anyway, consider this take two for the review, and take two for Plantronics, as well. You see, the M3500 is very much a second attempt at the original M3000 headset that was released last year. It seems that Plantronics was listening to the reviewers and public, and in response to feedback, made some changes to the design that you can now see - and feel - in the M3500. My biggest complaint with the M3000 was comfort. The hard, narrow plastic ear loop was uncomfortable at best, painful at worse.

I'm glad to say that Plantronics has soundly dealt with that problem. The new ear loops (2 are provided) are a vast improvement over the M3000's units. The new ear loops attach to the headset body the same way as they did on the M3000 (the two headsets share the same body design), but the new units are wider and softer. Chances are good that one of the two sizes of ear loops is going to fit you reasonably well. I still wouldn't rate the M3500 as one of the most comfortable headsets I have ever worn, but it is reasonably comfortable and is pretty stable and secure. Despite its near 29g weight, it didn't flop around on me at all, yet it still can be put on and removed with one hand.

One other problem with the ear loops that the M3000 had is still present on the M3500. That is ease with which they can be broken. The plastic ring that snaps into place, attaching the loop to the body, is quite thin and easily broken. I broke one of the ear loops on my original M3000 with only a relatively little amount of use. In fact, the loop broke not while I was wearing it, or flipping the loop for left ear use, but rather while it was stuffed into my shoulder sling pack. I have real doubts about the robustness of the ear loop design. The fact that Plantronics sells replacements almost reinforces that idea. But in any event, since the old and new headsets share the same body, owners of the M3000 will be able to buy the improved M3500 ear loops for their headsets.

As I mentioned earlier, the M3000 and M3500 share the same body design. That's not a bad thing, though it wouldn't hurt for the M series to go on a bit of a diet. The headset is on the large side. No so much in length and width, but in thickness. It sticks out from your ear a bit further than most other headsets, but otherwise the design is nice. There is a power button, a volume control rocker switch, a call control button that is easy to feel, and a single LED status indicator. Everything is in a logical place and can easily be found with your fingertips. The side opposite the volume and power controls has a socket for the charger jack, meaning that no dedicated charging cradle is required. On the front tip of the headset, a pair of microphone openings can be found.

One of the strong suits of the M3000 was its overall audio quality. While hardly sounding like a pair of stereo headphones, the audio was quite good for the time. With the M3500, Plantronics has decided to up that a bit with the addition of a digital signal processor (DSP) and their new Audio IQ noise cancellation system. This new system was designed to filter out background noise, such as traffic sounds on a busy street or the din of a radio playing in the room. The effect is not the same as putting on a pair of expensive Bose noise cancelling headphones, but the difference is noticeable. You can listen to the difference yourself by downloading this MP3 file we recorded.

 

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