Jabra SP5050 Bt Speakerphone
by Jabra
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List Price: Our Price: $19.00 You Save: $52.99 (74%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Wireless See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Jabra SP5050 Bt Speakerphone
Customer Review: Simply the best of its' kind!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been through a number of hands-free devices over the years. I've bought and used 4 different Bluetooth headsets with varying degrees of success; some work, some don't. I've had some decent headsets, but don't like wearing them and often forget them. They've also been -- in my experience -- a little problematic to operate; some don't work with all phones, for example, and often you have to repeat pairing on a weekly basis to keep the device working with your phone. Some have poor battery life. Some have numerous accessories -- like charging stands and power supplies -- that make them really not that small or self-contained. Then there's the fit issue, some of the ones that clip over your ear are uncomfortable, some of the ones that use an earbud to fit into your ear are too loose -- you get the picture...
Over the past few years we've also owned four different cars with factory systems built into the car. The most expensive car we own has a built-in system, yet -- despite the brand's reputation for Superb German Engineering -- the hands-free BT system is nearly unusable after the car hits 30 mph. Too much noise, and you end up switching to the handset itself to make yourself heard. My wife HATES it if I even call her using the BT/hands-free system in this car.
As a result, I didn't have the highest of hopes for the Jabra SP5050 -- especially at its' price point -- but I needed something small that I could use in rental cars AND I didn't want to sacrifice quality. What's the point of hands-free if, when you're at speed, there's too much noise in the system for the other party to hear you and you have to resort to using the handset?
I decided to give the Jabra a real-world torture-test right out of the box. We recently purchased a new smart fortwo -- the European micro-car that has just gone on the market in the USA. It is definitely much louder inside than our other cars, as the engine is directly behind the driver's seat and these cars have very little sound-deadening material.
The first call I received was fairly important, and I told the caller to let me know if they had ANY difficulties hearing me. During the five minutes we were on, I drove on different surfaces (some quite rough) and was up to 60 mph approximately half of the time. Towards the end of the call I asked the caller if they'd been able to hear me OK; they wondered what I was talking about and stated that everything had sounded GREAT on their end.
So, here we have a device that sells for roughly $80 and -- it appears to me -- outperforms the Bluetooth hands-free system designed into my high-end German car by fanatical Teutonic engineers. This is remarkable to me, and the Jabra continues to impress.
It has great battery life, along with a feature that will automatically power the unit down if it loses pairing with your cell phone for more than 15 minutes. This is a great feature; it means you can turn it on once, run many short errands, and never have to switch the unit on and off. It also means that you can't deplete the battery by forgetting to turn it off when you leave your car.
The Jabra also pairs almost instantaneously; it beeps to confirm this, usually within 2 seconds of me "waking" my iPhone. It's almost exactly the same size as an iPhone, which makes it very convenient to travel with.
Like others, I don't like the fact that it comes without an AC adapter. There are several adapters on Amazon that have an AC plug on one side and a lighter socket on the other; for me this is a must-have, as I like to charge the Jabra at night and use it during the day without worrying about a cord.
So, there you have it -- relatively inexpensive, extremely simple to use, cleverly designed, works beautifully, and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Customer Review: Beautiful speakerphone
Summary: 5 Stars
With the hands-free law coming soon in California, I started doing research on headsets, but found that there are also speakerphones. Marvelous idea. I was not particularly excited about sticking a headset to my head. I am just not that cool.
I looked all over at the different speakerphones. Some have very good reviews, but their design, in my opinion, leaves much room for improvement, both functionally and aesthetically. Then I saw the Jabra SP5050. Perfecto!
Not only does it do everything the other speakerphones that I was looking at do, but it does it in a form factor that is both pleasing to the eye and very functional.
Because it is so thin, I don't even notice it on my sun visor. The interior of my car is black, so it also blends in very well. Call it a stealth speakerphone.
Operating it could not be more simple. The area where the speaker is also doubles as a "mouse" if you will. Click and hold for a few seconds to turn it on/off. Click once to answer a call. Click once to hang up. Double click to redial the last number, etc.
It pairs with my phone (Blackjack II) flawlessly. The sound level, which some have complained about, is very nice. Please note that the speaker level on your phone also affects the sound level on the speakerphone, so if your phone volume is turned down, you won't get much volume out of the speakerphone. Once I realized this I had all the sound level I needed, even at highway speeds, and my car is not the quietest in the cabin.
I can hear callers very well. People on the other end have given me mixed comments. At highway speeds they say you can hear the background noise, but that it is not loud nor distracting from the call. On quieter roads and a slower speeds, when my car is more quiet, I have been told they could not tell I was on a speakerphone and thought I was just talking on my phone normally. Overall a very good review, in my opinion.
The full-duplexing has worked flawlessly. Both people can talk at the same time. No one is cut out while the other talks. Some speakerphones claim to have full-duplex, but I have read complaints that it does not always work. On this speakerphone it has always worked.
There are only two things I would change about this speakerphone:
1) I would include a wall charger. Currently you can only charge the device in the car. I am rarely in my car long enough to get a full charge, so being able to charge it in my apartment would be nice.
2) I would change the visor clip so that you can easily remove it from the speakerphone for easy transport, like with some type of quick-release mechanism. This thing is so thin and sleek that I think it would be great to carry around with you to business meetings. It will easily fit in the pocket of your business suit. You could pull it out, connect it, and have a productive meeting with a room full of people. It could also easily be used at home so you could have a hands-free conversation, like when you are cooking dinner, for example.
Overall a very nice product and I would highly recommend it to anyone. After seeing it, my girlfriend is thinking about getting one for herself.
PS: One thought I have is to attach some velcro to the back of the unit and attach it somewhere in my car other than the visor. You could also do this in your home so you could simply attach the speakerphone to a designated spot in your kitchen, or whatever room you plan to use it. That would make it very quick and ease to move from location to location without having to worry about the visor clip.
Customer Review: I can't find the words to say how impressed I am!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this speakerphone a little over a week ago. I have an iPhone and have been scouring different websites for a bluetooth headset or speakerphone that is compatible. I was speaking to a co-worker, and he advised that he had heard about this speakerphone. I must admit that I was a little skeptical at first, but after reading the reviews, I decided to give it a whirl.
I could not be more impressed!! I tested this item using a couple of different scenarios. First I called somebody and spoke to them from my vehicle going about 35-40 MPH with the driver's window down and radio on. I turned the volume on the radio up until it was comfortable for me to hear. The person I called said he couldn't hear the radio until there was silence on my end and then only faintly. The open window didn't have any negative effect at all, and he had to ask me if I really had the window down. I also had him call me from my vehicle because I wanted to hear for myself what the clarity was like. I must say that in both instances, the conversation was clear without any crackling or "tinny" sound. The only downside was at the beginning of each call, I could hear an echo. I discovered that this was because the vehicle the speakerphone was in was parked about 10 feet from the landline we used during this testing. The "echo" went away as soon as he started driving away. This is something I can live with since I don't normally call people when I'm in my vehicle 10 feet away from whomever I'm calling. It would be interesting to know if other users have experienced this same problem.
I plan on two more "tests" for this product. I would like to call somebody who is also using a Jabra SP5050, which is easy to do because I happened to buy my girlfriend one as well. I also would like to find out if a passenger speaking into the speakerphone will have any negative effect on the clarity. Because the unit is clipped to the driver's side visor, I wonder if this would be an issue. For instance, if I call somebody, and my passenger has some comment to make on the conversation, is it going to cut out or sound tinny?
I will update this review once those tests have been conducted. Really, I don't see either one of those things being an issue because rarely am I in a vehicle with somebody else. I am more curious than anything else, and my co-workers were really the ones who wanted me to conduct those two other tests.
As things stand now, I am extremely happy with my Jabra SP5050. I agree with other reviews that it would be nice to have an AC adapter, but I settled for buying a DC adapter that plugs into a wall outlet. A little irritating, but not enough to steer me away from a 5-star rating!
Customer Review: quality product
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't normally write product reviews, but when it comes buying time, I read them avidly. So, this time I thought I would help out a prospective buyer by sharing my thoughts on the SP5050. I recently bought one after having tried the VR3. I wasn't pleased with the speaker quality on the VR3, so I traded it in at Costco for the Jabra SP5050. One of the reviewers here wrote that the speaker volume was not loud enough. I have a Blackberry Pearl and found that the speaker volume was more than adequate and projects a clear, quality sound. In fact, I turned it down a notch while driving. At about 60 MPH, people I called said they couldn't hear any background noise, only my voice.
One thing I particularly like about this unit is the ease of use. I wish the volume buttons were situated differently, but otherwise the layout is great. The main button is actually the entire bottom portion of the unit. You just "tap" when a call comes in or when it's time to hang up or transfer a call. You don't have to look at the unit to work it, and there are no annoying blinking lights while you're driving at night.
It paired instantly with my Blackberry, and it's quick. Pairing time once I turned it on was almost immediate. Its slimline design makes it unobtrusive while driving. The Costco version comes with an AC adapter so I can charge it at home.
If I had one complaint about this unit, it's the length of the charger cord. It's just short enough that when I plug it in my car lighter with the unit attached to my visor, the cord is stretched fairly tight. I don't anticipate this causing any real problem, though.
Finally, I actually researched bluetooth speakerphones pretty carefully before I bought this one. Blueant looks good, but was only available over the web. Motorola didn't have good reviews. Parrot was too expensive. And VR3 was not a quality product. For the money, the SP5050 is a great buy. CNET.com gives it a 7.0 (very good) rating. I'm satisfied and I think you will be, too, with this quality product.
Customer Review: Pleasantly Surprised! Works very well with the 3G iPhone.
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been trying to decide for several weeks which bluetooth speakerphone to purchase and have been reading a lot of reviews, including an OEM add-on kit, those popular here on Amazon, and also the one bluetooth speakerphone available in the Apple Store. Several of the devices are feature rich but alot of those features were not supported on my 3G iPhone except by third party add-on applications.
I had not read the reviews about the Jabra sp5050 until at Best Buy a few days ago. I noticed the sp5050 had been marked down to less than $60 so I used my iPhone to get on Amazon and read the pretty good reviews here. Some of the systems I've been considering were several hundred dollars so I thought what the heck, for $60 I would give it a try.
I took it out to the call, plugged it in and quickly and easily paired it with my iPhone. I made a couple of calls; one to home and talked to my wife and she didn't even know I was on a speaker. The other call was just to leave a voice mail on my office phone and I couldn't tell any difference between my iPhone or the Jabra speaker.
The features that are supported by the iPhone work well. Voice dialing is not supported by the iPhone presently so I can't comment on that. This bluetooth speaker is not what I consider feature rich but it does what I need to do. I have my iPhone in a cradle high on the front of the dash just beyond the steering wheel, so dialing on the iPhone large numbers is not an issue.
As stated above, purchasing the Jabra sp5050 possibly saved a couple of hundred dollars or more and I'm pleasantly surprised how easy it is to operate and the clarity of the sound...and it works with my 3G iPhone. It does more than I expected for the price, thus the 5-stars.