Anthony Newman dons Plantronics' M2500, looking to find out whether the budget-oriented sibling of the M3500 shares any of its qualities with its big brother.
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The M2500 is a breakaway from Plantronics' better-known Bluetooth headsets, the M3500 being the most recent of which. Aimed at consumers, and bearing a stocking-filler price-tag, the M2500 follows the styling popularised by Jabra, with the battery stored behind the ear, rather than in a boom.
 | Plantronics' M2500 offers quality audio and is inexpensive, but skimps on features and comfort
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Consequently, the M2500 is a slightly sleeker, more attractive headset that is overall more comfortable than its stable-mates - not to mention lighter, at 23 g. It's also just as well built. However, in comparison with the Jabra headsets, it's bulkier and less straightforward to slot into place around the ear.
The M2500 can be made to fit either ear, by simply rotating the rubber speaker cap, of which several are provided in the event of loss. They all seem to be the same size, but since they don't go right into the ear, this shouldn't prove a problem.
In terms of buttons, the M2500 follows the other Plantronics headsets. On the body - the behind-the-ear loop - is a tiny, clickable, rocker switch, just above the multifunction LED. This rocker serves as the power button, the mute button and a volume control in one.
Another small button is found near the end of the microphone boom, dedicated to call functions including answer, hang up, redial and voice dial. Unfortunately, it's too spongy to rely upon when there's no other form of feedback.
The act of pairing proved straightforward, since the headset supports both headset and handsfree profiles - as we would expect from this generation of Bluetooth headsets. However, the M2500 didn't seem to like pairing with our Bluetooth laptop: it functioned fine as a microphone, but not a speaker. Thankfully, all functions worked perfectly with our phones.
When in use, the M2500 boasted reception up to 8 metres, or 7 through a body, and voices came through loud and clear. On the other hand, despite the boom microphone, the headset did prove susceptible to wind noise, and volume levels can only be set when the user is actually engaged in a call.
Plantronics claim 120 hours of standby or 5 hours talktime from the included (but non-replaceable) Ni-MH battery. This translates to a real-world figure of about two days between charges, under moderate use. Charging, with the included, rather bulky, AC adaptor, takes 1.5 hours - but globetrotters should take note that the adaptor supplied with our unit doesn't accept the full range of world voltages. For those considering the M3500, it's worth noting that unlike this model, the M2500 does not come with a car charger.
Availability
The Plantronics M2500 is at the time of writing available worldwide for a recommended price of $89.95 USD.
Conclusion
The M2500 is a decent headset, offering good range, excellent voice quality and a solid feature set, all at a low price. In our opinion, it's let down by unremarkable comfort and a slightly frustrating button setup. It certainly performs well for daily use, but that might not prove enough in an increasingly crowded market.
- What's positive: Good sound quality; inexpensive
- What's negative: Not as comfortable as a Jabra; poor buttons
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Price and availability
The will start selling for TBA () in November 1999.
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