Stereo Bluetooth headsets have yet to tear audiophiles from our high-end headphones. Will the Pulsar 260 have us singing a different tune?
Review summary of the Plantronics Pulsar 260:
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 The Plantronics Pulsar 260 has an interesting design - a pendant with a 2.5mm headset jack for swappable earbuds. However, part of the appeal of a stereo Bluetooth headset was lost with amount of wires that came with the 260. We were also disappointed by the headset's sub-par sound quality in both music and calls. Though it’s reasonably priced at about $110, we couldn't see ourselves recommending this headset to our pals unless they were just planning on using it in extremely quiet settings. Release: March 2007. Price: $110.
Pros: Comfortable, secure earbuds. Large, easy-to-press buttons.
Cons: Design has too many wires. Lousy sound quality for music, which gets even worse on calls.
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Full Plantronics Pulsar 260 Review:
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Design - Good
The Plantronics Pulsar 260 headset reminded us a lot of the Jabra BT325s Bluetooth headset (which lacked support for the A2DP profile), in that it features a pair of earbuds and a pendant. The Pulsar 260's earbuds were nice and comfortable, and featured silicon tips with adjustable sizes for a secure fit. However, we were disappointed by the fact that the pendant has a 2.5mm jack instead of a 3.5mm, so the option for using your own high-end headphones is non-existent. One of our complaints with the Jabra headset design was that the clothing clip on its pendant was only useful if you could attach it to your shirt, otherwise it would just hang heavily from the headphones and your ears. Plantronics fixes this problem by offering both a clothing clip and a lanyard that you can wear around your neck, to comfortably support the 1.2 ounce headset.
Like the Jabra headset, the Plantronics Pulsar 260 still left us feeling tangled. One of the biggest draws to a Bluetooth headset is that it ditches the wires. To our frustration, we were constantly brushing wires out of the way and untangling them each time we broke out the stereo Bluetooth headset. However, we were fans of the 260's large buttons that were easy to find and press.
Sound - Mediocre
Overall, we were not too impressed by the Plantronics Pulsar 260's sound quality. Music had an average sound, and came through without much interference from static or hissing. However, our tunes sounded rather quiet, even with the headset at its loudest setting. While the buds do fit in your ear, they don't go deep enough into the ear canal to block out most background noise. As we cranked up our songs on the streets of lower Manhattan, we heard more traffic and construction than music. While listening to Maroon 5's "This Love," voices sounded a bit muffled, and didn't have the brightness we were looking for. Tracks sounded flat and lacked any bass kick whatsoever.
The calls we made with the Plantronics Pulsar 260 were among the worst we've ever heard from a Bluetooth headset. We could barely hear our pals on the other end, and they had the same feedback for us. We constantly had to repeat ourselves and had to speak louder than we would have liked, which elicited some looks from passersby. Even when we moved the mic right up to our face, the quality improved only slightly, according to our friends.
Calling and setup - Good
The Plantronics Pulsar 260 includes standard headset calling features, including last-number redial, voice commands and the ability to put callers on hold, and all of the features were easy to use. However, we encountered a few compatibility issues with the Pulsar 260 when we tried to pair it with the recently released Samsung SPH-M510. We made several attempts to pair the phone with the headset, but weren’t able to. We were able to pair the clamshell with our Motorola stereo Bluetooth headset; we also successfully paired the 260 with our borrowed Helio Ocean. Once paired with the Ocean, the Plantronics Pulsar 260 easily connected and re-connected upon powering up the device.
Price and availability
The Plantronics Pulsar 260 stereo Bluetooth headset is available immediately and retails for $110.
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