****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I have tried bluetooth headsets in the past, of varying qualities and price-points, but I have always been disappointed with them. The narrowband bluetooth audio codec leaves me struggling to hear and be heard, and the ones I've tested seem to add a vexing amount of delay.Enter the Savi, which uses DECT instead of bluetooth, and that makes a world of difference. Now, instead of being chained to my desk with a wired microphone or a short-ranged headset, I can get up and walk around anywhere in my house. The battery lasts me about six hours of continuous use.But it's not just about range and talk time: usability also matters. I find the Savi quite comfortable wear for its entire battery life, although the single-ear wear option doesn't feel particularly secure. The headset has noise cancellation that works well in rooms with air conditioners and fans that are loud enough to wreak havoc with my laptop's internal microphone. I even got in my car and drove it maybe ten feet before the called party noticed---and that's only because I lost my connection.All of this means that I am free to wander around and do things when I'm on the phone---without worrying that I'm transmitting a ton of noise. This makes holding long conversations a lot more convenient and natural. If you pair it with a high-quality, 1080p webcam, it's the next-best thing to actually being there.In terms of downsides, the mute button is a little hard to press in, and the hardware up/down buttons don't seem to change the volume a whole lot. You can adjust the volume more on your computer, just like any other audio device. The audio is on par with a very good landline telephone connection, which makes sense given its DECT innards. Still, if you're looking to listen to music or movies, you're probably better off buying a device that is designed for that purpose. The headset is fully linux-compatible, although on Ubuntu 13.04 it is necessary to add some lines to your xorg.conf file to get it to work correctly.I don't know how the Savi compares against other high-end wireless headsets, but it has absolutely been worth every penny.
