On Bluetooth headsets and insanity

Remember the first time you realized that the arm-waving suit next to you muttering to themselves was not nuts but actually speaking into their cellphone's headset? This spectacle has become so commonplace that mumbling loners are no longer to be feared, rather they are the object of our intense curiosity as we crane to see which headset they are using. We recoil in fear only when discovering an old Jabra slug-on-the-ear — this person is clearly insane. Click the read link to ponder Blueserker's enlightened piece about the changing techno-society we live in.

[dug @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

hey!...i like my jabra 250

[Jason @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

lol! me too.

[Icup @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

Me 3.

I hate those one's that are supposed to hook onto your ear. They always fall off.

Who are these huge eared freaks that they make those damned things for?

[Stiev @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

You may consider it a 'slug', but I prefer it to those over-the-ear motorola's. I like my earpiece feeling secure and taking limited space on the outside of my ear.

[boss sauce @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

I think you mean "loner," not "loaner."

[Andre @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

Wearing those bluetooth headsets and talking on it in public makes you look like a douchebag. "ooh look at me, i am too important to use my arm!"

[NNTPgrip @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

Yeah, so far I have owned three BT headsets, and just the other day I thought some dude in line at 7-11 was out of his mind. Then I realized he was talking via wireless headpiece.

I myself have also carried on "dual" conversations, where the guy behind the counter has no idea that you are actually on a call and starts responding to what you are saying to the person at the other end of the phone call. I have actually had such a conversation for about a minute (because the other teller knew, and I could see he was trying real hard not to laugh) - so I didn't say shit to him to clue him in that I was actually on a call. --- Definately one of funniest "in public" moments. (The other of course being the look on people's faces in the other car just before an accident)

[NNTPgrip @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

#3 - Totally agree BTW. Have since stopped using a BT headset because it was a pain in the ass (basically you want to keep it on and wearing it at all times for it not to be - which is stupid) Plus I like it obvious that I'm on the phone. Plus you look stupid as hell. Also, I put in a professionally installed bluetooth speakerphone/mic deal in my car and that works better.

[NS @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

#3 ... I almost agree with you. However, it is "better" to talk on a BT headset than having radiation close to your brain. Not sure how much radiation, if any, a BT headset emits.

Anyway, ... why I hate is seeing morons wearing BT headsets EVERYWHERE even when they are not on a call. GIVE ME A BREAK! You are not that important. I have been around morons wearing them for over an hour ... no calls. But you do look "cool" dude.

[Brian @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

Ugh, I hate these headsets. If you are such a sociopath that you must be on your phone in all public settings, INCLUDING those where you have to interact with another human, then you have a screw loose. We should be rounding these self-important morons up and shipping them to an island where there is no cell reception. No one is so important that they cannot get off the phone for 30 seconds to order their coffee.

[NNTPgrip @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

rather #4, or Andre's post

[boss sauce @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

These headsets should only be worn in a car or when the hands are otherwise required (like when doing phone support). NNTPgrip, (4)-- HANG UP or tell the person on the phone to HOLD when you have to deal with somebody face to face. I wish cashiers would force customers to hang up during transactions.

[Andy @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

When is Moto's RAZR headset hitting the streets?

[Lee Gibson @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

Hey, um, NS? I'm pretty sure that your Bluetooth headset has a radio in it, just like your cell phone. Sure, it's not going to be as powerful, but it still does put out that scary (totally harmless non-ionizing) RADIATION.

I've never been cool in my life. Why would I start now? I don't much care about your opinion...if it suits my whim to wear a headset, or a freakin' inflatable ducky pool floatie, I'm going to do it, and you can get bent.

[Nick @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

>>Hey, um, NS? I'm pretty sure that your Bluetooth headset has a radio in it, just like your cell phone. Sure, it's not going to be as powerful, but it still does put out that scary (totally harmless non-ionizing) RADIATION.<<

Correct. Bluetooth occupies the same 2.4 GHz frequency band that is used by wi-fi, microwave ovens, some r/c toys, and many cell phones. Obviously the power output is much lower because Bluetooth is rated only to about 10 meters (~30 ft.).

[Chris McDowell @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

I dont talk to people at the store if they are on a cellphone and if they are I just ignore them. :)

[Surur @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

You guys are so 1990's. This is exactly what people said when cellphones came along. "Look at him, he thinks he's so important that he has to be reachable all the time" etc. In 5 years you will have gotten use to it, just like you are now used to people talking on cellphones.

Get with the times man!

[SideSwipe @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

I love my 250 and I'd much rather have my phone in my pocket where it has the chance to irradiate my testicles. :D

[Vincent @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

I recently received a Samsung SCH-i730 and a Jabra headset for a birthday present...my wife must really like me. Anyway I feel a little wierd talking on it and feel like other do think I'm crazy. The only time I use it is when I'm driving. Otherwise, I prefer to pick up the phone, look at the caller ID and answer it then.

[CHS @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

PLANT THE CHIP! If anyone from the industry is reading, I'm volunteering to test an internal device. No kidding.

[dmills @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

ATT: All you Chicken Littles worried about RF radiation.

Buy A copy of QST and read the Silent Key section.

The section is the obituaries of Ham radio operators whom have been using hand held radios much more powerful than your cell phone and those guys are mostly old farts, for what it's worth

[Joe @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

I think these should be used only in the privacy of home or car. It's not as rude as talking on your phone in a theater. Walking around in public places talking to yourself still makes you look crazy no matter how much you have grown to accept the technology. It is rude because if this trend of continues there will come a point when you never expect that a stranger may be talking to you, and you're only confusing the people that are friendly enough to care.

[Barry Weiss @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

I'm amazed by these radiation sissies.
During the seven years I spent in the military, all of it was in a small building next to a 10 million watt radar. That was 40 years ago (lots less shielding then). I'm still here, cancer free.
And all you guys are complaining about less than 1/10 of 1 watt.
A lightning bolt puts out 10 billion watts, and there's a lightning strike every second of every day somewhere on earth.
Radio transmission is easy. It's the reception that's difficult; trying to filter out what you want from all the lightning strikes and background radiation coming from space.
Please folks, read up on radio. Find out what it can do. Watch a documentary on Nikola Tesla. Watch him sitting in a small room filled with lightning. Note that he died cancer free in his middle 80's.
Please stick to the topics of bluetooth and cell phones, and leave this "deadly radiation" nonsense for the kiddies.
Thanks.

[Rusty @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

Well, I'm one of those who wears a BT headset (BT250) while working. 1. My car is a stick shift, and it's too dangerous to drive, shift, and try to hold a phone. 2. Sometimes I have to talk with my service engineers while I'm working, and it is so much easier to keep both hands free to work/adjust a machine while on the phone. Everyone has gotten use to me wearing it, and if they see me talking to myself, they mouth "are you on the phone" LOL

[Wax @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

In-ear BT headsets have been a godsend for my earwax collection.

[Dave A @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

I occasionally wear a BT earpiece (Jabra 250) and wireless headset (Plantronics) for my desk phone which makes me look really stupid.

[Douglas @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

#23 - EXACTLY! I have a stick too, and it drives me nuts when I get calls driving around town. Also, I'm a student, so in class it's a pain to have to keep turning my phone to vibrate/off then back on, because that means I have to stop taking notes. Bluetooth HS = no noise for other people to be bothered by = more convenience for me.

[Steve B @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

Living in SF, I've long thought we should hand out cell phone hands-free kits to the mentally ill homeless as camoflague - that way they'll fit in since no one will know if there's a connection on the other end of the line.

[Royston @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

I'm sure that there would have been characters like the hard-core Barry Weiss in the asbestos industry 30 years ago. "What are these wimps whining about asbestos in the walls and ceilings? I been working the asbestos mines for 30 years and I'm still fit as a fiddle".

Heck, some dudes have been fortunate enough to smoke a pack every day for 40 years and never get cancer. It doesn't mean that it isn't potentially harmful.

We don't know what the effects of mobile radiation is yet, and I don't think I'll be taking too many chances. Even if it only causes 1 in 100,000 to develop a tumour in the ear, then that's good enough odds for me to avoid it.

[wireless headset @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

I have tried Jabra and Plantronics. I prefered the Plantronics 510:

http://headsetplus.com/product317/product_info.html

it has better sound quality and less disconnects