Jabra EarBoom Winder for Nokia 5100, 6100, and 7100 Series Phones

Rating:
Summary: Works but needs some work
Review: By the "specs", this device offers me what I want; freedom from holding my brick (cell phone) whenever I need to use it (often). After using it for about a week, here's my thoughts;

Sound quality: people can hear me better than I expected. The speaker is pretty decent, and I can hear most people.

Feel: pretty comfortable (with the conformal ear piece), but akward at first. It takes some getting used to. It's extremely uncomfortable without the conformal ear piece, to the point of being totally unusable (see below).

Craftsmanship quality: poor. The ear piece comes off entirely too easily. It can be knocked off by brushing against it. Since the device is on your hip, this happens all-the-time. The first several days I was always able to find it. Within one week it was lost. I was on a business trip, and although it comes with an extra ear piece for each ear size I didn't have one with me. The device went into my bag for the duration of the trip. In addition, the second day I had it the "boom" (headset) part of the device came apart. There is a small plastic cowling that covers the wires leading into it that just popped off. It seams like everything on this ear-boom is [poor quality] and comes apart too easily. I wonder if the wires will pull out next.

A keeper?: not quite sure yet. I'm going to keep using it for another week or two before making a decision. It does offer me what I want. I just have to worry about it all the time, which is not what I want (I have other things to concern myself about, for example, answering the phone).

Rating:
Summary: Nice try, poor implementation
Review: By the "specs", this device offers me what I want; freedom from holding my brick (cell phone) whenever I need to use it (often). After using it for about a week, here's my thoughts;

Sound quality: people can hear me better than I expected. The speaker is pretty decent, and I can hear most people.

Feel: pretty comfortable (with the conformal ear piece), but akward at first. It takes some getting used to. It's extremely uncomfortable without the conformal ear piece, to the point of being totally unusable (see below).

Craftsmanship quality: poor. The ear piece comes off entirely too easily. It can be knocked off by brushing against it. Since the device is on your hip, this happens all-the-time. The first several days I was always able to find it. Within one week it was lost. I was on a business trip, and although it comes with an extra ear piece for each ear size I didn't have one with me. The device went into my bag for the duration of the trip. In addition, the second day I had it the "boom" (headset) part of the device came apart. There is a small plastic cowling that covers the wires leading into it that just popped off. It seams like everything on this ear-boom is [poor quality] and comes apart too easily. I wonder if the wires will pull out next.

A keeper?: not quite sure yet. I'm going to keep using it for another week or two before making a decision. It does offer me what I want. I just have to worry about it all the time, which is not what I want (I have other things to concern myself about, for example, answering the phone).

Rating:
Summary: Works but needs some work
Review: This product has benefits over other similar products, but has a few problems of its own. Unfortunately everything bad that the other reviewer(s) reported is true. However, I had a solution/customization for each problem.

The size and weight are much better than other products I have tried, and the cost is less. The performance/sound is great. It also lasts longer than the other items I have tried, but required customization to acomplish this.

Problems and solutions:

The earpiece falls off, and you lose it. But you can attach it permanently by threading a twist-tie wire through it, and wrapping it around the shaft, then threadding the wire through the other side.

The inner earpiece falls apart. But the above "twist-tie" solution resolves or avoids that issue as well. (So would some glue.)

Eventually, the wire pulls out of the headset section (as with all similar products). The solution here is, before the wire detaches completely, tie the wire in a knot around the shaft of the mic. (I suggest doing this when the unit is new, to avoid the problem completely.)

The last thing that goes is the jack that connects to the phone. This part actually lasts much longer than other units and adapters. (It appears to be a softer and more elastic plastic.) Once the little tabs on this baby break, you're done.

All of this type of product breaks. And this lasted longer overall (with customization). I'm buying another one, because it's cheap enough, and I've already figured out its secrets.