HEIBAS Bluetooth Headset

I bought this for an outdoor work environment to replace my Bluetooth earbuds, mainly because I needed something with a dedicated physical mute button. Was looking for a low-profile Bluetooth ear set with good noise cancellation that I could wear all day. Being that this headset is relatively inexpensive, I won’t be too harsh on it, but wanted to point out some things to those considering purchasing it. Build & Comfort: Build quality is about what you’d expect for $30-$40. Build is almost entirely plastic. Most of the plastic is shiny, which makes it a fingerprint magnet. Buttons are a bit shaky, but are positioned well and click as they should. The mute button is positioned towards the front, and when pressed, makes a “MUTE ON” message that will repeat every minute as a reminder until you press it again, prompting a “MUTE OFF” message, which I appreciate. Volume buttons are positioned on the top of the mic closer to the driver, and are pretty finicky. They seem to only adjust the volume level once every second on my iPhone, so if you need to quickly change the volume, no matter how many times you press it, it only registers a volume change once every second. You can’t hold it to speed this up either. If you need to quickly adjust volume, you’re better off just using your phone’s volume buttons. There is a big power/pause/play/answer button positioned on the back of the driver, it’s hard to miss. The headset powers on automatically when removed from the case, but the headset can be manually powered on and off by holding this button for a couple seconds. The ear hook has rubber around it, and can be pulled out a bit from the body to accommodate for larger ears. I’ve noticed that the ear hook doesn’t sit flush with the top of my ear, and only grabs the back of my ear. It still holds on my ear well and I’m not concerned about it falling out any time soon. It comes with multiple sized rubber tips, and finding the right size helps a lot too. The mic can be flipped for either ear, but I’m not able to angle it more than 90 degrees from the ear hook, so it sits a little high on my face. I would like to angle it a bit closer to my mouth, but that would require me twisting the headset to a point where the ear hook sits forward and doesn’t grab my ear as well. The battery case is a standard plastic clamshell case with a USB-C port for charging. Unfortunately the headset does not have a charging port, and can only be charged with the case. The case does not show the battery percentage of the headset itself, it just displays the charge of the case and will indicate when the headset is charging. I usually keep my headset topped off, but I think this headset should have no issue staying charged the entire day for a while. Sound & connectivity: In terms of audio output quality, it’s fine for voice comms. Music doesn’t sound so good, even in mono, but you’re probably not gonna be listening to much music with this if you’re buying it for work. I haven’t had any issues with hearing voice clarity, and even in loud environments I’m able to hear everyone just fine at 70% volume. I haven’t had any issues with people hearing my voice either. I will say that the headset makes a very faint and constant ringing/hissing sound when it’s on, and in a quiet room I could see this bothering some people. I work outside so I don’t notice it as much, but something to be weary of. Noise cancellation is where I was a bit disappointed, but that might just be due to the low-profile design of this headset. I work in a noisy outside environment, and I can’t have too many outside noises covering up my voice. I noticed that the mic doesn’t pick up every single noise, but it will pick up some louder background noises, especially wind. I found that the voice isolation mode on my iPhone’s settings has helped significantly with this, but it does still pick up the occasional noise. The voice communications service you use will also play a role in voice isolation. I think this would be totally fine for indoors or driving with the windows up. Outside though it’s not the greatest. Connectivity is surprisingly good. It instantly connects to my iPhone, and I have not had it drop connection even when I’m standing 100 feet away from my phone. I don’t know how well this works in a building, but outside with no obstacles between me and my phone, the connectivity is great. Pros: -Inexpensive -Ease of use -Great battery life -Great connection Cons: -Mediocre voice isolation -No physical charging port (case REQUIRED for charging) -Faint ringing noise when powered on -Finicky volume controls Overall for the price I think this is a pretty good headset. I figured I’d offer a more critical review of it even though it’s inexpensive. It isn’t perfect, but it will get the job done for those who work from home or in a quiet office environment.