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Logitech Stereo Headset H110
by Randal
I do a lot of Skyping to friends and acquaintances around the world, and hence need a good reliable headset that I can use. I've already got a few computer and audio products from Logitech, and have always found that their items were good quality at a reasonable price. Hence, when I was looking around for a new headset and saw this ... Logitech H110 version, I thought it would be worth a closer look. At £14.99 from Amazon, with a noise cancelling ability for the microphone and a 2-year limited warranty thrown in, I thought that these would be perfect for my needs. Of note, at that price, they probably sit about mid-range in the grand scale of headsets.
What do you get? The basic headphone bit is made in a silver plastic with a black headband which is adjustable. The actual earphone bits are covered with a foam pad, and sit on the ear rather than cupping around the ear. Looking at the rest of the headset, you have an adjustable boom microphone at the front, again with a sort of pad around the end piece. The microphone can also be adjusted right round so that you can have it on the left of the headset, or turn it right through and turn the headset around so that the microphone is on the right. The whole lot then connects to your computer via the 1.8m long lead into a 3.5mm plug. Also worth noting that with this universal 3.5mm plug, you can use this headset on your mp3 player, portable DVD or gaming system as well, where the microphone can be stored away vertically against the headset band.
What are they like in use? Looking at wearing them first, with the on-ear arrangement of the earphones, generally this sort of arrangement means that it's not going to block out all of the sound around you. So if you are planning to use these in a noisy environment, that may be something to consider. My experience of using these has found that they are perfectly adequate for normal everyday use in an office type environment because the sound that they produce is very clear and directed straight into the ear. Another issue that sometimes occurs with this on-ear arrangement is that with the earpiece effectively pressing onto the ear, and then pressing it into your head, extended use of this type of headset can cause discomfort. Now I've used these for perhaps up to an hour at a time on Skype and I've not really found that to be the case. The clamping load provided by the headband to push the earpieces onto your ears seems to be about right - not too much so as to cause discomfort, but just sufficient to hold them in position. But I suppose this may well also depend on your own personal head shape and tolerance, but as I said, for me this wasn't an issue.
One particularly good addition I've found was the noise cancelling ability with the microphone. When I originally got the headset, I tried this feature out by having my wife phone on me on Skype from the laptop in one room whilst wearing the headset, and me in another room on my laptop with a separate microphone and headset arrangement. The sound quality coming through from her microphone was very clear and concise with no problems. I know on other occasions, I've been in a room quietly talking to someone else on Skype where I've had a TV playing in the background, and they have not heard anything other than my voice.
In summary, this is a basic headset from Logitech that comes at a reasonable price and does the job. For me, it was fairly comfortable to wear for extended durations, and the microphone together with the noise cancelling feature seems to work very well. So overall, a 4* recommendation.
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Trust InSonic Chat Headset
by cornishchic
My uncle, up until recently, lived in Spain, keeping in contact with him was often difficult with the cost of calling abroad. Only seeing once a year meant we hardly kept in touch, on one visit he told me he used Skype to talk to other people in the UK, that's when I decided to download it and give it a go. Only one problem, I didn't ... have a microphone. This was before the days of me being a super savvy shopper, I knew I wanted a headset so I just browsed the internet for something pretty, and I came across this Turst Insonic headset in pink and white.
The headset came on a cardboard package with a see through plastic front so the product is visible. There was no installation involved and to use it for the first time all I had to do was plug in the jacks and away I went. There are two jacks to be inserted into the correct slots, a pink one for the microphone and a green one for the speakers of the headset.
As I said earlier, the headset is pink and white. The wire is white and connects to the headset on the left headphone. The ear pads are made from a padded black foam. The microphone attachment attaches to the left headphone and is able to be moved so that it can sit in the correct position in front of your mouth. About 50cm down the wire is a volume control so that the volume can be controlled from there as well as the computer. The headphones feel comfortable and I can easily wear them for an hour (I'm female, we chat a lot!) without them causing any discomfort.
When speaking to someone on Skype, I've found that their voices do sound clear and I can understand everything they are saying. People have said that I sound clear on the other side too. The microphone doesn't have to be positioned directly in front of my mouth for people to be able to hear me, I often have it positioned to the side of my face so that it isn't in my way at all and it doesn't mean I'm not able to be heard.
I also use this headset for listening to music, the sound is clear if the volume is at a quiet level, but anything louder than a moderate sort of volume then the sound is quite tinny and ruins the music being played. This isn't really a problem for me as I don't like listening to my music very loud, but for people who do I think it would ruin the headset.
I think I paid around the £8 mark when I purchased this a couple of years ago, but having a quick look it's currently available from Amazon for £6.39 in blue.
I would definitely recommend this for chatting over the internet. It makes chatting to friends and family easy and I can do other tasks on the computer whilst talking. The headset is clear and comfortable and if you don't mind listening to quiet music through it this is for you!
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