Hands-on with the Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth Headset

Completing a trio of ‘hands-on’ reviews this week is the Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth Headset. Quite a distinctive little number, with a medium-long boom on it, and some very stylised lines to it – oh, and the case doubles as a charger! Interested? Read on….!

Bluetooth headsets have become much of a muchness these days – a commodity if you will – and you can pick one for as little as £10 (one that has some semblance of respectability, that is). Manufacturers, feeling the pinch in an already crowded market, are also adding extra stuff on – micro SD card readers, USB storage, the list goes on and on – so it’s refreshing to see Plantronics come along as stick to the hardcore of what makes a good headset – namely, extended battery life, and good sound quality (both in the speaker AND the mic).

So, to that end we are looking at the Discovery 975, and it’s packing some impressive features – a 20-band equalizer to improve incoming sound, and a dual-mic configuration for reducing external noise, like wind for example. On top of this, the ‘ace up the sleeve’ of this device is that it’s case is also a charger, which has it’s own (bigger) battery – meaning you can extend the life of your headset substantially before you need the main again – up to 3x, if statements are to be believed!

Another thing on the case (and not very apparent from the picture – sorry!) is a small LCD screen that tells you the battery level of the case charger, and also when it is plugged in, the headset too – very handy.

On the headset itself, there are two buttons – one actually on the boom mic itself (that has such a lo-profile you can’t see it in pics), the other is a small (again, lo-profile) button on the cuboid part of the unit. The boom button controls pairing and start/end call, and the button on the rounded cuboid controls the volume through a sequential toggle. Again, on the cuboid part, there’s also a microUSB connector, which is chosen standard for this product – and a good one too!

So what does the thing sound like? Well actually very good! I tested it out on a bunch of calls, and the functions performed admirably – the mute function (accessed from the boom button) and start/end calls is simple as pie, and the volume toggle is perhaps marginally less intuitive than having a two-way rocker – but still good. The comfort from the device in the bear is fine also, and battery drain seems minimal – I’ve no idea how they have achieved that whilst keeping the unit so small!

In conclusion then, this device returns to the old school of what Bluetooth headsets were about before people started including things like torches, and coffee machines (probably exists….!) on to them – but it does it with a real quality feel. I was impressed not only by the hardware and build quality, but also the sound quality, and the attention to detail to make sure you get/give a good call is excellent. Certainly good value I think, and well worth a look if you are upgrading your headset, or buying a new one!

In the UK, the Discovery 975 is going for £79.99 and is available here. For more information about the Plantronics Discovery 975, click here.