BlueParrott - B550-XT Wireless Bluetooth Mono Headset with 96% Noise-Cancelling Microphone and 100% Voice Control - Black

"This was my first headset from this company, and I have to say I’m very pleased with the audio quality and craftsmanship. Friends and family can hear me very clearly without any background noise. The battery lasts all day without needing to be charged. I would definitely recommend this headset."

Looking for just a headset for cellphone use? Look no further. Other in ear earbuds cause cartilage pain. These over the ear single sided set alleviates that issue. Note. It does run a little small so it might be a good idea to go to best buy and try them on first. Setup was super easy... Charged up the headset. Decided to either use the foam pad or not. Downloaded the app. Followed the on screen step by step setup process. Customized to my liking and I was in. I tried to use the Push To Talk (PTT) feature but I don't have those type of service. That would be more in line with commercial use. The button was reprogrammed to my Google Gemini function and it worked fine. Ability to switch between left and right ear use Overall. Long use was good. The noise cancelling was good. The seal on the ear was pretty good as well. It kept a lot of the outside noise out while driving and general use. Battery life was really good and long on 1 charge. Call and conversation clarity was good. No complaints on either end. Range for connection was good too. I was able to walk away from my cell and have wall in between and it did not cut me off. So if you are a truck driver or don't have a car that has a Bluetooth connection or just want this headset you can't go wrong with this. Minus the tight fit.

The B550-XT comes well packaged, you get a usb to cigarette lighter adapter for the car, leatherette and felt ear cushions, 2 foam mic protectors, USB A to USB micro (should be USB C) yes the headset uses USB micro. What is dislike is the tightness on my head, I would hope I could bend the top arch slightly to fit less tight on my head, but no matter how much I try to bend the arch it just snaps back. I think it's a tad to tight on my head. What I love is everything else..... Noise canceling on the B550-XT is just as good as it gets, outstaanding, the person on the other end can hear me nice and clear with wind noise and I can hear them. Volume levels that you can adjust on the headset with the volume up + and volume down - buttons are great and plentiful. Audio is clear Range is outstanding, they claim 100ft and I would say it's close to that, it's certainly the greatest distance I have seen. Battery life, well it's stunning, i get days before a recharge, and a lot of use. The app, just average, all I can do is change what the parrot button does on the headset. This B550-XT does everything it says it does and it does it perfectly. I would hope over time and constantly bending the band on the headset, the headset will loosen up, otherwise it's a very top notch headset.

This is a very good headset especially for use in a car or truck. Out of the box, it appeared to be pretty rugged and large compared to other boom style headsets. It was well packaged with 1/2 charge on the battery. The BlueParrott came with an extra microphone boom foam sound filter, an extra foam ear cushion, a 12 V charging adaptor and a cable for the Micro USB charging port. In my situation, I only charged it once during a 5 day span on a home charging brick and did not need to recharge it over 5 days and 4 hours of use so I did not need the adaptor. The charge was still rated as high at the end of the 5 days. The BlueParrott Headset worked great using Both Microsoft Teams© and Zoom(@) for several meetings. Most notably, in a 2 hour conference call while driving over the Holiday weekend the noise cancellation was very good without distracting from a large meeting discussion. Similarly, at home, synched to my office laptop subject to 'open-air' with normal household annoyances like a 'yelling spouse, it was effective in quieting the background noise on a 1 hour conference call. So, its noise cancellation features are quite good. This is no surprise as the company is part of the Jabra GN company known for making high quality communications devices. The microphone boom is very sturdy and effectively improved my speech recognition much better than my car's Bluetooth© audio system. The headset was very easy to set up with my phone initially, however, I tried to connect to 2 device with the app and had challenges setting the headset up both phone and laptop. After a quick call to customer support they guided me through the correct cycle of switching between each device. Once they walked me through the process it was simple and fast. Otherwise, I found synching Blue Parrott with my phone enabled me to bypass my phone/car Bluetooth connection and allowed me to have a high voice quality private conversation with my team without road noise. I am not a computer game player, but if you are, I imagine it would provide an excellent monaural audio feed. The instructions say you have to register the device with Siri© or Google Now© through the Blue Parrott App available on both Apple and Android stores. I don't use either, so I did not test that out. However, I did download the app and found that it will give you the ability to control various Third Party Push To Talk applications, which could be very useful for users of those technologies. The headset comes with a programable BlueParrott button that you can use to define the functionality of the button to manage voice controls, be the Mute button, Activate third party apps, check battery status or connect a second paired device. It was challenging to configure the BlueParrott device to manage voice functions on my phone. The BlueParrott B550 XT will connect directly to the voice control in my car to control navigation and select entertainment options, but I use Android Auto© connected to my phone for Navigation functions, so I felt I could bypass this option. The PROS: This headset provides great noise suppression for use in a mobile environment like a car or truck. Audio is clear and easy to control volume and mute. The Cons: Size and configuring it to do voice functions on your mobile phone.

My job has daily conference calls. Whenever I work from home, I participate sitting in my backyard. I’m also on the road a lot and I take those calls from my cell phone. The BlueParrott B550-XT has quickly become my favorite headset while working at home or on the road. Set-up was quick and easy; download the app and connect it via Bluetooth. The connection was established with no hassles and, over time, has proven to be reliable which is a plus since I use it exclusively for work. First thing you notice is its lightweight which at first made me think it was a flimsy and fragile headset, but a couple falls later made me appreciate its toughness. It is well built and sturdy. The headband is lightly padded and adjustable to accommodate many different head sizes; adjusting to a comfortable fit to my head took practically no time or effort. It is also comfortable to wear for long periods of time. It can be worn on either ear as the microphone rotates in either direction. The cushioned ear cup rests lightly on your ear so as to avoid ear fatigue. The flexible microphone boom feels solid and once ideally positioned it won’t move a single millimeter. Overall, this BlueParrott Headset performed real well. The feature that impressed me the most was the noise cancellation and its ability to filter the outside noise. While on the road or working from home in my backyard, the noise can get a bit loud, and activating the noise cancellation feature with my voice made a world of difference. And at the end of the line, those listening had positive feedback about the clarity of my voice and the background noise. This headset comes with a BlueParrott button that is customizable from the app. My favorite function for this button is voice command. Although limited, those commands are responsive and work after the first prompt. The app is simple and easy to use with a logical user interface. The only issue I encountered but not related specifically to the app was the impossibility to open the user manual option. The battery life has been great. I’ve used it for four consecutive days for 40 to 50 minutes a day and the charge is barely under 50%. I also like the fact that I’m able to connect it to my phone and tablet at the same time and switch in between. Overall, the BlueParrott B550-XT headset is comfortable, tough and reliable with great connectivity. Look wise, it is simple and a bit underwhelming but it delivers great performance where it counts. It has become my go-to headset for work. Two thumbs up.