Usage

The Jabra FreeSpeak is very well designed product with a futuristic look to the headset. The headset fits nicely around your ear. Though you should use two hands in putting on the headset, it is possible to place the headset around your ear using one hand. Once on your ear, the headset rests comfortably for long periods of time.

The Jabra MiniGel is extremely comfortable to wear inside your ear. The piece fits right inside your ear canal and sounds coming through the gel are fairly clear. The MiniGel can be used in either left or right ear - all you need to do is to rotate the gel 180 degrees from the original orientation.

Making a call on the FreeSpeak handset is similar to many other Bluetooth handsets. First you press the Answer/End button which will place the phone in active mode. (This assumes that the phone is already in standby mode). Usually your headset does not need to be turned off once you have it on. It will stay in standby mode even when docked with the Multi-Adapter and can be charged with it is docked. In any event, making phone calls or answering phone calls is just a matter of pressing the Answer/End button to go into active mode.

There are buttons on the headset to control the volume should it be too low or too high for your liking. Jabra also supplies methods to improve audio quality if you should hear echo's during your phone conversation. I did not encounter any of the echoes but if you do, read the manuals to see how to alleviate this problem.

So is the FreeSpeak headset the perfect headset? Unfortunately not. The included Multi-Adapter works for many phones but definitely not all phones. I was disappointed to see that it had major problems with the Palm Treo 600 headset. The phone would hang up an active call if I moved the phone with the Multi-Adapter attached. It appears that the 2.5 mm connector is not quite compatible with the design of the Treo 600 jack. The FreeSpeak did work just fine with some of my other Samsung phones. You should read the compatibility chart to see if your phone is truly compatible with the FreeSpeak headset but ultimately read the user forums of various websites to see if the FreeSpeak works for your phone.

There are a couple of really cool things about the FreeSpeak - The design of the Multi-Adapter is great. The headset fits neatly into the adapter and can be charged alongside the adapter using one AC cable. You can also charge the Multi-Adapter at the same time you're using the adapter with your phone.

AC Adapter	AC connected to the Multi-Adapter

The FreeSpeak is extremely comfortable to wear around your ear. The speaker end sits in a flexible arm which fits to your ear shape. Jabra should be commended for a well designed product.

The FreeSpeak sound quality is decent though not amazing. It is very similar to what you get with the Bluetrek headset that we reviewed a few days ago. During your conversations, you will hear a background hiss similar to what you would hear on an old tape cassette. There were several instances where signals were so poor over short distances that the headset became unusable. It's not clear whether there is significant background interference from other 2.4GHz sources such as microwaves and cordless phones.

Summary

The Jabra FreeSpeak BT200 is a well designed phone which suffers from a weak voice signal at times. The ergonomic design of the wireless headset and the multi-adapter is absolutely wonderful. If you need to charge the devices - all you need to do is to dock the headset into the cradle and then plug in the AC adapter into the cradle. The headset is extremely easy to use when the connection to the mobile phone is stable. As I mentioned earlier, I had a great deal of trouble with the Multi-Adapter connected to the 2.5mm jack of the Treo 600. (of course if the Treo 600 had just included Bluetooth we wouldn't have a problem). Sound quality is where the FreeSpeak suffers the most. There were times when there was too much static on the wireless Bluetooth connection and conversations become impossible. Jabra needs to continue refining the BT200. As with the Bluetrek headset - this is a decent first generation product that should only get better in future versions and as more competition is introduced. If you have any questions or comments, please post them in our forums.

Pros:

• Small and lightweight
• Flexible Design
• Easy to wear

Cons:

• 2.5mm support poor for some manufacturers
• Sound Quality poor under some conditions
• Battery life ok

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