Logitech USB Headset 250

USB Headset technology is great. It allows audio signals to travel from your device to the headset digitally. The quality is much better than the analog signal provided by the standard mini-RCA jacks most headsets use (usually two, one for the speakers and one for the mic). Here are a few things I liked about this particular headset: 1. Excellent sound quality. 2. Ear pads are extremely comfortable and block out sound well enough that I can't hear someone talking five feet away, but I can hear my office phone ringing one foot away. 3. Noise cancelling mic sounds great. 4. Wire only comes out of one earpiece, which eliminates the annoyance of a wire coming out of each ear piece and meeting around your chest. 5. Headset interfaces seamlessly with my laptop. 6. Headset fits comfortably (and I've got a big head). Unfortunately, one thing ruined all this for me. The wire going into the earpiece seems to have a bad connection. I've had this problem before with earphones, but normally at the end where it goes into the device. I have to jiggle it around to get a clear signal, and once I get the clear signal, I can't move very much or I lose it. Sometimes it's lots of static, other times I only get sound from one earpiece, and other times I get no sound at all. I would expect this if I had the headset for a year, but I've only had it TWO MONTHS! I looked around the Logitech website for a way to contact Customer Service electronically (I'm not a big fan of calling customer service), but could not find one. I've been a big fan of Logitech products, but this one shook me a little. If you do buy it, be extremely delicate.

I bought a Logitech 250 to replace my Ipevo USB Skype phone. I was surprised that it was such a dramatic improvement. Others say my voice is much louder and clearer, and a problem I had been having with my voice suddenly getting too quiet for others to hear went away right away. In addition, it requires no drivers: plug and play on winXP, easy to find and control in Skype. These are also WONDERFULLY COMFORTABLE. One drawback worth mentioning is that one does not hear their own voice as you would on a phone, so that you do have to adjust to speaking at a normal volume and just assuming every word is getting through. It takes an adjustment to get used to this. Incidentally, I recommended the 250 to a friend, but the store he went to was out of them so he got a 350. He's very frustrated, as the mute button on the headphones is very sensitive and very easy to trigger, which happens regularly during our conversations. He's anxious to get rid of it and get the 250 as soon as possible. For Skyping, at least, the volume control of the 350 is superfluous, as is the mute button, since one can hit Mute on the screen at any time.

This headset feels awkward at first. You kind of have to nestle the earpieces onto your ears. They don't go completely over the ears. Once I get them contoured and following the shapes of my ears, I can wear these for a few hours with no real complaints other than my ears get warm. I am surprised by the good quality of the speakers and mic. The way the parts join throughout this headset seems flimsy, though. I feel like the speakers or mic could break off kind of easily. Overall, these sound good to me, even for music (good bass and treble), and the mic is quite clear for recording audio or for other people hearing you during conversations. USB, as usual, is very convenient. However, for $30, I would expect inline volume control and sturdier construction.

What is there to like: - good sound - plug and play works (no hastle with Windows XP or OS X) - the ear pieces are padded and comfortable, they are tight enough to give you good sound and not fall easily, but loose enough to be comfortable for long periods. - no installation required. - Mic works very well, keeps off harsh sounds (noise canceling in mic works) You may be wondering why I rated this product 1 star, and the reason is simply that Logitech did not take the time or tiny expense to make the headband part of this headset comfortable! The band is made of HARD plastic, and it is very thin. So a very thin, hard surface is weighing on the top of your head. It starts hurting after 5 minutes. Unless you have a ton of hair to provide padding between your head and the band I would strongly suggest to stay away from them. A cheap padded wide plastic cover found in $1 dollar headphones would have done the trick, provide a wider, softer surface that rests on your head and the biggest issue with this headphone would be solved. In fact, I would give it 5 stars if Logitech had taken the time to wear these headphones, and spend 50 cents on a more comfortable headband, or a cheap cover to provide that extra bit of padding. I believe comfort should be the number 1 or number 2 (possibly after sound quality) most important aspect of a headset. If a product fails miserably on the comfort aspect it doesn't deserve more than 1 star. Take this as a warning and stay away from them if you are looking for comfort. Maybe 15 minutes calls 3 times a week would be ok, but definitely not for extended use. I really do not understand how more people haven't complained about this particular issue, I let my coworkers test them and all 3 gave them back after a couple of minutes. 2 of them were very petite with small heads, so I don't think headsize would matter.

Worked well for a few years until it shorted out on one side.