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Plantronics Pulsar 260 Headset

Manufacturer: Plantronics, Inc. Part number: 37677-25

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$47.57 - $69.95 at 7 online stores

CNET Editor rating:
4.0 stars Excellent
Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 7 reviews

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: The Plantronics Pulsar 260's excellent sound quality and user-friendly controls make it a great stereo Bluetooth headset.
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CNET editors' review

Plantronics Pulsar 260 Headset

price range: $47.57 - $69.95

Reviewed by: Nicole Lee
Reviewed on: 04/24/2007

The good: The Plantronics Pulsar 260 is easy to use, has a comfortable fit, and can be used to stream music to your home speakers too.

The bad: The Plantronics Pulsar 260 has a rather uneven and cumbersome headset cord.

The bottom line: The Plantronics Pulsar 260's excellent sound quality and user-friendly controls make it a great stereo Bluetooth headset.

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Plantronics is a well-established brand in the Bluetooth headset space, though it has so far mostly focused on mono Bluetooth headsets. As cell phones with stereo Bluetooth profiles become more popular, it is beginning to introduce more stereo Bluetooth headsets into its lineup. Until now, its stereo headsets were in the style of canned headphones, like the Pulsar 590A that debuted in 2005. Plantronics' latest stereo headset, dubbed the Pulsar 260, has a pendant-style design instead, which can be clipped to a belt or pocket, or you can choose to hang it around your neck with a lanyard. An array of optional earbud covers provides a comfortable fit no matter the ear size, and the pendant makes it really easy to answer calls and switch tracks without a lot of hassle. Though it retails at a somewhat pricey $109.95, we say it's worth it if you use your phone as a portable music player as well. To find more accessories like this, plus tips on how to use them, please check out our cell phone accessories help page.

The Pulsar 260 consists of two parts--the aforementioned stereo Bluetooth pendant, and the corded headset that attaches to the pendant. The pendant measures 2.5x1.0x0.6 and has a rather simple black and silver color scheme. On the front are the music player controls, which consist of the mute/play/pause, track shuttle, and volume keys arranged in a circle. They were raised sufficiently above the surface so they were really easy to press. Underneath that is a thin indicator light that flashes red when charging, glows a solid blue when fully charged, flashes red and blue when pairing, and flashes blue when it is connected to the headset. The indicator light also helps in finding out the battery status of the pendant when the headset is initially powered on--three red flashes indicate full strength, two indicate medium, and one indicates low battery strength. On the left spine is the power switch, and there's a belt clip on the back. If you wish to reset the device, there's a tiny reset button behind the clip.

On top of the pendant is a 2.5mm earphone jack, which is then attached to the corded headset. The headset looks like a pair of regular earbuds, except that it has a mic and call control button in the middle, which you can use to answer and end calls. The noise-isolating earbuds are the kind that rests inside the ear, so it's a good thing that Plantronics included three different earbud covers to accommodate different-size ears, resulting in a very comfortable fit. The headset also has a small clip along the cord, which you can use to position the mic closer to your mouth, like on a shirt collar. However, we did find the cord a little cumbersome to wear since it is so long (about 36 inches in length).

The Pulsar 260 comes with a lanyard, which you can then attach to the pendant and hang around your neck like a necklace. Another neat thing about the Pulsar 260 is that you can use it with a speaker system or your home stereo. Simply attach the pendant to the line-in port on your speakers with an included audio cable, and you can stream the music from your Bluetooth-enabled cell phone or audio player to the speakers.

We successfully paired the Pulsar 260 with the Helio Heat without any problem. Call quality was excellent on both ends, with hardly any static interference--callers could hardly tell we were using a headset rather than a cell phone. We also used the Pulsar 260 to listen to a couple of songs on the Helio Heat, and we were quite pleased with the audio quality of the songs as well. The bass was a little lighter than we would like, but we found it more than acceptable for a quick music fix. The song would pause and we would hear a couple of beeps whenever there was an incoming call. After hanging up, the song would then resume where it left off.

Other features of the Pulsar 260 include switching an active call from headset to phone and vice versa, last number redial, voice dial support, call mute, and call reject. The Plantronics Pulsar 260 promises 7 hours of music listening time and up to 9 hours of talk time.

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 7 reviews
My rating: 0 stars

Showing opinion 1 to 7 out of 7

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7 stars

I'll be in the market again for stereo bluetooth

by tberke on July 13, 2007

Pros: Good ear fit, ease of use, ability to leave pendant with phone to keep connection

Cons: Inexplicabably drops bluetooth connection, some sync issues, connects with only one bluetooth device at a time

Summary: I have a Motorola L6 and an LG "V" phone. The 260 works much better with my "V" than it does my L6. The L6 will tell me the bluetooth ...

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Summary: I have a Motorola L6 and an LG "V" phone. The 260 works much better with my "V" than it does my L6. The L6 will tell me the bluetooth is connected however it often drops the incoming call or diverts back to the handset when I pick-up. The buttons on the pendant will not interface at all. As seen within other reviews on the Pulsar 260 the volume is OK in quiet environments only using my L6.
To the contrary the LG "V" works much better. The pendant controls interact well for turning the volume up/down and once the phone is sync'd with the LG phone it stays sync'd. However getting them matched up requires turning both off and on and sync'ing in proper order or it goes into a non-stop cycle of connect/disconnect. For whatever reason the volume is much better when using my V phone. I can even use it with my convertible top down and windows up. The microphone must do a good job of wind filtering as the person on the other end can hear me OK if I keep the mic within 3" of my mouth in this condition. It should go without saying under office or closed car conditions RX and TX performance greatly improve.
Both ear buds provide voice which greatly enhances clarity over my older over the ear Motorola device which came with my "V". The "V" does not support stereo bluetooth MP3 so I can not evaluate the range/quality of music playback.
Comfort: I've used many earbud devices in the past and these are the most comfortable yet. I can leave them in for long periods of time 2-3hrs before my ear canals become irritated. Other devices become uncomfortable "to me" ranging from 15min to 2hrs. It seems to have very good battery life. I've gone 3 to 4hrs of talk time on it per day and have had no problems with power. The device is very light. If not for the wires you'd not know it was there.

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3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
5 stars

Good voice but poor music quality

by botchley on July 26, 2008

Pros: Advertised functions work well and easily

Cons: Poor music audio quality

Summary: This unit works great for talking on the phone, but as a stereo headset (presumably the reason you would pick this unit over a mono earpiece) the sound quality is ...

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Summary: This unit works great for talking on the phone, but as a stereo headset (presumably the reason you would pick this unit over a mono earpiece) the sound quality is poor. The high frequency sounds in the music are very distorted. I tried two units with the same results. I don't know if this is related to the bluetooth technology itself as I have not tried any similar units from other manufacturers. The distortion doesn't show up in voice audio, where frequencies are not as high.

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9 stars

First off hello , The Planatronics Pulsar 260 has to be by far the best thing i experience\

by maxwellf on May 18, 2008

Pros: Great distance range,sound quality is superb,headphones has various size plugs to match "your" ear. once connected , plays on any stereo, via 2.5 - 3.5 connector .

Cons: Looks sleeker than it seams, cords take a while to get used to , first connection to bluetooth eanable device tricky.
5 stars

Good as Hand Free Phone, terrible as Stereo Headset

by CrankManiac on February 18, 2008

Pros: Easy to operate, great buttons, good as Hands Free Phone

Cons: Terrible Stereo sound quality, messy fumbling wires

Summary: I have a Samsung i730 and also a Motorola Q 9m. The Plantronics 260 is a great device as a "Hand Free Phone" headset only. However, it falls horribly short ...

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Summary: I have a Samsung i730 and also a Motorola Q 9m. The Plantronics 260 is a great device as a "Hand Free Phone" headset only. However, it falls horribly short as a "Stereo Headset" as the sound quality is terrible. The setup was very easy, connectvity to both phones was consistent with well charged unit. As soon as the batteries get weak, forget it as it would lose calls and users on the other end could not hear me talking. Last but not least, the ear bud wires were less than desirable as they tangled easily and were cumbersome.

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5 stars

Not all that

by omowest on January 16, 2008

Pros: build quality, design

Cons: only one bluetooth connection at a time

Summary: This device had some promise but has a couple disadvantages I just could not deal with. I still have it but have not used it since I found the sonorix ...

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Summary: This device had some promise but has a couple disadvantages I just could not deal with. I still have it but have not used it since I found the sonorix c3 at www.bluecrests.com. That device supports two bluetooth connections, so I can listen to music from my PC and still hear calls when they come in. The second feature it has is the mic on the remote and not on the ear piece, this means that the ear piece can be changed. And thirdly that device shows caller ID.

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8 stars

I like the idea but wires still get in the way

by saqer1 on July 15, 2007

Pros: Buttons work nicely, Adapter to hook up to external stereo

Cons: don't fit in ears properly? Wires

Summary: These are good for the money. Be ready to feel like carrying another mp3 player. I like these better when I'm at home and hooked up to my computer. ...

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Summary: These are good for the money. Be ready to feel like carrying another mp3 player. I like these better when I'm at home and hooked up to my computer.

Has anyone got these to fit properly in their ears? Mine keep falling out on all three silicon sets. What's up with that?

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5 stars

Not Recommended For Music.

by abadore on May 11, 2007

Pros: Ease of Use, Call Quality

Cons: Music listening quality not good enough. Nokia NSeries compatibility issues.

Summary: The audio transport controls do not work with my Nokia N73 music edition phone. Disappointing since this is an advanced music focused phone. This could be a problem with other ...

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Summary: The audio transport controls do not work with my Nokia N73 music edition phone. Disappointing since this is an advanced music focused phone. This could be a problem with other NSeries phones. The audio quality while OK for calls, leaves a lot to be desired for music listening. It gets really bad if the phone has more than one active bluetooth connections. The nokia radio player doesn't work with a bluetooth headset either.

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0 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

Showing opinion 1 to 7 out of 7

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Plantronics, Inc.
Part number: 37677-25
Description: The Pulsar 260 is a compact, high-performing pod with Bluetooth technology and corded stereo ear-buds - custom designed for the increasing number of people who want to use their mobile phone as a music player but don't want to miss calls. The pod enables you to change track and volume without touching the phone (or other Bluetooth stereo device). When a call comes in, the music is paused automatically and you answer the call simply by pressing a button on the corded headset. It is lighter and more discreet than over-the-head or behind-the-neck style headsets, plus you can also use the headset in-car simply by removing an ear bud.

General
Product Type Headset - Bluetooth 2.0
Weight 0.9 oz
Recommended Use Portable audio system, Cellular phone, PC multimedia, Home audio system
Additional Features Battery level indication, Volume control, Bluetooth, Answer/end button
Localization Eastern Europe
Headphones
Headphones Type Headphones - Binaural
Headphones Form Factor In-ear ear-bud
Connectivity Technology Wireless - Bluetooth 2.0
Bluetooth Profiles Hands Free Profile (HFP), Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP), General Audio/Video Distribution Profile (GAVDP), Headset Profile (HSP), Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP)
Sound Output Mode Stereo
Response Bandwidth 20 - 20000 Hz
Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) 5 %
Impedance 32 Ohm
Microphone
Type - On-cable
Microphone Operation Mode Mono
Response Bandwidth 300 - 3600 Hz
Remote Control
Type None

Wireless Link
Transmission Range 33 ft
Connections
Connector Type 1 x Bluetooth, ( Mini-USB Type B ), ( Sub-mini phone 2.5 mm )
Miscellaneous
Cables Included 1 x Audio cable
Included Accessories Clothing clip, Bluetooth adapter
Power
Power Device Power adapter - External
Battery 1 x Headset battery - Rechargeable - Lithium polymer
Included Qty 1
Run Time (Up To) 7 hour(s)
Standby Time 200 hour(s)

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