Does get uncomfortable after a while unless you're used to it
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I got myself a copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, a piece of voice recognition software I have reviewed. Using my desktop microphone to input text was inefficient and IRRITATING because it picked up background noises easily, thought they were words and was not picking up what I saying very well. I kept reading that I should be using an approved noise cancelling headset with the voice recognition software so that was it, I had decided to get a headset. I went hunting on eBay and found the 'Logitech Internet Chat Headset' up for bid but it was "refurbished" and you do not get all the bits like you would with a new one so I looked elsewhere for it. I saw it on Amazon for £19 99 but eventually bought it on Ebuyer since it was cheaper at just over £16.
The headset looks like a normal pair of round-the-ear and round-the-back-of-the-head headphones but with a microphone extending out of the left ear speaker. It's wavy body that goes over my ears and round my head is made of strong plastic but is quite flexible so it will accommodate most head sizes. The microphone is at the end of an extremely flexible rod which can be easily adjusted so that it faces my mouth. It can't quite reach the centre of my mouth but it's near enough. Looking in the mirror, it looks like I'm a pop star on stage (or helpdesk person but pop star sounds cooler). The headset has a generous, three metre cable which is enough to let you sit right back in your chair and even walk around a bit. There's even a volume control and a switch to turn off the microphone. At the end of the cable, you simply plug the pink colour-coded 3.5mm jack to the microphone socket and the black 3.5mm jack to the speaker socket (usually green coloured) at the back or front of your computer (if available).
The headset comes with four sets of coloured caps for you to customise your headset with. This is purely cosmetic but nice to have anyway. You can interchange between black, metallic orange, metallic red and metallic blue or even a combination of two colours. I tend to stick to the red though. These are easy to remove with the switching tool (small piece of metal provided to remove caps) by inserting it under the chip and twisting or prying the cap off. Before I found the switching tools, I used my nails to remove the caps and it was still quite easy to remove. To replace them, you simply insert the tabs into slots and press into place. The manual tells you how to do this, as well as how to plug the headset in, the technical specifications, package contents and what to do if it doesn't work for you (troubleshooting). It is 100 pages thick but only the first 6 pages are in English. I find it very easy to follow and illustrations are included to help you. It's not a very complex device so it's more than enough.
The headset is secure when you wear it and doesn't fall off even if you tug on the cable hard. It's fairly comfortable to wear but after a while, it can get a bit uncomfortable behind the ears. I have the ear phones that use the around-the-ear design and I sometimes forget that I'm wearing them because they're so comfortable. This headset is not quite as comfortable but to be fair, they're bigger than my earphones. I've had this Logitech headset for a while now and I'm wearing them at this very moment. After wearing them for 1-2 hours and it doesn't hurt and is quite comfortable so chances are, it just takes a bit of getting used to.
The sound quality of the input from the microphone is excellent, and so is the output from the phones for that matter. The sound output is good but not particularly 'powerful' or climatic but for that, you would need bigger headphones. I find using voice recognition so much easier with this than with my desktop microphone. I passed my voice recognition software's sound quality test straight away whereas it took me five tries when using my regular microphone. The noise-cancelling feature is also a very welcomed since having it means the microphone only picks up what I want it to most of the time. I can even watch TV without it picking up what people are saying on the TV unlike my regular microphone, which would pick up even pick up my keyboard taps when I type. Typing using voice recognition software has also been a lot more accurate. The headset also comes with a 2 year warranty.
To conclude, this is an excellent headset. The sound quality is excellent, it's customisable and it comes with a nice long cable. After I found it on eBay, I watched The Gadget Show (on Channel 5) and they even recommended it for voice chat (Voice Over IP using a free program called Skype to be precise), which was another reason why I pursued this one rather than look at other ones. It has many uses from chatting to your friends using chat rooms or Instant Messengers like MSN, phoning someone through your PC, gaming, and voice recognition to just recording your voice onto your computer. Just a small quibble with comfort after longer periods of usage but this probably just takes a bit of getting used to. I can highly recommend this headset without any hesitation for people who want to use it for voice recognition, Internet chat, or those want good quality headphones for their PC but didn't consider getting one with a microphone.
Thanks for reading!
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
For the more technically minded who need to know these things for a buying decision.
