Cheap Bluetooth Headsets

Part of the point of Bluetooth technology is that it's inexpensive. But sometimes it can seem as though the products that use the technology can cost you an arm and a leg. It's possible to find a good Bluetooth headset to pair with your mobile phone for anywhere from $30 to just over $50. That should bring this headset technology within the price range of a few more buyers.

Of course, if you're purchasing a cheaper headset, you want to know what you're sacrificing in order to pinch those pennies. The answer is, surprisingly little. Inexpensive Bluetooth headsets can come with all the same features that you would expect to find in their more expensive cousins.

Even the cheapest Bluetooth headset should sit comfortably on the ear and allow you to talk without worry. The earpiece may not be adjustable, but then that's true of even some more expensive headsets. However, this may be one place where quality suffers slightly. The headset may become uncomfortable over longer periods. More problematically, you may find that the weaker materials are easier to snap and break.

Weight may be another area where you make a bit of a compromise. You won't find the ultra-light featherweight headsets in the bargain bin. But even these "heavier" headsets will still weigh less than an ounce. That's plenty light to make them comfortable to use for an hour long conversation.

The volume should be adequate and easily controllable with the simple push of a button. You'd think the audio quality would be one place where the cheaper headset suffers. But users seem just about as happy (or sometimes unhappy) with the audio quality in the less expensive sets. You can even get a Bluetooth headset with noise cancellation technology for under $50.

As with more expensive headsets, cheap Bluetooth headsets allow you to control your calls with a single button that connects you and disconnects you with a tap. If you're mobile phone supports voice dialing, a cheaper headset will allow you to take advantage of that feature just as easily as a more expensive one.

A cheap Bluetooth headset can give you every bit of the talk time and standby time that other more expensive headsets can. In fact, since they're not trying to make them ultra-light, you may find the cheaper headsets giving you longer talk times-some of them up to 15 hours!

On the other hand, standby times will not measure up to what the higher tech versions reach. Some more expensive headsets allow you to turn them off completely when not in use and still power them up quickly enough to catch an incoming call. That really saves the battery life. A cheaper headset won't be able to do that for you. With a standard standby mode, though, you can expect the headset to provide 5 to 10 days.