Review: Freetalk Wireless Headset For Skype

Introduction

A new wireless headset is out on the market for your music listening and Skype calling needs.  From Everyman, the company behind the now great-selling Freetalk Everyman Headset (reviewed previously), the Freetalk Wireless headset ups the ante with an upgraded version – this one completely wireless.

The general features of this unit are:

  • An AvneraAudio radio chip for clear wireless audio.
  • Supports super wide-band audio – meaning your calls are more lifelike).
  • Fold-flat headphone design.
  • PC and Mac Compatible.
  • Roughly 15 meters of range (45 feet).

Opening The Box

As with the wired predecessor, the Freetalk folks ship the wireless headset in minimal, eco-friendly packaging.  The wireless headset comes with a great carrying case, the very well designed headphones with small boom mic, a USB dongle transceiver and USB charging cable.

The Freetalk Wireless Headset gives a good first impression.  The construction is solid…not as hearty as a Bose headset, but definitely solid enough for years of day-to-day use.

The first step in using the headset is charging it, which only takes about 2-3 hours.  One feature I really like about this is that if you want, you can use the Wireless Headset while it’s charging, much like a conventional wired headset.  This might be very useful in a situation where you need to use the headphones or make a Skype call while your unit is out of batteries.

Usage and Performance

The Freetalk Wireless Headset is a breeze to set up.  Once charged, you simply plug the dongle in and power on the headphones.  The devices, for me, synced up with no effort.  If you have troubles, there is a ‘link’ button to force the headphones to pair with the dongle.  This set up process was flawless for me on three different computers, a MacBook Pro, a Windows XP, and a PC running Windows 7.

As regular headphones, listening to music, the Wireless Headset performs very well.  My music was crystal clear and very audible.  The bass performance was a bit weak, but very adequate.  Having no wires to attach me to my computer was liberating and rather nice.

Then the real test came: making Skype calls.  I tried making three different types of Skype calls: a call to another Skype user (Skype-to-Skype call), a call to a conventional landline here in the US, and a call to a US based mobile phone.

As with the prior Everyman headset, I was very impressed with the Freetalk Wireless Headsets’ performance in all three use cases.  To me, my callers sounded very good – as if they were in the room with me.  Callers reported that I sounded good – just as good as any other headset, including wired ones.

I was able to get about 5 hours of battery life out of the unit, which is pretty close the advertised 5.5 hours.  Perhaps after a few charges and further conditioning of the batteries, i can get an extra 30 minutes out of it.

Summary

This headset from Freetalk provides an amazing value and performance package.  Priced at $79.99, the Freetalk Wireless Headset frees you from having to be physically attached to your computer while listening to music or making calls.  This feature may seem like no big deal, but to have the freedom to move around the room while making a call is very nice – whether it’s grabbing a pen/paper or simply stretching your legs: mobility is nice!

With most wireless headsets, you must compromise audio quality for this mobile freedom, but this simply isn’t the case with the Freetalk Wireless unit.  I would highly recommend this device if you’re in the market for such a unit.

The Freetalk Wireless headset is available directly from the Skype Shop and is currently selling for just under $80 US.

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Posted in: product reviews, tech news/notes, voip

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 24th, 2009 at 7:49 am and is filed under product reviews, tech news/notes, voip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • David

    What is the technology behind this headset? Bluetooth? FM or digital in the ISM band?

    Also, how was the range, especially through floors and walls? My main system is in the basement, so horizontal distances and through concrete block walls, and vertical is through wood floors.

    Thanks.

    ak

  • Jason Harris

    I don’t have concrete walls or basements to test with, but I an try via regular walls (drywall) and stuff and report back.

    -Jason

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  • Gizzmo

    This headset sucks. For VOIP one needs a headset with a mute button and a sound control. This one has neither. So if it is too loud you gotta get to your computer and fiddle with the software in order to change. You might be deaf before that happens. Really really bad. And imagine that Skype claims that this is Skype Certified!!!! Makes me totally loose my belief in that label.. bad bad bad.

  • Kim

    Isn’t there volume control on one of the cups? I’ve also read somewhere that you can mute the headset by rotating the mic all the way up – but that might only be on the old model?

    Can anyone confirm/reject these things?

  • Jason Harris

    Yes a volume control is available on the right cup of these wireless headset. It’s quite nice.

  • Mitchell

    I think the user that was reporting the lack of a volume control is commenting on the “wired” version of this, not the wireless.

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  • Romano

    I just received the last model of this headset. It’s incredibly good. The Skype immediately detects his presence and ask you if you want to use it. Then you click (or not)the OK button. For other use (GOM Player f.i. you have to change to this gadget manually. This is the only negative aspect of this Feetalk.

  • Diana

    This worked great with my PC and I was delighted. I now have a MacPro Laptop and I plugged in the dongle and … nothing. The test call didn’t work at all. After much fiddling in Skype preferences I can now hear Skype but it can’t hear me, even though the dongle is registered (Avnera) in the input usb port. Skype techie suggested that I try an iPhone compatible headset instead. TOTALLY disappointed.

  • toe

    Pros:
    * Sounds quality OK/good
    * Plug-and-play

    Cons:
    * You cannot see/feel whether the headset is on mute without taking off the headset and looking at the LED.
    * Tension of headset cannot be adjusted. To me it starts hurting after ~1 hour (too tight).
    * Since the headset uses USB, you cannot get sound to speakers at the same time (or easily switch).
    * I think there is a slight additional delay (compared to wired plugged into sound card). Sometimes to the extend where it is noticable.

  • rob

    How do you know when the battery is running low? Is there an indicator of low battery, thus warning of the need for an impending charge?

    I do not see anything stated on this in the sparse documentation or FAQs at the website mentioned in the documentation. Maybe I missed or overlooked something?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000133972570 Mukul Jones

    pros- you get a good quality headset with decent range
    specially made for making skype calls.

    cons- very poor music and bass management(though the hardware is capable of producing quality bass) they provide no enchantment software, you just have to go with what the media player supports, to enjoy the full quality of music, you have to get some enchantment software like srs audio sandbox.

    (the most worst) The battery of this headphones is non replaceable, once the battery dies, you have no option but to buy another new headphones. I am a casual music listener (2 hrs a day) and the battery died in almost 10 months. So, this is very painful to spend 80 bucks on a piece of headset that will die in a year and you will just have to spend again. I tried to find similar battery everywhere (with a hope) but coudnt find any with same size. I had no other choice to buy other headphones.

    You cannot use headphones as a terminal to transmit audio signals wirelessly to another device (which most other decent wireless headphones support).

    Bottom line: I recommend this product if you are able to buy a new one each time the battery dies, or if you are a heavy skype user

  • tom jones

    TRYING TO GET ONE OF THESE HEAD SETS SENT TO GUADALAJARA MEXICO

  • Gabriel

    I use it occasionally this wireless headset for about 10 months. One day ago I notice that is not turning on when I press power button. I try to charge it for more than 14 hours but the red LED indicating the charging is always ON like is not charged anymore. After more than half day of charging is still impossible to turn ON. I don’t know what the problem is, the official product website is not so good in indicating support for troubleshooting.
    Any ideas will be helpful…

  • Bob MacLeod

    I have been using the wireless headset for a couple of weeks. Now (late 2011) it is $10 cheaper but comes without a carrying case. This is unfortunate because the dongle has no way to attach to the headset. So I use an Eagle Creek quarter cube bag to carry both in.

    I am pleased with the sound quality, and I LOVE the ability to step away from the computer. Several times with my wired headset I leaned over to get something out of a drawer or my bag only to yank the headset off my head, tip over something on the desk, etc.

    I have a weekly team meeting via Skype and have received poor reviews from my team members. They say that my voice comes in and out and they can hear a lot of ambient noise they could not hear before (I had not told them I got a new headset–they just noticed).

    I also scratch my head at the “Mute” light. Not only can’t you see it… but how do you turn it on mute anyway? :)

    So for wireless music while travelling, looks good. For Skype calls… I’ll probably be using my wired Everyman.

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