Jabra DRIVE Bluetooth In-Car Speakerphone - Retail Packaging - Black

I got the Jabra Drive for my wife's car and since she has zero tolerance for anything that takes more than 30 seconds to learn how to use, I specifically chose this model based on it being marketed as simple to use. In that regard, it does live up to it's billing. However ...

The marketing collateral says "...it will connect automatically whenever you get into the car" and this is just not true. Once I read the actual user guide, which by the way has to be downloaded from the Jabra site it makes it pretty clear how it actually works. What the Jabra Drive will do is go into "Sleep mode" when the phones it is connected to go out of Bluetooth range (~50 feet). Then if one of the phones comes back into range within 10 minutes it will automatically connect and go back into "Standby mode" and you are good to make and receive calls. Otherwise, the Jabra Drive will automatically shut off to save battery life. To reconnect, you have to slide the itty-bitty on-off switch to off and then back on again, at which point it will confirm you are connected by saying so.

So the point is that "...it will connect automatically whenever you get into the car" only applies if you get back into the car within 10 minutes from when you left. Good to know ...

That all said; it will connect to two phones simultaneously which is a pretty handy feature in that both my wife and daughter can use the unit together or separately without me needing to reconfigure anything, which is a blessing. Also, pairing was very easy probably the easiest I've experienced with all the various Bluetooth products I've used.

So my recommendation to anyone looking to purchase the Jabra Drive is to understand the caveat regarding Sleep mode and as long as that's not a show stopper for you the product pretty much works as advertised.

Note to Jabra: I suggest once the device goes into sleep mode it could be "awakened" by pressing the "Answer/end" button instead which would be much SIMPLER for the user instead of toggling the itty-bitty on-off switch. Just sayin' ...

The thing about a bluetooth speakerphone or earpiece is that it works best when you actually have it with you. Now, that sounds obvious, and it is, but it's funny how often I'm surprised by how true it is. You see, I have a pretty nice Plantronics Discovery 925 Bluetooth Earpiece (Black, Retail Packaging) but have gotten out of the habit of using it because it's yet one more piece of technology I need to bring along. Plus, I don't particularly like the whole "bluetooth earpiece in the ear all the time" fashion that is supposed to, I suppose, suggest how so very important you are that you have to have something in your ear every second, like you're a communications officer for Starfleet.

I also have a Garmin nüvi 2360LMT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with US Canada Mexico Lifetime Traffic & Map Updates, which has a really great bluetooth speakerphone built in. Very easy to make calls using voice activation. The sound quality is great. But, I don't like to bring that everywhere I go, especially when I'm going to or from well known locations. I don't want people to steal it, or break into my car looking for it. So, my primitive security measure is to not bring it when I won't need it.

However, even when I know where I am and where I'm going, I still will get calls while I'm out and about. It is illegal here in California to talk on a cell phone while driving. And it's often far too inconvenient to pull over to the side of the road just to answer a couple of questions, or catch up with a friend. Which has meant, in the recent past, that I flout the law at times by talking on my cell phone, all the while hoping that a cop doesn't see me, and all the while wishing that I had brought by earpiece or gps.

That's why I like this Jabra so much. It does one thing and it does it well. Pairing it with a phone couldn't be easier, even older phones that don't usually have any bells or whistles. As long as they have bluetooth, they connect with ease. Two can connect at once.

The sound is loud and fairly good, though my gps is a bit more clear. The best thing, I think, is that this is fairly small, about the size of a garage door opener. It matches that shape too, so is entirely unobtrusive hanging on my driver's side visor.

Easy to use, unobtrusive, good sound quality, good battery life. All these things combined mean that this is the bluetooth speakerphone that actually gets used because it's the one that always stays in the car.

Though, I've also learned it serves a handy purpose beyond just staying in the car. It also makes for a good speakerphone in general, as it is much louder than the one on my cell phone.

So, it works and it is highly convenient.

That's exactly what I need.

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I'm not a fan of the bluetooth sets that you stick in your ear so the idea of reviewing a speakerphone version was actually right up my alley. I seem to get most of my phone calls when I'm in my car, so this scenario worked our well for me for the most part.

Here are the pros and cons of my experience:

The Good: Easy to use, easy to set up. I'm slowly getting more savvy with electronics but I'm still pretty much a dim bulb as far as set up and everything goes. This didn't really come with any instructions but then they didn't really need to for the most part. My phone connected rather quickly to the Jabra, which was good, and I was soon on my way to making many, many phone calls. I liked that I could clip it to my visor and let it do its thing up there. Also nice was that I could use it to listen to music that I had downloaded to my phone. The battery charge lasts long enough for my purposes and I liked that you could easily replace the cord if you lost/forgot the one that came with the speakerphone. I hate it when I get things with cords that can only be replaced by the company, so this was a nice touch. I also liked that the phone's volume was pretty loud since I sometimes have trouble hearing things as well as others might. I still had to occasionally ask someone to repeat themselves, but that's more my issue than the speakerphone's.

The Bad and Inbetween: While I liked that I could clip it to my visor, I found that unless I wanted to put myself at risk of getting it stolen I had to either take it down after each car ride or flip it around to where the speaker part was hidden along the ceiling. This isn't a dealbreaker for me but it just got a little irritating after a while. For a speaker of this size the quality was decent. Music-wise you'd be better off with some of the other options out there (radio, speakers that hook up to your mp3 player, mp3 radio transmitters,etc), but as far as phone call quality went it was better than my phone's speakerphone ability. (My phone is a LG Envy Touch, so that might not be saying much.)

My biggest gripe was that you really needed to have the mic close to your mouth in order for the other person to really hear what you're saying and you'll need to turn off your radio and anything else that might distort the sound. That might sound like a no-brainer, but I found that my car's AC system was (at full and semi-full blast) just slightly too loud and the mic picked it up. I also found that people were having a little trouble hearing people sitting nearby, so if you're hoping to have conference calls with this you'll probably want to make sure that any passengers speak extra loud so they'll be heard. (Although I'm glad to say that a passenger won't have any problems hearing the person on the other end, which is probably what counts in this situation.) This kept me from giving it as high of a rating as I would have otherwise wanted to.

All in all this is a pretty decent unit. For people like me, who don't like the bluetooth earpieces for whatever reason, this will be a nice thing to have.

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Bluetooth handsfree has quickly become a very desirable feature on new cars, for the obvious safety and convenience it offers. For those of us without a built-in bluetooth capable head-unit, the visor mounted version is probably one of the best alternatives, as its location on the visor so close to the driver's ears and mouth is nearly ideal.

Pros:

Beautiful and beautifully made. I cannot find another visor mounted model with this much quality and design, and the prices is quite competitive for what you get. It doesn't look like a square garage opene, and the shape isn't overwrought. The metal clip with its high grade plastic functional layouts makes this quite pleasant to behold, and should fit in with the best of car interiors.

Sound: the microphone pick up is fairly clear, and the speaker is quite loud. I wouldn't play music on a speaker like that (see cons), but for phone calls and speech (such as GPS directions), it is quite excellent with emphasis on just the voice sound spectrum.

Longevity: the standby time is really quite long. I haven't really calculated precise numbers, but it has been sitting in my car for almost two months without recharge. It still turns right on. It will hibernate/turn off if left on standby for a while, which probably contributed to the battery life.

Operation: other than the power toggle, which you don't really need to bother with most of the time, everything else (volume, the main button) are all very easy to locate and press, with a good tactile feel. The speaker grille is a giant button in itself, with a discreet, phone handset shaped flashing LED indicator. Pairing and call controls have been nothing but reliable.

Voice prompt: simple things like "Connected" just does wonders in putting out doubts that LEDs never can.

Cons:

A2DP: The headset pairs with A2DP, or bluetooth stereo/media protocol with your phone. The problem is that the speaker is really not made out to play music, and it'll sound pretty tinny and ridiculous. Also A2DP is turned off automatically during a call when Microphone is in use. I wonder if there isn't a way to leave just the call to the Jabra and music to the 3.5mm plug.

Sleep/Hibernate: it will turn off after a while, and so when you enter the car the phone won't automatically pair. It will save the battery and makes sense, but one just has to remember to turn it on if if it doesn't respond with "Connected" as you enter the car. If it's within a few hours it seems to be on standby and it works fine, with automatic pairing happening seamlessly.

I really like this visor headset. Compared to similar products owned by my peers, Jabra Drive's industrial design is almost art. There's little that I can gripe about this, and it worked very well with clear sounds, yet unlike many bluetooth products, also transparently and fairly maintenance free. The long battery life has made that possible, and despite my initial doubts, this has exceeded all my expectations. If you are in the market for a visor mounted bluetooth handsfree, this is definitely worth serious consideration.

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For a test, I had my wife set this up. She's not that familiar or comfortable with blue-tooth devices, so I thought doing this would be a good trial. She has a blue tooth capable smart phone, and she had no problem whatsoever connecting it to her phone and using it.

Sound quality is quite good, both for the user of this speakerphone, and for the person on the other end of the call. It fits nicely and securely on the car's sun visor. We found the product quite satisfactory and confidently recommend it.

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