When I first saw the Plantronics 640, I fell in love with it (I previously used a 510 and was happy with it). So small, so light, so cool. It is feature packed, with a pen-sized holster/charger that vibrates when a call comes in. It fits and holds in the ear nicely, with an assortment of gel earpieces in various sizes.
But it keeps falling out of the holster. If you use the clip attached to the holster (which does look very slick) to carry the device in your pocket like a pen, the earpiece protrudes and catches on everything, which pulls it out of the holster and onto the floor every time. I had it clipped in my front shirt pocket first, then moved it to the inside pocket of my jacket which made things worse (it also caught on the shirt rubbing against it).
After looking like someone who lost a contact lens multiple times, I finally put it inside my coat pocket, but carrying the holster/battery carrier like that makes it awkward to use the charger function. The earpiece still fell out all the time, too.
I made it all through the SID Show with this earset, and finally lost it at the airport on the way home.
Anyone want to buy an extra holster for their Plantronics 640? (Seriously.)
Smartalix’s rule for device design: ANY MODULAR DEVICE WHOSE COMPONENT PARTS ARE WORTH MORE THAN A NICKEL SHOULD LOCK TOGETHER.
i honestly love my jabra bt800. perfect sound, long lasting batteries, usb-charging, vibration, display, updateable software… on the downside it seems to be a lot bigger than this plantronics and won’t display a caller name, only the number). but those jabra-people really have a good customer service (). give one of these a chance, you might like it too :o)
greetings from germany
markus
How much do you want for the leftover parts? It would be great to keep a charger in my bag and one on my desk.
Michael
This raises a question I have that broadly relates to this. I ask it almost everytime I purchase some “hardware” that work like crap. (from $.50 pens to $5000 audio gear)
Do manufacturers make prototypes and actually use the gear in the field?
It doesn’t seem like they do, when you encounter a design that fails on the first try or is obviously flawed.
I have experienced the same issue with my Plantronics 640. I do not recommend this headset at all!! I do not know why the review at cnet is rated so high. It’s a horrible device.
1. GregAllen; I’d be pissed if my five thousand dollar piece of audio gear didn’t work as advertised, if I could ever afford to buy a single piece of anything that costs five thousand dollars.
2. From just looking at the picture, before reading anything, I thought the damned thing was one of those Moen faucets.