Friday, 20 March 2009 12:29 Manufacturer: Plantronics | Product Type: Telephone System | Price: $299 Back in April 2004 Hardware Fusion reviewed Plantronics CS60 headset unit. The CS60 was mainly marketed as an office based system that introduced secure wireless freedom to business landline calls. The beneficial factors of wireless telephone communication has since enabled businesses to provide a more efficient solution for dealing with client and customer calls. However, the CS60 wasn’t entirely perfect and lacked a few fundamental components, which prevented it from being a fully compatible product. Its main purpose was to answer calls remotely, but with the lack of an included handset lifter it failed to do even that. It also lacked the ability to dial calls remotely and was ultimately limited to one device and one function. In comparison to today’s standards the product also lacked style and practicality.

 

 

Plantronics release of the Voyager 510SL system introduces a more complete product with multi-functional support, greater compatibility, practicality and style! As a more complete product the 510SL system includes out of the box support for almost all landline phones, Bluetooth devices and VOIP communication. Its smaller, sleeker design makes it more practical for use within the home, office and on the move. At its present price tag it hardly makes it an idealistic product for use within a large workforce and idealistically would be seen used by specialist agencies and the professional businessperson, such as in PR, advertising or design. Plantronics seem keen to market the 510SL as a business product, rather than a product suitable for the home user. This could have something to do with its price or perhaps lack of consumer demand for such technology in the home. We now see that the growing age of wireless technology, mainly thanks to the reduced costs of wireless appliances, has recently seen greater consumer demand for similar products, particularly with wireless mobile phone headsets. As a cheaper alternative to the Voyager system Plantronics have also marketed the 510S headset as a separate product, for use with Bluetooth enabled mobile phones.

 

 

The headset itself incorporates 6 hours of talk time, 100 hours of standby time and has a range of up to 33 feet (10 meters). The Voyager 510 headset is significantly smaller than the design of the CS60 headset and features a more practical, lightweight design for mobile use, which is greatly made possible by the tiny re-chargeable lithium polymer battery. The flexible design enables you to fold the headset easily in your pocket and can be converted to either left or right ear. Additionally the unit features noise cancelling technology inbuilt into the microphone, which makes it suitable for use in noisy offices or on the move in busy public areas. This technology appears to work variably well. In some cases the user at the other end of the line reported cutting out of sound and in other cases the quality was overall good.

 

 

The available controls include volume up and down settings, mute, call answer, call holding, voice dialling and on/off switching. The on/off button was frequently quite difficult to press, which is largely due to its tiny size. I also found that the volume up and down controls were at first a little inaccessible to use, at least until I got used to where they were located. The receiving sound quality is excellent. I found the user’s voice to come through loud and clear through the headsets earpiece. We tested the headset on a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone and standard home phone. With the handset lifter installed we found answering and switching calls between devices very easy to do and it greatly improved our efficiency within the workplace. Having the ability to switch the device between landline and mobile enabled us to seamlessly work from within the office and on the move. We do feel that the lack of remote dialling for landline phones is a downside and would like to see Plantronics introduce this feature into their next product line.

 

 

The included lifter significantly increases support for a greater percentage of landline phones. The motorized system is placed directly under the receiver and is connected to the base unit. When a call is activated from the remote headset a signal is sent to the base unit, which activates the motor and lifts the receiver off the hook, thus answering the call. Whilst the device works with a majority of handsets some users may come across phones with a design that may not facilitate the lifter.

 

 

The Voyager 510SL base unit features a smaller, sleeker design compared to the CS60 base unit. It also now comes with a blue LED indicator light based on the top that glows whenever you are engaged in a call. Similarly to the CS60 unit the 510SL base also comes with red and orange indicator lights located at the front, which provide constant information on the status of the system.

 

 

Conclusion Plantronics Voyager 510SL system is a significant improvement over the CS60 product that we tested back in April 2004. It is clearly apparent that the company have come a long way in producing and utilizing technology that not only works but also is practical for wireless solutions. The 510SL system appears to be a more complete system for use within the business environment and boasts the features necessary to make on the move day-to-day tasks a more efficient practice. Whilst the price tag of the 510SL system may not make it an ideal appliance for the majority of home consumers it certainly has a place for the fanatical technology owner. Fusion NET are going to award the Voyager 510SL system with an overall rating of 90%.