17. Aliph Jawbone Prime

Aliph Jawbone Prime

$129.99

Keep dad safe on the road, and looking slick at the same time with Prime, the newest Jawbone Bluetooth headset from Aliph. Every Jawbone headset wins the fashion show when compared to other top headsets, and this Prime is no different. This time, Aliph slightly retooled the look of the device—giving it a curvier shape with fewer angles—and added colors: maybe dad is the bold kind of guy who would prefer a metallic brown earpiece, or even red, to basic black or silver.

Looks aside, the Prime also has improved comfort over the previous Jawbone. This one sits better in the ear due to earbud tips with loops you can grab onto to position the bud just so inside your ear. There are hooks you can connect to hold the Prime securely in place, but we didn’t need them. The earbud loops did a better job keeping the tip of the Prime against the cheek—which is necessary to activate Aliph’s lauded NoiseAssassin 2.0 software for noise cancellation.

With earlier models of Jawbone, we’ve had trouble keeping the tip against our cheek—which often meant callers couldn’t even hear us. But with the Prime, Aliph has added a failsafe noise cancellation technology that kicks in when the Prime occasionally loses contact with the cheek.

If dad has to carry two mobile phones—one for work and one for personal use—he’ll be relieved to know that Jawbone Prime is the first Jawbone to include multipoint technology. That means the Prime headset will automatically connect to whichever of his two phones is in use. Essentially, both phones are paired with Prime at the same time. Why should dad have to juggle headsets and phones while he’s driving? He shouldn’t.