10. Plantronics Pulsar 260 Bluetooth Stereo Headset

Headphones and headsets come in two basic varieties: ear-buds that sit inside the opening to the ear canal, and over-the-ear styles that surround the ear with varying degrees of coverage. The Pulsar 260 is an earbud style headset that's designed to let its users rock out to music, yet switch effortlessly over to receive incoming phone calls. The entire outfit is extremely compact, and features a quick-charging (under 2 hours) pickup with between 7 and 9 hours of battery life (7 hours of listening, 9 hours of talking, 200 hours of standby). And of course, Bluetooth means that you can wander up to 30 feet away from your base devices if you like.

The Plantronics Pulsar 260 is designed to let its users switch effortlessly between music and phone calls.

The base station for the Pulsar 260 is called a pendant, and may be worn clipped to a pocket, or on a lanyard around the neck. More than just a Bluetooth receiver, the pendant is also a streaming sound receiver that you can use to control music playback from a mobile phone or PDA. The microphone block also provides one-touch control to manage calls, while the pendant itself has the music and volume controls for the earbuds. Those users with Bluetooth mobile phones that support the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) can listen to music and field calls at the same time through the Pulsar 260. Together, the headset and pendant weigh out at about 1.3 ounces (36 g). There's even an audio out cable to let users hook up to any 3.5 mm jack for external stereo, if they so desire.

As you'd expect from a longtime and respected maker of telephone headsets, Plantronics did a good job with controls and indicators for the Pulsar 260. It uses a multi-colored indicator light to report on headset status, and provides instant read information about power status, battery level, Bluetooth pairing quality, and usage status. The primary phone control is on the tiny microphone block, and the pendant provides power on/off/pairing, mute/play/pause, volume up/down, and track forward/back controls. Buttons are backlit to make them easy to see and use.

For the back-to-school crowd, the Pulsar 260 is sure to be a hit with those who listen to music all the time, and who appreciate the convenience and comfort of a Bluetooth rig. This unit is not the be-all and end-all of telephone headsets, however, so users (and buyers) should be aware that it lacks high-end noise cancellation or voice processing capabilities, and that incoming and outgoing sound levels are often too low to make out clearly. Of course, for a headset in the $50-70 price range, it may be a bit much to expect perfection anyway.