Bluetake BT420 Bluetooth Hi-Fi Sports Headphone

Having recieved them in the post, having paid not a small amount of hard-earned money for them, my first impression on taking the headphones out of the box was that they are huge. None of the marketing pictures do justice to how big the earpieces actually are. They look like you're wearing a pair of oval-shaped biscuit-sized marshmallows over your ears. My girlfriend actually asked me if it came with a bag to wear over my head when I'm wearing them. So not a good start. I was, however, will to concede their appearance if they performed as well as advertised.

Pairing them with my phone was easy enough, as was pairing them with the dongle that's supplied with them. The problems began when I tried to have them paired to both at the same time, which the advertising material proudly announces to be possible. In practice I find that whenever they are connected to the dongle they keep dropping the connection to my phone. None of this "smart switching" as advertised.

The only good point I have found is that sound quality from the dongle to the headphones is very good, but if you want a good pair of wireless headphones there a many that are just as good and cheaper. Sound quality from both my phone and my laptop is incredibly poor. It's like listening to my music over the phone.

The worst point of all I found to be the microphone. When connected to my phone the signal is very broken, quiet and completely incomprehensible to the person on the other end. My laptop fares much better in that the signal is at least unbroken, but it's so quiet and there's so much white noise that it's still not worth it at all.

Overall I would strongly advise against buying this product. I give it two stars merely because if you use the dongle on its own to listen to music, and music alone, then the sound quality is good. You can, however, get headphones that achieve this for a fraction of the cost.

Better than that, if your music player is capable of transmitting over Bluetooth with the A2DP profile, you can listen to music WITHOUT using the dongle. I have used it with both my stereo AND with my iPAQ and it is easy to use and reliable with a battery life that is quite exceptional for a small device (3 hours or so on a single charging).

The whole thing is well designed - the headset is a trifle large, but not heavy or cumbersome - with the charger being capable of charging both the headset and the dongle simultaneously or separately.

The microphone for making or taking calls folds away into the headset.

The only drawback really is the price, but, in my opinion, this is an essential purchase for anyone who loves mobile technology.

I am no audiophile but the quality of the reproduction is very good - the transmitter is attached to my iPod.

But I do have one reservation which is worth mentioning if you are planning an actively walking around with the Bluetake: as you move around or bump into the transmitter, you can easily lose the connection which is very annoying. If you are sitting on a train, they are fab, walking from the station to the office involves putting it very carefully into a jacket pocket or putting it in a bag with tons of padding - and don't try to run across a road or you'll lose the connection.

Overall, I would say it is a good product, but there is an important caveat. As it is the only bluetooth headphone I have ever used, I cannot say if it is the fault of this model or a limitation in the technology.