Jabra Clipper Bluetooth Stereo Headset

Firstly, I would say that this product could be fantastic.
I would rate the battery, audio and reception very highly. You can even use your own headphones.

So why 2 stars?
It's 3.5mm headphone socket becomes faulty after 2 weeks of reasonable usage.

I bought the Clipper on the 9th Aug, needed a replacement due to a faulty connection by the 26th Aug, now on the 14th Sept my second pair have gone the same way.
This is very frustrating, it was a good price, good audio. Looks like I'll have to send these back for good and get something more expensive.

Kevin

Got this for my boyfriend and he loves it. He can hook it onto his t-shirt/shirt and the headphones can sit around your neck when not in use.
Sound quality is pretty good but you can get the occasional disruption when your phone is in your pocket.
He has the iphone 3GS and it works with it apart from the music forward and back doesn't which is an apple issue rather than a headset issue as it worked with the blackberry curve.
Overall, a good purchase.

* What this is and what this isn't
** Inspection and Testing
*** Conclusion

* I think it's important to point out that the description of this product is somewhat misleading. This is NOT a headphone/ earphone, per se. The CLIPPER set is a 3-piece set that is made up of the CLIPPER (a clothing-clip style receiver), a Danish-designed "Around The Neck" earphones and a charger for the unit.

The main piece, The CLIPPER --what the company calls "the headphone" -- is nothing but a Bluetooth receiver and transmitter. By itself, it is unable to allow you to hear music or speak to an incoming caller. It picks up the radio waves from a Bluetooth-enabled Smartphone, mp3/4 player such as an iPod Touch. (Although it doesn't work with the Mac's OSX operating system, Jabra supplies instruction for it to connect to Apple's iOS operating system for the iPhone 4, iPod Touch and presumably, the iPad.) It has two slots, one for a micro USB wall mount and a 3.5mm audio jack for the headphone/earphone connection.

About the included earphone: This is not to be considered an essential part of the product. Since in the quickstart guides and at Jabra's website there's only brief mention of it being packaged after a lengthy discussion on how the main piece works. It is my suspicion that it is merely a placeholder for your "better" earphone or earphone/speaker set. It is wiry thin and most likely will not stand up against normal use for more than a few days AND it doesn't have a speaker-line to receive any calls, which is the main selling point of the Clipper.

** Here is where the buying recommendation thing becomes very tricky.

Pro's

1. (A2DP) The receiver/ transmitter works well with all of the earphones that I tested it out on from the cheap Blackberry supplied speaker earphones up to the Ultimate Ears: a total of 5 including the around-the-neck earphones that came with it. It reproduced the sound that I recognized were the strengths of the different earphones and the device alerted me with a nice chime and silenced the music after about 2 rings.
2. The wireless distance to receive a signal was precise at around 30 feet.
3. About the size of an iPod Shuffle.

Con's

1. The device is extreme difficult to pry open. (This issue, more than the next I suppose, would be a deal-breaker if anything.) For several days, my skinny fingers hurt from the impression left by arduously struggling to get it to open just enough to slide on to my shirt or waistband. It is very, very difficult to get open.
2. You'll need to supply your own headphone/ earphone for this device. (The supplied is largely for testing out the product and nothing more.)

*** I own the Jabra EXTREME Bluetooth headset I received last year and I still love it. Jabra makes fine products: stylish and well built. However, I think they made an engineering mistake with THE CLIPPER. The device although a bit bulky to wear if you're wearing thinner clothing, works as promised. But my main gripe is the product's [in]ability to clip on to clothing. This, for me, is a really, really big deal. For all that it promises technologically (and delivers) the principle design makes it a toss up as far as my recommendation is concerned. If you have a breast pocket that buttons down, then the Clipper is a good deal. If you want to put the Clipper in a pant pocket, it works well. But...To clip or not to clip...THAT is the question.

3.5 stars.