I am a gadget junkie. I admit it. And I have a box full of Bluetooth headsets. I’ve pretty much bought each new one as they come out, only to be disappointed. On my end, they are generally pretty good. On the other end, I’ve often been told that I sound like I’m in a wind tunnel, underwater, with my mouth full of marbles. Not the best sound quality!

And then I got the first Jawbone. It was markedly better. But it was pretty heavy, and the earloop broke all the time. For it to work, the tip needed to rest on your jaw. As my friends at Microsoft Research had predicted, that was the best solution. And then they came out with the smaller version 2. And it was terrible. I couldn’t keep it on my jaw, the earloop was even more fragile, and I couldn’t keep it either in my ear or against my jaw. (I wasn’t alone. Read their support blogs.) Out of sheer frustration, I bought the Plantronics 925. Better.

And then I upgraded to the Plantronics Discovery 975 (http://www.plantronics.com/north_america/en_US/products/mobile/bluetooth-headsets/discovery-975). This is a good Bluetooth headset! I’ve had people ask if I’m on a landline (until the terrible service of my iPhone and AT&T makes the connection terrible!). It uses two mics, a DSP, and has some clever wind shielding technology. It’s comfortable and fits well in my ear. Seems to connect well with both of my cell phones. And, perhaps most cleverly, it has a case with a built in recharging battery, so that the headset charges when you put it in the case. The case also contains a small screen that shows the state of the charge.

Very cool.