SouthWing Neovoice USB

I have owned the SouthWing Neovoice USB bluetooth headset for one day only. The purpose of its use was for diversion of landline work calls to my mobile, so I only needed one phone to last for 7/8 hours of use. After 3 to 4 hours use I found it uncomfortable, and I experienced sore spots around my ear. By the end of the day it was unbearable.

I cannot hear as well on the right side, and naturally writing right handed all your life, you will automatically use phones on your left ear.

I have had a Jabra and a Morotola. I agree that the latter is flimsy, but personally the Jabra has a longer comfort time.

Final conclusion is technically it is good kit, and I love the look, but it will only be good for short car trips in the comfort zone.

The SouthWing NeoVoice USB is an amazingly comfortable headset to wear, I have tried a few headsets in my time and this one seems to be the best so far. It's competitive on price and so comfortable to wear you actually don't know you are wearing it. It comes with a charger for the mains and it can also be charged from the USB port on your computer or laptop, so you can never run out of power. It's so easy to pair the headset with your handset or even your computer, it seems to work with every handset I have tried even some of the Sony handsets which seem not to work with all headsets.

The SouthWing Neovoice USB is the one!! Having researched BT headsets for a while I wasn't happy with any single one. Each seemed to have a bad point to put me off.

What I was looking for:

- Comfort, should be able to wear it for ages

- Long battery life - over 4 hours at least

- Car charging option - just in case

- Price, around £50 or less

- Design - nothing too big or sci-fi and no flimsy ear hooks

Over a few days I read many reviews and did my own tests in the high street. Many of the BT headsets fell down on one of these points so I was struggling. Then I came across the NeoVoice USB at Expansys.co.uk (for around £40 but nearly £80 at other websites). The website is excellent (south-wing.com) which you MUST check out before buying as it lists the phones it will work with (which is probably all of them) - just remember it's the USB version.

The NeoVoice has it all. A decent over the ear design with a pain free in-ear speaker, plus a boom microphone. In plain black (available in silver and red too) it looks plain which is how I wanted it. The battery life seem good so far, around 5 hours in use and plenty in standby. It switches itself off after 4 hours of inactivity.

It boasts all sorts of features like automatic answer (after 2 seconds), auto redial, multiple ring tones, volume control, etc. etc. - not short of features at all. However, the single dial/button control may not be to everyone's liking (press once for X, twice for Y, three times for Z, etc.) - it's a bit quirky to say the least. For simple setup and usage though its fine.

I've found Expansys sell a USB/Car charger kit for about £6 which I will order when required.

BEST OF ALL - I found the NeoVoice on eBay for just £28 !!! And with only £2 p+p it was delivered next day (it's rare these days to find a seller on eBay who isn't ramping up the price of postage).

A highly recommended headset even though I'm not really a heavy phone user. I'd be interested to hear of other people's experiences of this headset just for comparison.

Just for the record two others came close; 2nd choice would have been the Jabra BT250 which I tried out for a day. Good on most points except the design and the gel ear things which didn't suit me. 3rd choice was the Motorola HS810 which was a top quality product but with a very short battery life (but can be charged with a Motorola car charger). Also tried it for a couple of days and it was pretty good but I didn't like the slightly flimsy round-the-ear plastic.

This Southwing Neovoice USB handsfree bluetooth headset is very clear and set up was a doddle. The voice dial works well. It nestles smartly and unobtrusively in your ear.

One draw back is the charger could be inserted upside down resulting in an overheated and dead unit. Having spoken to Southwing they say that yhey know the problem and are rectifying it with subsequent batches.

So just beware that you plug the charger in correctly and if in doubt refer to the company's web site (www.south-wing.com)

If it wasn't for this problem (which is easily avoided) I would award it 10/10.

A great bit of kit nevertheless!!!!