Iqua Vizor review: Iqua Vizor

Thanks to new driving laws requiring the use of hands-free cell phone devices, Bluetooth speakerphones have become quite popular. While quite a few high-end cars have built-in speaker systems to handle cell phone calls, most of us are stuck with either a Bluetooth headset or the same old wired headset. Bluetooth speakerphones offer a great alternative to those who prefer not to use a headset at all. The Iqua Vizor is one such device, and as its name suggests, it is specifically designed to clip on to a car's visor. We love its ease of use and its sleek design, but its sound quality is a little disappointing. It's quite affordable at around $70 per unit.

The design of the Iqua Vizor is a little unusual when compared with other Bluetooth speakerphones. Almost three-fourths of its body comes from a rather heavy base, which has two magnets on the bottom. These magnets can then be attached to the included metal sun visor clip, for attaching the unit to the car's visor. At the bottom left of the base is the Vizor's loudspeaker. Below the base is a hinged flap that houses all of the controls. You can fold down the flap for easy access to the Vizor's controls. This way, you can have your car's visor up or down, and still be able to use the Vizor comfortably. We think this is a pretty smart idea, since a lot of Bluetooth speakerphones don't allow for a lot of flexibility in positioning the car visor.

As we mentioned, the flap houses all the main controls, which include a Call button, two volume buttons, a voice dial/mute button, and an End call button. These buttons are all nice and large, with beveled textures that make them easy to press. The keys have a backlight when the Vizor is activated, and there are two LED indicators to the right: a Bluetooth indicator and a battery-status indicator. The power switch is on the left spine and the charger connector is on the right. Having this many buttons actually makes the Vizor easier to use, since each button has a dedicated function. This is different from some other Bluetooth speakerphones that delegate all functions to a single button, which can be trickier to use. The microphone is located on the bottom right.

Features of the Iqua Vizor are pretty standard, with the ability to answer, end, and reject calls, last number redial, voice dial support, call waiting, and call mute. There's also an extra bonus feature called Fast call, which you can use to save and dial your favorite number. The Iqua Vizor comes with a car charger as well as a USB cable.

We paired the Iqua Vizor with the RIM BlackBerry Pearl without any problems--the Vizor beeps and lights up when being paired, which helped the process along. Voice dialing worked very well, even though it sometimes misunderstood a command. Call quality was a mixed bag--though incoming sound was generally clear with a somewhat tinny echo effect, outgoing sound was not so good. Callers could hear us, but they occasionally reported some noise in the background even though we were in a relatively quiet environment. We often had to raise our voice in order to be heard.

The Iqua Vizor has a rated talk time of 20 hours, and a rated standby time of 16.7 days.