Plantronics Voyager PRO+ Bluetooth Headset review: Plantronics Voyager PRO+ Bluetooth Headset

The Plantronics Voyager line of headsets is legend in the Bluetooth headset world. The old-school Voyager 510 has many rabid fans and last year's Voyager Pro has earned its fair share of recognition as well. This might come as a surprise for some people--after all, these headsets are quite bulky compared with their more modern counterparts--but the Voyager's sound quality and comfort are prized above its appearance.

8.0

Plantronics Voyager PRO+ Bluetooth Headset

The Good

The Plantronics Voyager Pro Plus has a very comfortable fit, with a dedicated power switch, a volume rocker, and a swiveling boom mic. It has multipoint, A2DP streaming, voice alerts, a battery meter when paired with an iPhone, and access to Plantronics Vocalyst, an automated phone service that lets you send e-mail, texts, and even tweets with just your voice. Audio quality and wind noise reduction are very good.

The Bad

The Plantronics Voyager Pro Plus is quite bulky, and might not fit comfortably for those who wear glasses. The Vocalyst service is only free for the first year, plus you have to upgrade to the Pro level to get the speech-to-text feature.

The Bottom Line

The Plantronics Voyager Pro Plus may not be the most stylish headset, but its features and performance more than make up for it.

This year, Plantronics has released an improvement upon last year's model: the Plantronics Voyager Pro Plus. Its design is largely unchanged, but it has a lot more features. Not only does it now have A2DP streaming, it also has voice alerts, a battery meter for the iPhone (with support for more smartphones in the future), increased wind noise reduction, and support for Plantronics' new Vocalyst phone service. For $99.99, we think the Plantronics Voyager Pro Plus is definitely worth the upgrade.

The Voyager Pro Plus is physically nearly identical to its predecessor, the Voyager Pro. It's definitely not a dainty little headset--it has a large swiveling boom mic with die-cut WindSmart screens to help reduce wind noise, and a large over-the-ear battery pack. Despite its size, we actually thought it had a very comfortable fit and it was easy to slip on and off. For more design details, read our description of the Plantronics Voyager Pro.

As we mentioned earlier, the Voyager Pro Plus has a number of feature improvements over its predecessor. It has voice alerts for incoming calls as well as battery status updates, and A2DP audio streaming, and if you pair it with an iPhone, you will see the headset battery meter next to the iPhone's. You also get a free year of Plantronics' Vocalyst automated phone service. For more information on that, check out our review of the Plantronics Savor M1100.

We tested the Plantronics Voyager Pro Plus with the Apple iPhone 3G and were amazed at the call quality. The audio quality was crisp and clear, with hardly a trace of static or wind noise. We tested it in a busy outdoor cafe and our listeners thought we were indoors. Indeed, it appears that Plantronics' Audio IQ 3 and Wind Shield technology really works as advertised. Callers also said our voice sounded quite natural, with only the occasional echo or hiss.

Other features of the Voyager Pro Plus include multipoint, call-waiting support, last number redial, and call mute. It has a rated talk time of 6 hours and a rated standby time of five days.