Mobility Digest Review: Plantronics M25 Bluetooth Headset

The holidays are over I think, so I guess that means it’s time to get back to work and that means reviews for me anyway! I’ve got three coming as of now for here, so we’ll get started with the Plantronics M25 Bluetooth headset. The M25 isn’t bad overall, it’s lightweight and very comfortable for long periods of time. The one thing I think is very special about the M25 is the battery life, supposedly it can be in DeepSleep mode or extended standby for up to five months! That’s a long time and well I can’t exactly test that whole five month thing, but I can tell you about the M25, so read on…

 

Author:  Kristofer Brozio

Vendor: Mobile Fun

Price: $39.99

Overall Rating: 4/5

 

Specs/Features:

Plantronics M25 Bluetooth Headset

The Plantronics M25 Bluetooth headset features DeepSleep mode, which can extend the standard 16 days standby time up to 5 months, so it’s ready when you want it

DeepSleep function turns standby time to 5 months
The Plantronics M25 Bluetooth headset features a DeepSleep function which is designed to extend the stand by time of the headset from 16 days to up to a massive 5 months. This means that the headset will always be ready to use when you want it.

Features wind and noise reduction
The M25 features noise and wind reduction which means that your conversations will always be heard, by you and who ever else is on the phone, in crystal clear clarity and not with disruptive background noises. You can also listen to your music, internet radio or GPS instructions whilst also never missing a phone call.

Whispered alerts and soft ear tips keep you going all day
Whispered alerts will keep you informed about battery level, Bluetooth connect and much more. It features soft ear tips which will always keep your comfortable no matter how long the conversation.

 

What’s in the Box?

The Plantronics M25 comes in a plastic display style box.

Once you get everything unpacked you’ll find the M25 headset itself, earloop, user guide and AC adapter with two plug styles.

The earloop is clear and a semi-soft silicone.

Here’s the adapter with both plugs. Yes I’m in the United States so this won’t work for me but the M25 can be charged via a standard microUSB connection so it’s not a big deal.

So here’s the M25, it’s silver and black in color. There’s a phone picture on it which is actually a button to answer and end calls and re-dial them as well. It’s a multi-function button really, you can initiate vocie dialing, activate pairing, reject calls, reconnect etc.

On the top end is the microUSB connection for charging.

On the left side is the power switch, yes it’s an actual sliding switch and not a button which I like personally.

The right side is where the volume button is. To use it you keep pressing it basically, one tap per level.

 

Impressions / Review:

The first thing you’ll need to do is charge it. Yes they did include a wrong power adapter for me, but it doesn’t matter as it can be charged over stand microUSB via your computer. When charging the LED is red as you might expect and turns off when done charging..

Battery life for my time with it seems to be good, and the M25 has a DeepSleep mode which I couldn’t exactly test. The DeepSleep mode extends standby time up to five months, I haven’t had it nowhere near that long so I can’t test that but we’ll take their word for it I guess.

I used the Plantronics M25 bluetooth headset with my HTC Titan Windows Phone as that’s what I use everyday. Pairing was easy, worked perfectly fine, put the headset into pairing mode and the LED blinks red and white.

On the Windows phone the M25 reconnected automatically when I turned it back on. This is a great feature that I’ve found not all BT headsets have, at least with the Windows phone.

Sound:

Sound quality is decent, yes it’s clear but I found it to be a bit too low.

You can play music through the M25 and it’s very loud and clear, but calls are nowhere near as loud which is odd.

I also noticed that the M25 doesn’t save your volume settings when you turn it off. I had it set at high volume, and then I turned it off, when I turned it back on I assumed it would still be on high but I got a call and could barely hear anything, so I had to quickly turn the volume up.

One of the calls I got was when I was outside shoveling snow and with the wind blowing and me moving around I could still hear clearly for the most part. I just didn’t think it was really loud enough personally. So the sound was clear yes, but the volume could go a bit louder I think.

Speaking of sounds the M25 does have audio alerts like telling you the volume is maxed or the headset is disconnected from being out of range, which is nice. I didn’t try it but apparently it can also read your GPS instructions to you right through the headset. It’s a female voice for alerts, just so you know.

 

Comfort and size:

The M25 is very lightweight and it’s comfortable to wear for long periods of time. I hate earloops and I found that I can wear the M25 without the earloop and it stays in place just fine. I put it in my ear and left it there, being lightweight after a while I forget I was even wearing it. The silicone on the earpiece is very soft and comfortable. On some BT headsets the earpiece isn’t quite comfortable and when you take it out you can sort of still feel it in your ear, if you know what I mean. The earpiece is soft and doesn’t bother me ear at all.

I mentioned volume up above and using just the earpiece it seems the volume isn’t as high as it could be, meaning that if I push in on the headset it gets louder. So the earpiece alone is great but it does affect the volume level slightly.

To give you an idea of size here’s the M25 with my Jabra BT530 and Jawbone headsets:

It’s about the same size as the others, if not slightly smaller than the Jawbone.

The M25 is plastic yes, but I think most every BT headset out there is now. Overall the build quality seems fine.

 

Conclusion:

The M25 costs about $40 which isn’t bad for it, I think it’s worth that. It’s a decent headset overall, it seems well made, and it’s comfortable to wear for long periods of time and you don’t need the earloop.

There are a few small issues with it like the fact that it’s not exactly loud, or it could be my phone, even though I had the volume all the way up.

I don’t like the fact that it doesn’t keep its settings when you turn it off, but for that you just have to remember to turn the volume up when you turn it back on.

Overall the M25 is a decent headset for the price, yes it’s not perfect but it’s not horrible either.

 

 

Pros:
+Can be worn without earloop
+Comfortable for long periods of time
+Clear sounding
+Talking alerts
+Long battery life
+Can play music through it
+Small and lightweight

 

Cons:
-Doesn’t seem to keep volume settings when turned off
-Not exactly loud