Motorola H350 Bluetooth Headset

I suppose I have to fully admit that I have a problem. With two cell phone using members of my family I have bought four bluetooth headsets in less than two years, and none of them have had any problems. I do it because I can’t resist buying something expensive for a really low price. The good news is that my recent unnecessary purchase, the Motorola H350, is so far my favorite of the bunch.

H350 Details
The Motorola H350 is small and lightweight. My wife has the H500 and from casual observation I would say it is EXACTLY the same size and weight as hers. Looking the H500 up, they do weigh the same and have the same approximate measurements with the H350 at .6 ounces and 2.32 x 1.10 x 0.75 in. According to Motorola battery life is up to 8 hours of talk time and up to 150 hours of standby time. I will have to take their word for it, because I only turn it on when I intend to use it, and I am not a big phone talker. It also drains the battery of your phone more quickly to leave them paired. I can tell you that I often go one to two weeks between charges. The Motorola H350 has three buttons. A call button on the outside, across the unit from the speaker, and volume buttons on the top and bottom. There is an ear loop, like on all Bluetooth headsets and the one included with the H350 is reversible in case for some reason you don’t like wearing it on your right ear. The Motorola H350 also offers the option to change (reverse) the volume controls so that if you do switch ears, you can still have the up volume button on the top and down on the bottom. Other than that, there is a single blue LED light to let you know different statuses of the headset. Constant on, the headset is in find me mode, a blink every now and then lets you know it is paired and blank means the unit is off.

Personal Experience
In the case of the H350 probably the most important part is personal experience. The very short version is that I like it. I think it is the best of the four that I own or have owned. I have only had it a few weeks, but if it holds up then my Jabra BT350 is going on EBay. I currently have two other headsets to compare it to, the Motorola H500, and Jabra BT350. For comfort they are all about equal. They are all equally easy to set up (more on that below) and use. For sound and microphone quality I would say the Motorola H350 is better than the others. I am surprised to be saying that because I thought the H500 was supposed to be the nicer model. Walking downtown with wind and street noise my wife at first did not know I was on a headset and then I asked her about it she also mentioned that she did not hear herself echoing back like on the other two headsets I have owned. All things considered I think the Motorola H350 is the clear winner. I paid $70 for the Motorola H500 and $20 (with an $11 mail in rebate) for the H350. So far the H350 either ties or outperforms its more expensive sibling. I have no issues with the speaker. People sound clear to me. Sometimes it is hard to hear them when I am walking downtown, but that is no different than my phone while not using Bluetooth. I have asked numerous people how I sound while talking to them using the Motorola H350. Most people claim they didn’t know I was on a headset.

Setup
Setup is very simple, even if you are not technically inclined. The headset comes with a quick start guide. The first thing I did was fully charge the battery, which took a while but I left it for hours so I can’t say exactly how long. To charge it you just plug in the mini USB wall charger. To pair with your phone, turn the Bluetooth feature on for your phone. For my phone this went MENU - SETTINGS - BLUETOOTH – ADD A NEW DEVICE. Within setup turn the Bluetooth power on. To get started press and hold the call button until the light is constantly lit. Back to the phone, hit OK and it will start looking for the headset. When it finds the Motorola H350 select it. Then enter your pass code, included in the quick start guide for Motorola phones, and you are set. All the examples above were for my Motorola phone and H350 headset.

Conclusion
I usually tend to gravitate toward the more expensive stuff but in side-by-side comparisons my Motorola H350 outperforms the H500 and the Jabra BT350. I am very happy with it. If you can find it for $9 after rebate, or even $20 then it has to get a tremendous value grade as well. Based and price and personal experience I highly recommend the Motorola H350.