Speak 410 Corded Speakerphone for Softphones, MS-Optimized – Easy Setup, Portable USB Speaker for Holding Meetings Anywhere with Outstanding Sound Quality

I recently purchased the Microsoft Lync-compatible version of the Jabra Speak 410 (from Amazon), and have been using it daily for about 3 months. My experience has been excellent and I highly recommend it. This is a very well-designed product. Functionally, it integrates very smoothly with MS Lync and the audio settings of my laptop (the software downloaded via Jabra's website is very easy to set up and use). It's about the diameter of a CD, and about an inch thick - with the supplied soft case it tucks away nicely in my laptop bag for on-the-go use. The sound quality of the speaker is excellent - I've used it for both conference calls, VoIP phone calls via Lync, and listing to music and CDs from my laptop. In all cases, it sounded as good or better than any external computer speakers I have ever used (excluding outboard subwoofers, etc.). It gets plenty loud and can easily fill a small to medium size room with sound. People whom I am speaking with via the Jabra 410 have told me that my audio quality (i.e. the Jabra 410's internal microphone) sounds excellent, however I have not been able to actually hear how I sound to others when using the Jabra 410 so I can not compare the Jabra 410's mic sound quality to more traditional wired headsets or dedicated external mics. All my use of the Jabra has been from my own home office or small conference rooms, so I can not confirm how it performs in large conference rooms with many people speaking in a group (Jabra claims the microphone is multidirectional, and it does appear to be). It has a jack for an external headset, so you can listen to calls/music/audio privately if others are in the room with you, and when doing so it continues to use its own internal microphone in case you need to speak. I have not tried this, but I suspect the headphone jack would also allow you to connect the Jabra to an outboard audio system or the audio input of a computer monitor with speakers (and I suspect when doing so it would maintain full duplex audio). The onboard controls (volume, mute, etc.) are touch-sensitive and work very smoothly, and when pressing them the Jabra's LEDs light up and you hear a soft "click" sound through the Jabra's speaker to confirm (really slick, actually). A feature I particularly like is that when you press the "Mute" button, all 12 of the LEDs around the outer ring of the device light up red, and do NOT blink when you are on mute. The LEDs will stay red as long as the unit is muted, so at a quick glance you can verify that you are on mute, even from several feet away from the unit. I can't stand mute lights that blink when on mute, especially when on long calls where I am not a key participant and am on mute for most of the call. My only complaint is that it is a wired device and isn't wireless/battery powered. I'll bet Jabra's working on a wireless version though (if they aren't they should be). Also, it would be nice to have a hinged base or "kickstand" so you could angle it toward you rather than having it point straight up all the time. If you're looking for a true hands-free audio conferencing experience via MS Lync that is similar to that of traditional and far more expensive conferencing equipment (like Polycom, etc.), the Jabra Speak 410 will work nicely.

Plug and play and works great

I work for a large global company with colleagues on nearly every continent. We're heavy users of on-line audio and video conferencing, and have standardized on Microsoft Lync and Lync-compatible in all our conference rooms. I wanted something comparable and compatible for my office so purchased the same Jabra Speak 410 speakerphone that we use broadly. It has proven an ideal solution as I get full audio control (volume up/down, mute, hang-up) from the speaker itself and so can use it both when I'm at my computer in a meeting solo or have other folks in my office and we need to participate as a group. It works great on my Mac as well as on Windows PCs, and is easy to connect and use as it gets signal, power, and control via a single USB cable. The built-in cable is long enough to allow easy placement and coils conveniently into the speaker's base so it doesn't snake all over my desk when I'm not using the speaker. Build quality seems excellent as the unit is both compact and solidly made. I like that I can easily take the unit with me and use it for team meetings in some of our open group space. Audio quality is great, and there's plenty of volume even with other participants are faint and hard to hear. The microphone seems to work well as I've never had any other meeting participants complain about sound quality on my end.

My team is scattered around the globe and we use Skype and GoToMeeting to communicate & collaborate. Using the mic & speakers on my MacBook Air made meetings hard to understand and uncomfortable as my employees clustered around my machine. The Jabra Speakerphone has been a dream come true. The sound is true and rich, so much so that others within earshot think that the person speaking over the Jabra is actually in my office. The omni-directional duplex microphone picks up great and I never seem to have difficulty being understood. Its not designed for music, but the sound is good enough to double as a travel speaker for background music or podcasts when I'm in a hotel room. The compact unit is on a 3' USB cord. Touch sensitive controls on the face of the unit manage volume and mute. Cool little LEDs embedded in the speaker indicate volume level and mute setting. There is a standard headphone jack in the unit, allowing privacy when desired. The Mac OS recognizes the device immediately and I only had a small preferences adjustment to make in Skype & GoToMeeting to default to the Jabra. The unit comes complete with a disc with Windows drivers. I'm a HUGE fan!

Well worth the investment - this is a reliable speakerphone for Skype that has excellent touch volume controls (with lighting to show you the speaker volume), a fast touch mute button with indicator light that you are mute, and a cable that wraps around the bottom. I use it all the time for Skype and Webex conference calls, so I found that the attached cable wasn't quite long enough. I bought a cheap 3m USB extension cable and - presto - the speakerphone can be put in the centre of our large conference table. Comes with a thin carry case as well. My colleague loved it so much that she begged me to buy her one the next time I travelled (I don't live in a country where Amazon delivers). Note that the newer versions of Skype automatically recognizes this speakerphone, but when you unplug it, your computer may not automatically revert to your built-in speakers or microphone - you sometimes have to go to Skype Audio settings to make sure that your Skype knows what device you are using. I think this is actually a Skype software issue and not a Jabra speakersphone fault, and in any case, it's easily resolvable.

It works well and I recommend it. Reasons it is better than other options I've explored to date: external mic can pick up more than a laptop mic and has better placement options that improve audio fidelity. The USB connection removes Bluetooth as a cause of chunking and other weird audio issues. The USB connection removes the need for a rechargeable battery: if your laptop is on the speaker is on. Indicator lights are obvious and make it clear when mute is enabled/disabled. Volume control on the device is much less fiddly than changing volume on screen. It isn't great for music but not awful either.

I work from home and travel a lot for business. My company uses Microsoft Lync extensively for internal calls/meetings. I also use Lync to make external calls via the Lync phone. Many headsets/speakerphones have echo and other sound quality issues with Lync. This speakerphone has wonderful sound quality - Ihad people ask me who was in my office previously after I had finished a speaker phone call. It is also compact enough for travel - includes carrying case and built in cord keeper. I love the display that shows when on mute (big circle of red lights around it). the volume level (arc of white lights around it) and the clearly labeled easy to use touch controls. It even senses when I plug in my headset for privacy and switches the call to the headset; it also closes the Lync window when the call is finished. This item is as essential as my mouse and laptop power cord - and I never have to worry about changing batteries since it is USB powered!

Excellent product. I use it for TEAM meetings every day. My Laptop microphone was hard for my TEAM calls hear me just relying on the laptop mic. The Jabra speaker/mic made a huge difference. It was just plug and play, easy to mute and adjust volume. Little lights lit up on the Jabra showing you were to push to operate the various functions . It is about 6” in diameter with the usb cord wraps around it to store in a pouch and place in your laptop bag. You can place out on a table in a conference room for all to use on a conference call.