Voyager 5200 UC

I originally bought this headset for business purposes, but I quickly figured out I could connect it to my PC and use it as a communication device for Discord, Team Speak, and etc. This is really nice, because the headset is quite comfortable to wear, even for prolonged periods, and I can still enjoy the great sound from my desktop speakers. Plus, my friends never seem to notice my mechanical keyboard or sounds coming from my speakers, so it seems to do a good job of filtering out everything except voice (for the most part). The functionality of the headset is great. I like the volume buttons if I need to change volume quickly but don't want to tab over to Discord, and I really like that there's a mute button on the headset itself. Depending upon usage conditions this headset will last somewhere around 6 hours before needing to be recharged. One really shouldn't be gaming for 6 hours at a time without getting up and doing something else every once in awhile, anyways, so I feel like this is a pretty decent battery life. However, if you wanted to have a particularly long gaming marathon, this headset will run out of batteries sometime after the 6 hour mark and you will be forced to either wait for it to recharge (not sure how long this takes) and/or switch to another mic. Everyone once in awhile my friends and I will play for a long time and this has been an issue only a handful of times, even when breaks are taken and I place the headset on the charger during them. It just doesn't charge quickly enough in those 10-15 minute increments to really give the headset an appreciable charge. To that end, I have actually considered buying another headset and charging station so that one is always ready to go; that's how much I like this thing! Speaking of the charging station, it's pretty well designed. You can fold up the headset and close it inside of the box, or, you can stand the headset on top of the box by placing it in a little cut-out area where some contacts are. This is my favorite way to charge the headset because you don't have to open up the box, and it's always standing right there, ready to be picked up and used. I recently tried some Apple AirPods as an alternative (for a PC mic), and while they do work, they have their own drawbacks. In fact, they make me appreciate this headset even more. Because, with the AirPods, there is a noticeable "hum" during silence. And sometimes, you can here little beeps and blips, which I assume is bluetooth interference or something like that. With the Plantronics, it's totally dead silent, and you get no such interference. I can easily recommend this headset to virtually anyone. If you are strictly an iPhone user then I would still say to go with AirPods because they are great in their own way. But if you want to use this for gaming, or with your PC, in my opinion it is the superior option.

Best business headset I have used. I am a hardcore bluetooth wearer because I have carpal tunnel in both wrists and my hands go numb if I hold a cell phone for any period of time. I am also on the phone for business many hours a day. I can vouch for the battery life being about 5-6 hours continous run time because I bought two and regular use them both daily. I have used headsets for years and have been a big Plantronics fan have used the Voyager, Voyager Pro and several Edge versions. I have also tried the Jabra options and Sennheiser. However, I have often received complaints about background noise etc. because I am in the car and on travel a lot. That has now changed. I can tell you that I have been in my car, windows rolled down in traffic at 60 miles and hour and multiple people have confirmed they can't hear ANY background noise. Meaning they can't hear anything other than my voice. Now of course I don't intentionally drive like this while on a call but I threw everything at this headset so I would know, just in case what I needed to be concerned with and it came through with flying colors. Now, I will say, if you choose to have your head slightly out the window or sit directly in front of a fan on high, there will be some dropped Voice packets because no matter what, you can intentionally overwhelm the noise canceling capabilites but the amazing part is that the caller on the other line still hears no noise, just your voice cutting out a bit. This all may sound silly, but when you are walking down a street in the city, there can be an enormous amount of noise...cars, buses, people etc. We sometimes need to have a headset that can handle this stuff and the 5200 flat out crushes them all. Of course the over the ear design is a bit bulky but it does do a couple things. First it helps with the battery life. Second, it makes wearing it for long periods of time easier. For whatever reason, if I had an in ear model only, after a while I would have to take it off because my ear would literally get sore from wearing it. With this version, the weight seems to be distributed better and I get no pain even wearing it all day. It isn't Mission Impossible cool looking or anything but I much prefer form over fashion. One last note, Plantronics did a really cool thing with the case this time, allowing you to take a charger with you built in to the case which they have done before, particularly with the Edge, but in this case (pun intended), they took it a step further giving you the option of sitting the headset on the case with it closed to charge. I include a couple of pictures so you can see what I am talking about. This is awesome on several levels. It gives you a backup battery if you only have one headset (and it charges extremely fast, I think I had one on the charger for only like 15 minutes and got like 4 hours of talk time out of it), with two headsets you can swap them out of the case and have enough talk time to cover like 16 hours. I have had to swap between the two headsets multiple times and this battery pack lets you leave the charging cords at home. Really awesome. By the way, kudos to Plantronics for keeping the USB plug on the headset on this one. They had fiddled with non-USB contact chargers with USB adapters before that always drove me crazy. You have a micro USB plug right on the headset if you forget your battery pack and need to borrow someone's charger. Last but not least, this is a UC version which means you can connect it to your PC. A small Bluetooth PC adapter is included but I use a Microsoft Surface Book and it recognized and paired up with the 5200 immediately with no issues. This headset is a home run so far and for business users and road warriors, it looks like Plantronics has finally, truly conquered the noise cancelation issue, at least for me. Hope this Rd view help!!

So I got my new Plantronics earbud a couple days ago. Was very very excited. I've had a couple before and really liked them. My only issue with the earlier ones I used was they were easy to lose! Cuz they're nice, small - you throw them in your car, backpack - whatever - and later I found one chewed by my dog. Believe it or not I used it for several weeks then bought a new one. This one I decided to upgrade. I went for a more expense model -- all the reviews said the sound quality was excellent, noise cancelling great etc etc. It arrived -- I came home after a 12-plus shift -- and this is what was in the box with it: a large piece of paper, with "safety warnings", "charging warnings" and one other subject, ??user warnings? -- large piece of paper cuz was repeated in at least 12 or 15 languages. Fine. I get it - we're a global community. Another small folded paper was warranty info. Another was something about I think FCC compliance. NO OWNERS MANUAL. Absolutely no instructions on how to synch, how to charge - it comes with this really cool charging case. I am assuming, because I have yet to google and download an owner's manual you can keep the earbud in the charging case while your not using it -- and it will recharge. No idea how often the charging case has to be recharged...cuz yet to download the manual. BUT the biggest pain for me was just figuring out how to synch it and use it! I sat in my car today, googled plantronics 5200 earbud - how to synch with my iPhone...and got an answer. I have paid over $100 for this earbud -- why do I have to google to learn how to use it???? So I figured out how to synch and then my iPHONE, not plantronics, told me I needed to download an app to use the "devise." As I am sure you can tell, all of the above really really bugged me. Come on, Plantronics! We are giving you a chunk on change -- and you can't even give us an owner's manual????? Oh yea -- there was this other piece of thin cardboard insert, picturing the earbud, with arrows telling you volume controls, button to push to answer call, etc. But even that was very very minimal. I am kinda sorta fairly computer literate -- and I had to google how to synch, etc. Ok -- I've vented. Now -- about the earbud. It's really great. (If you can figure out how to use it). I called my sister on way home from work today and asked her how it compared to my "other"' earbud. She said, "OMG this is sooo much better!!! Your other one had this irritating clicking, background noise...drove me nuts...". (The other one was the earbud that came with my iPhone...the necklace you wear around your neck with earbuds hanging from their soft plastic lines, moorings, with magnetic plates so you can anchor them in the necklace - nice thought Apple. I love you but you missed it on this one...). Right now I am sitting here listening to my music via the Plantronics earbud...and I really gotta say the quality is great. Love it. Little mabbeso other note -- I decided to try one step smaller on the earbuds included, thinking it would nestle deeper in my ear canal and better sound transmission. Thought the smaller one was better until I tried the bigger one...now am thinking go bigger. Is easier to get a good seal -- hence better sound transmission without background dilution. But I suspect it's an individual preference. All in all this is a great Bluetooth earbud. If you don't mind not getting any instructions on how to use it when you get it. Easy to use and great quality. I would have rated it a 5 outta 5 if they hadn't pissed me off so bad with the no manual......

*** Edit: 11-10-2022 888 Okay. I got to talk to Plantronics support (Amazon gave me a number that went through). Problem solved. The instructions were 100% wrong! To access the assistant you hold the call button until you hear a tone and then let go. The assistant will then wake up and respond. The red "assistant" button has NOTHING to do with it! So, I am now completely satisfied with this earpiece. Everything works perfectly and I will definitely buy from this company again! *** Original review *** I just bought this. There are two main reasons that I chose this: 1. It will connect to more than one phone, and 2. it has a button to activate the Google Assistant. The first one is good. It connects to both of my phones. Sound quality is good. Noise cancelling is good. The second one is useless. If my phone screen is on and I say "Hey Google" then all is great. Phone screen is off then no response. If I press and hold the "red button" for Google assistant then all I get is the headset telling me remaining talk time and which phones are connected, which is good information, but it is NOT Google Assistant. Then the final straw is their "support". The use "captcha"s which I am sick unto death of. I am legally blind and can barely see the things and trying to get an exception just gets you a runaround. And you can't submit a case without a serial number. Who knows where that is. They don't suggest where to look and if there is one on the device I can't see it. Final opinion? As a basic earpiece it works fine. If you want Google Assistant then who knows. To me there support is non-existent. I don't expect that I would buy another of their products.

I got this with the charging stand. The headset can go into the stand two ways. One way allow you to carry in your pocket. The other way allows you to charge it like on a desk so you can quickly grab it. The Blutooth dongo for the headset fits into a little slot inside the carrying case. It took me about 5 minutes to find it. I like the fat some functions speak for a blind person. However some things you need to install the PC or phone software to turn on or off functions. Speaking of the PC, not all function work with a screen reader. Very little works that away. The headset if you are in an office, this is a good headset. However to me, this headset fits loosely on my ear. It feels like it will fall off easy if I have to move my head quickly. I tried all three sizes of ear tips and none of them make the headset feel secure. If you do a lot of walking outside; This does handle wind noise very well and background noise well like with traffic. However if you need to ware a hat like in the winter! This isn't a good headset do to the way the microphone sticks out of your ear. It will cover the controls and will cause the headset microphone to put a lot of pressure on your ear. To me, this is very bad being I walk 4 to 5 miles per day. I like the fact that the USB charging port is on the bottom of the headset and the volume buttons are on the very top of it. Now to some other down sides. The talking caller ID will not read a number of an incoming call if the person isn't in your contact list. The caller ID only will speak the name once for the initial incoming call. Nothing is spoken on call waiting calls. You must go in with the Plantronics hub to turn on the HD Audio at least in my testing to get the caller ID to work at all. It will not tell you the headset is muted more than once if you mute it and then start to speak. It will maybe tell you the first time only. This is with the latest software for it from May/June 2018. If you change the mute reminder to anything other then the default of 15 minutes, it will not remind you the headset is muted if you start to speak. For a blind person if you need to update the software on the headset! You basically can't with using the cell phone to do it. It tells you to lay down the headset. No issue with doing that, However control isn't returned back to the cell phone so a blind person can continue using a screen reader to continue with the update process for the headset. No speak output.

I've had a Plantronics Savi W730 over ear headset for years. It is one with the big base station that plugs into my phone and computer at work and uses DECT to transmit, meaning I can easily walk around the whole office. But with the recent quarantine and the need to work from home, I needed something that worked at home as well. I first used my Apple AirPods. I have the new AirPods Pro as well as the 2nd generation "regular" AirPods. These work well and are super comfortable. But I personally don't love the noise cancelling AirPods Pro for calls because I like to hear myself talking and the room around me when I'm at my desk (that's a different story in a coffee shop or on a plane, where the noise cancelling comes in handy). And the AirPods are not without flaws. A few Zoom calls in a row will suck the battery life out of them, and I found myself constantly worrying about charging them. And the act of switching between phone and computer is frustratingly cumbersome. I love my AirPods, but for working at my desk, I need something a little more purpose built for work and I found myself wishing I had my trusty Plantronics W730. That's why I purchased this Voyager 5200 UC headset. It solves my needs of having a long battery life and can easily and quickly switch between Zoom calls on my Mac and phone calls on my iPhone. The range is not as far as my beefy Savi W730, but I can't expect that with such a small transmitter (and definitely not over Bluetooth). I’ll run through a few of the features of this headset here, as these are some of the things that would have helped me make my purchasing decision, so hopefully they are helpful to you. SOUND QUALITY Technically you can use this to listen to music, but it is not made for that. The speaker seems to be tuned to voice, and for that it excels. I can clearly hear others on calls. It will work for the basic web video while browsing, but don’t expect the full range of audio that you get from your normal music earbuds. MICROPHONE The microphone on this headset is great. Any time you can get a microphone closer to your mouth, it is pretty much going to sound better than farther away. The noise cancelling works well too. I haven’t used this in a noisy environment, but it seems that it would do well to filter out background noise so it is not annoying to your callers. That would make this ideal for places like a coffee shop, according to other reviews. I have listened to my company’s Zoom recordings and I’d say I have the best audio of anyone due to this mic. GET THE “UC” VERSION There are a couple of versions of this headset. The “UC” version just means that it comes with a little USB receiver/transmitter (BT600) that plugs into your computer. It is tiny and nearly identical to the size of the little USB receivers that come with many wireless keyboards and mice. In my opinion, this is totally worth the added cost. The little receiver will likely give you better reception and range than Bluetooth alone. And, it enables the use of the Plantronics Hub app (more on that below). The UC version also includes a charging case, which is super convenient to have on your desk or throw in your bag. CONNECTIVITY I typically have this headset connected to my iMac Pro with the BT600 UC dongle and to my iPhone 11 Pro via Bluetooth. This enables me to pretty quickly end a Zoom call on the computer and immediately switch to my phone for a phone call. If I’m headed out with my laptop, I just grab the dongle to bring with me, immediately enabling the headset to work with another computer. I want to test having two dongles connected to two computers, but I have not had the time to do this yet. BATTERY LIFE I have never run the battery dry on this headset, however a couple of times after 4-5 hours of straight video calls it has told me the battery is low. But a quick charge will typically give it enough juice to move forward. CHARGING CASE The charging case makes it easy to keep the headset charged, much like I was used to with my Savi W730. When I finish a call, I typically take it off and pop it on the cradle to be quickly recharged. You can use the case two ways. One way lets you fold the headset and put it inside the case for travel (it also includes a place to hold the USB BT600 dongle). The other way lets you sit the case on a desk and charge the headset on the outside without the need to fold it. This is another benefit of the “UC” version because it speeds up the charging process. I’d rather not have cables laying around and having to fumble with little micro USB plugs all the time. The case itself has a battery inside, very similar to how Apple AirPods work. So if you are traveling, the case will charge the headset without it being plugged into anything. But when you are at a desk, you can keep the case plugged into a USB power cord and it will continue to charge the headset. This is super versatile. My only complaint with the case is that it sometimes takes a few tries to get the headset properly seated before it will begin charging. I’d like a more secure connection with magnets or something to make sure it always connects. But there are little blue charging status lights that help you know if it is connected properly. BUTTONS AND CONTROLS Part of the beauty of Apple AirPods is that they don’t have buttons. But in a professional setting, often times buttons are very helpful, and that’s the case with the Voyager 5200. The buttons on the device are in natural locations and are easy to find (much better than my beloved Savi W730, by the way). I can quickly find the volume up/down if there are loud or quiet talkers on a call. The answer button makes it super easy to answer or end phone calls. That button also works to invoke Siri on the iPhone. And best of all, there’s a physical mute button to mute your mic on conference calls! PLANTRONICS HUB APP If you take my advice and get the “UC” version, you should also take the steps to install the Plantronics Hub App. The app has kind of a weird interface, but it does its job well. It will let you do things like see the battery status of your headset and install new firmware. And you can select from a variety of settings to apply to the headset, such as sound quality vs. battery life, the ringtone, how the sensors work, etc. But by far the best part (for me) is that the app enables the mute button to sync with the computer. This means that I can push the mute button on the headset and it will mute my Zoom app on my computer. And I can use buttons interchangeably, so the Mute software button in Zoom will mute the headset. Or the keyboard shortcut to mute Zoom will mute/unmute the headset. This integration is great because it means I can be muted at the computer, and if I am up and moving around and get asked a question, I can quickly unmute myself by pushing the button on the headset without having the sprint back to the computer. BT600 DONGLE As I said above, the “UC” version of this headset includes a little USB dongle that plugs into your computer. It is an extra step over just using Bluetooth, but I think this is better than Bluetooth because it enables a lot of the features that I mentioned above. The USB dongle is about the same size as the one you might have for your wireless mouse or keyboard, so it is small and unobtrusive. It has an LED light ring around it that shows the status. This is super helpful to know, for example, if your headset is on (solid blue light) or muted during a call (solid red light). It also makes swapping between computers quick and easy. COMFORT AND FIT This is probably a personal opinion, but I prefer the over-the-ear style of headsets when I’m wearing it all day. It does not hurt or make my ear sore like some others because this headset is light. What little weight there is sits behind your ear, rather than on top of it, so there is less pressure. And the speaker sits just in front of your ear canal, rather than shoving an earbud into it. I can wear AirPods for a long time, but this is just more comfortable to me. And combine that with the battery life, and this is a perfect fit! The headset comes with different in-ear covers that are different sizes. You need to test each one and see how it fits for you. It is great having these options. Overall, I think this headset is easily the best conference call earpiece on the market right now. I recommend it all the time to my colleagues who ask me what they should get. (For people looking for a cheaper wired earbuds set, I recommend the Beats Urbeats3, and for wireless or all day use I recommend this Plantronics Voyager 5200 UC.) I hope this review has been helpful in making your decision!

So disappointed in this headset. I researched for hours and hours to try to find a headset that I liked, wasn't too expensive, and had decent reviews. In the end, I asked my co-worker what he used, and he had really high praise for this headset. Unfortunately, I have not had the same experience. I had a long list of features that I really wanted, but priority ended up being: 1) Sound and noise blocking; 2) range - ability to walk a far distance away from the receiver/blue tooth with the ability to still hear the conversation; and 3) battery life. 1. Sound and sound blocking - this is good, adequate. I'm not a fan of the mono ear, but I was having such a difficult time trying to find a duel ear, I decided that was going to have to give. I think the noise cancelation is good, I haven't heard any of my callers complain. 2. Range - this is very disappointing. I cannot go from my office to my kitchen (about 25') without the reception cutting out. When I'm in-between calls, I will run to my kitchen to get a coffee, and I have to listen to the voice telling me "disconnected from PC" "connected to PC" "disconnected from Phone" connected to phone" it toggles back and forth annoyingly until you are back in range. My friend had told me that he could walk outside and to his mailbox with his. I would be happy to be able to go into a different part of my home. I wasn't thrilled with needing to use a dongle, but my friend mentioned that he didn't want to have issues with the blue tooth, and I knew just what he meant, so thought it would be better, but I'm wondering if the blue tooth would have a better range. 3. I read the reviews about the battery life, and it sounded good - 8+ hours should do for a day's worth of calls. But it doesn't last that long for me. I usually start my first calls around 9 or 10 AM. Sometimes I'm on calls back to back all day, but sometimes I have breaks. I try to remember to take my headset off and put it back on the charger when I 'm not using it. I've had it die on me at least 3 times around 4-5 PM (I'm often still on calls past 5). I also thought that if I put the earpiece on the dock, it would charge, but it doesn't, so then when I picked it up to use it, it had even less charge. I've had to finish a couple of calls with the ear piece attached to the charger - not comfortable as there is about 24" cord. I wish I didn't have to worry about how long it's going to last. Other - comfort is about a 5 out of 10. My ear hurts after a couple hours. I like that you can switch it from one ear to the other, but for some reason, the left ear hurts even more than the rights, so I mainly leave it on the right. It does stay on pretty well once you have it on. Buttons - I don't use the buttons on the ear piece much because they are so small, not convenient. If I had more range, I may have tried to learn them, but since I usually have to be right in front of the compute, I use the mute button on Skype or Webex. I really wish I liked this better as I will be stuck with it for a long time.

I work as an emergency dispatcher. Recently, my agency update the phone system, the new phones allowed connection to Bluetooth. We use Cisco systems phones. It is very difficult taking calls, trying to type, and hold the phone receiver to your shoulder so you can hear your caller. I decided to try my apple AirPods to see if it would work. It did connect to them and I could hear callers Great, but unfortunately callers couldn’t hear me. So I said let me spend some money and get a more professional headset. I wanted to get something from Plantronics or similar, but was not looking to spend more than $120. I found the 5200 UC and checked the reviews. The first review I read had a similar experience as me. They tried the AirPods with the same result, they got the 5200 UC and it improved their calls tenfold! So I decided to go for it. I got the headset in one day. I was able to use the headset the following day. I charged the case and headset fully the day before. there is an app from poly you download in the App Store that lets you customize some settings. It also allows you to see the battery percentage, if the headset is connected to your iPhone, as well as use the find my app to locate the headset should you lose it. It is easy to connect to your Bluetooth. just use your device settings to add the device. The headset can connect to 2 devices simultaneously! You can add your work phone and your cellphone. It also allows you to play audio on the headset from one device and when your other device rings, it automatically pauses it so you can answer the call on the headset. When the call is released it will go back to the audio from your device. The headset itself is lightweight and fits comfortably. If you wear glasses as I do, I recommend removing your glass and putting the headset on then put your glasses back on. It gives you a better fit. The controls are in easy reach. I am constantly answering the phone from the one press button on the back of the microphone. The mute button works and it shows my mute on the phone itself as well as gives you an audio alert that the mic is muted. When the phone rings you hear “incoming call” along with an alert tone. You can shut either of the voice or ringer off in the app. The earpiece fits comfortably. It rests over the ear canal. Calls sound extremely clear and you can use the volume on the headset or your phone to adjust caller volume. I have not had any issues with people hearing me. The outgoing audio seems very good and callers have not had issues understanding me. The carrying case is awesome! There’s a flip cover that closes to hold everything right. There is a spot to hold the usb dongle so you don’t have to worry about it falling out and losing it. The headset charges in the case laying down or you can use the outside charging stand for quick access . The battery life has been very good. I work 12 hour shifts. It lasted all day the first day and the second shift I worked with it was an 8 hour day. I had no problems listening to the audio from iPad and accepting phone calls my entire shift. The case charges via included usb cable. The only way to charge the headset is with the case unless you get other charger accessories you can search amazon for. As an emergency services dispatcher I approve of this headset! It has allowed me to be completely handsfree to concentrate on everything I need to now. I can easily use my radio, type, or multitask without having to worry about dropping my phone. It has changed the game for me!