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Does anyone use one?
We have little Jabra 510 units in the small office meeting rooms in London and they're pretty good. I was thinking of getting a cheap one for home office use as I'm fed up of being tethered to the desk with a headset
Has anyone used the Anker one?
I'm just using the built in Mic and Speakers on my laptop - Dell Latitude something or other. Seems to work perfectly fine and no-one has commented on sound quality
Buy a Bluetooth headset - plantronics voyager
Voyager is still a headset and they get uncomfortable after many hours - I work in a distributed team across many time zones so I'm on calls for most of the day. Woe is me
I like the single ear ones so you can still hear your surroundings properly, and just are better for phone calls as you dont feel so closed in, maybe something like this:
The voyager is single ear, and v comfortable. I work w US so on zoom many hours, and I forget I'm wearing it. I've gone to the pub wearing it, much to the delight of my drinking team...
There was a thread on headsets a couple of days ago.
I’m just using the built in Mic and Speakers on my laptop – Dell Latitude something or other. Seems to work perfectly fine and no-one has commented on sound quality
Ditto, as is the rest of my team. One of my colleagues has a desk microphone and the difference is astounding. Depends how much you care I suppose, I'd file it into the SEP bucket unless I was actually presenting something.
I bought the small Jabra puck for home and it's really quite good. COst about 60 quid if I recall,
I use a Jabra usb one - not sure of the model as I can be on the phone for 5hrs+ a day and don’t want to wear a headset for that. I wouldn’t be without it.
I use the Earfun Pro things. Work well.
Thanks
The Jabra 510s are 75 quid on Amazon - how much is ‘cheap’?
I swear by my 510, wouldn’t be without it.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jabra-Bluetooth-Portable-Conference-Speakerphone-Black/dp/B00ANI7HI2
One of my colleagues has a desk microphone and the difference is astounding. Depends how much you care
Ive got a blue yeti hanging down on a mike stand out of camera view and use the Macs speaker.
It came up at a good price on eBay before the Covid and as I was planning on working from Spain I wanted to make the whole remote work thing as slick as possible so that it my lack of presence in the office wasn't so noticeable whereas crap sound and vid would have.
I also have a slightly older version of the Jabra Speak 510. Wouldn't be without it at home as it is a fabulous little thing. Hate the thought of having to use a headset - it's a real pain when I am in other locations where the headset is my only option. Generally seems to work perfectly and you don't have to worry about remembering to pull the mic down on the headset when talking (see that so many times on Teams calls)
+1 for Jabra 510
-1 for the annoying lady who says “to connect the jabra speak 510…” every time I redock my laptop! 😂
Had a Jabra Engage headset in a previous job which was great as was wireless so you weren't tied to your computer - could do jobs around the house while on call. Now using a Plantronics something or other which works well in a large contact centre but is wired. If you find headsets uncomfy just try a different one - maybe over ear rather than in ear or single ear rather than 2 ears. Thousands of contact centre staff can wear them for a 12-13 hour shift so it's certainly possible to find a comfy one.
I use a separate Microsoft life cam camera which has a built in mic. Run that from my laptop with a set of external speakers. Can spend hours on calls over a day and this is a piece of cake, and good sound quality. No headphones needed
I have one of these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-PowerConf-Speakerphone-Conference-Compatible/dp/B0899S421T/ref=asc_df_B0899S421T/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=445582455993&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3746776012491624582&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046336&hvtargid=pla-932340835346&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=108928021412&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=445582455993&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3746776012491624582&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046336&hvtargid=pla-932340835346
Which plugs neatly into my dock via. USB-c and works well. There is a newer model but it’s £100 more.
RM.
Another vote here for the Jabra 510. Been in constant use with me for the last 2 and a half years and just works.
A podcast mic is better than a speakerphone mic because it's directional so better at blocking out sounds that arent you. Like typing away and multitasking.
I got a razer one as it has a big mute button on the front. Prefer it to finding the right button to click. Was £50ish, small enough on a desk not to be a nuisance. No background echos from my speakers
Another 510 user here, simple, works well (once drivers are updated). Has been used for hundreds of hours over the last few years and I'd buy another if I needed to.
Was Amazon warehouse so £60ish quid.
I have a senheisser SP10 wired speakerphone and it is excellent. I can’t abide headphones. Jabra also do a BT one, but plugging it in is no hassle. The Jabra ones we also had at work sounded better for music if I am honest and the buttons were touch not manual. I brought the SP10 home from work when we left for lockdown and were closing the site.
I normally use a hifi and webcam based mic, in my office, but the speakerphone is still used when I work downstairs in the dining room. The buttons mute and alter volume as you’d expect.
Used ones here for £25
https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id=SACCSENSP10A
I'm just using the mic on my webcam and my old school PC speakers. Works very well, better than the built-in ones in the laptop.
Not mobile though.
Thanks TiRed
Ah, mine is a Plantronics P3200, usb wired and about £75 from Mr Bezos’s emporium. I used to have a Bluetooth one but that was a pain in the ass - forever not charging, refusing to pair etc.
It got echo cancellation built in, and Zooms background noise suppression function is REALLY effective - I’ve had kids playing quite loudly close by and the people on the call couldn’t hear it.
One thing I’ve found is that trying to use the Zoom echo / background noise suppression the using a separate mic / speaker (e.g. webcam mic and Hifi speakers like references above) seemed to confuse the echo cancellation and the sound went to pot.