Plantronics Voyager Legend

The Plantronics Voyager Legend ($99.99 direct) is a refinement and evolution of an award-winning design that just works. It's bigger than other Bluetooth headsets, but it sounds excellent and is comfortable to wear. The latest model features improved hardware controls that are really easy to find and use. The?Jawbone Era??still beats it in size and in overall performance in windy conditions, but the Voyager Legend is a top-notch choice nonetheless.?If you don't mind a larger Bluetooth headset, the Plantronics Voyager Legend is one of the best on the market today.

Design and Fit
Like previous models, the Plantronics Voyager Legend ?is made entirely of plastic, with some rubber accents around the ear loop for an easier fit. It's slightly smaller than last year's Pro HD, and looks suitably professional with its silver boom mic accents. Make no mistake, though: This is still a large headset. That's a deal-breaker for some buyers, but if you stick to using it at your desk or in the car, where looks don't matter quite as much, read on.

Plantronics did some nice work in refining the hardware controls. The oversized hardware volume rocker and power switch on the Voyager Legend are two welcome improvements. The company also moved the Call button from the plastic edge of the boom to just behind it, which is a little tougher to hit but no problem once you adjust to it. A tiny Mute button sits on the bottom edge of the boom; this button doubles as Play/Pause when listening to music or podcasts. A new magnetic connector on the AC adapter automatically snaps the headset into place for easy charging; it's a lot nicer than fiddling with a microUSB connector. Fully charging the Voyager Legend takes about 90 minutes.?

I've always liked Plantronics Voyager headsets because they're so comfortable to wear. It's obvious you're wearing a headset with this design, but I never minded that, as I only use mine at my desk or in the car. Plantronics includes three gel eartips of different sizes in the box, along with two foam pads you can place over the eartip if you want. Rotating the boom upwards and twisting it lets you wear the Voyager Legend on either ear. Plantronics sells an optional $30 hard case for the headset, though none is included in the box.

Pairing, Sensors, and Voice Quality
The first time you power up the Voyager Legend, it automatically goes into pairing mode. Subsequent pairings require you to hold down the Call button, or simply say "Pair Mode" into the mic. I had no problem pairing the Voyager Legend with an Apple iPhone 4 and an LG Intuition on Verizon Wireless.

The voice prompt mode makes it easy to answer or ignore calls. You can even ask "What can I say?" for a full list of voice commands. The headset also announces caller ID, and you can check battery and connection status.

As with last year's Voyager Pro HD, the Voyager Legend has built-in sensors to detect whether you're wearing the headset or not. Putting the headset on will answer an incoming call, or transfer one that's in progress from your phone to the headset. Take off the headset, and it will transfer the call back to the phone or pause streaming audio. The headset also locks the Call button so you won't accidentally press it while it's on your desk or in your pocket. The sensors worked most of the time, but sometimes they didn't; the manual has a reset procedure which should fix this.?

Voice quality was excellent overall. Voices sounded clear, loud, and full in the earpiece, with plenty of gain. Transmissions through the microphone were also clear and sounded full.?Unfortunately, noise cancellation is still a mixed bag. In a series of voicemail tests, the Voyager Legend held up really well to general background noise; it managed to mute the sound of a fan and air conditioner while preserving the quality of my voice. But wind resistance was still poor; several torture tests within a few feet of an air conditioning unit demonstrated that it still couldn't handle moderate wind buffeting well enough, as my voice was almost unintelligible. In a back-to-back comparison, the Jawbone Era still does much better on this test.

Part of this is thanks to the form factor. The Voyager Legend is designed in such a way that it's easier to blow around because of the boom mic and the way it sits on your ear. But even when I held it in place on purpose, you could still hear considerable wind buffeting through the microphone.

Other Features and Conclusions
The Voyager Legend supports A2DP, which lets you stream podcasts, audiobooks, music, prompts from GPS navigation apps, and other audio through the headset. It also supports multipoint, so you can pair two devices simultaneously and alternate between them. As with other Plantronics headsets over the past several years, the Voyager Legend works with Vocalyst, an app that lets you listen to newsfeeds, send status updates to Facebook or Twitter, and organize email messages. Plantronics gives you one free year, after which the app costs $24.99 per year.

Bluetooth range was fine; I was able to walk about 15 feet away from the handset before static began creeping into the signal. Plantronics claims the Voyager Legend offers up to 7 hours of talk time on a single charge; we're still testing battery life and will update this review with a result as soon as we have it.

All told, with the Voyager Legend, Plantronics cements its status as one of the top two Bluetooth headset vendors on the market. I've always liked the Voyager series, but its size tends to preclude a large portion of the public from wearing one. The Jawbone Era is $30 more expensive and has less battery life, but it edges out the Voyager Legend in noise cancellation, and it's smaller and more attractively designed. The Plantronics M55, meanwhile, remains our budget Editors' Choice, with clear sound, a comfortable fit, and surprisingly long battery life.

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