BlueAnt hands-free headset sets new standard

Not only does the BlueAnt Q2 free your hands; it frees your mind. You hardly have to think when you need to make a call while driving.

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Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

BlueAnt hands-free headset sets new standard

July 3, 2011

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2011, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2011, The Post-Standard

Whenever I travel, wherever I go, I see people balancing a cellphone in one hand while gripping the steering wheel with the other.

They need a lecture. They also need BlueAnt.

I'm not going to get into an argument over cellphone laws. People who don't care about safety will talk on their phones while driving whether it's legal or not. One time I even saw a guy eating a sandwich while drinking coffee while lighting his cigaret while gripping his cellphone. I think he was steering with his knees.

These folks need BlueAnt because the company makes what might be the world's most advanced Bluetooth headset for cellphones, the Q2. Not only does the Q2 free your hands; it frees your mind. You hardly have to think when you need to make a call while driving.

The Q2, at www.myblueant.com/shop/us/products/q2.php, does all the things a Bluetooth headset is supposed to do. It pairs up painlessly with your Bluetooth-equipped phone, fits nicely in your ear and has clever noise reduction based on two microphones. It recharges easily and looks modern and svelte.

But other BT headsets have those features, too. What makes the Q2 stand out is the way it talks to you -- and the way it wants you to talk to it. At a typical discount price of $60 to $70, you can get a little buddy that sits in your ear and tells you when a call is coming in. It tells you who's calling (all you need to do is match names in your phone's address book with their numbers) and tells you anything else it knows.

If you talk to your phone -- not when a call's coming in, just at some odd moment -- you can ask the Q2 "What can I say?" to listen to a list of every phrase the Q2 understands. In other words, BlueAnt knows you're too busy (or maybe just too distracted -- right, mom?) to study a manual a couple of hours each night, so it made the phone into a friend. I'm still asking "What can I say?" months after I started using the Q2. It's a lot more fun than learning the stuff.

The Q2 also outshines our other Bluetooth headsets -- a fancy megabuck Motorola and a cheap Walmart special -- in one other way: It sounds great. If you've given up on Bluetooth headsets because your sister-in-law kept saying you sounded like you were talking into a barrel, you need to give the Q2 a try.