Electronically, it's fine but it's so uncomfortable. The design has a lump of plastic behind one ear which pushes your ear out and rubs after a short time. I couldn't wear them for anything other than very short periods.
I don't think the company makes that model anymore. The new ones which are a better design, are US$295, so out of my price range.
I've started to use a new type which is about a third of that price - approximately £60 delivered in the UK.
It's a copy of the "real-steel" TABC III Bone Conduction headset from TCI. I saw one of these real ones recently, online, for sale as secondhand at £200.
Now of course, you aren't going to get TCI performance for £60.
For example, the type under test isn't fully waterproof - forget swimming. However, it will withstand heavy rain I believe if the connectors are taped (read my comments further down).
The construction is pretty good with rubber-effect plastic used in all the right places.
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| The System |
It is VERY COMFORTABLE - Once you adjust the Velcro headband and the neck rubber, it sits nicely on your head with the headband carrying the weight. The bone conduction earpieces don't press tightly against the Zygomatic bone just in front of your ears. Now it has to be said, I have a big head. 60cm hat size. The neck rubber is adjusted for maximum on me, but the headband allows me to adjust the lowering of the earpieces to get them below the arms of ballistic glasses and they rest comfortably, once adjusted.
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| The Adjustable Neckband |
Now you can see from the second photo titled "System," for the money, you get the headset, a Press-To-Talk with a nice tactile rubber effect press button and a clip that can be adjusted in 45 degree intervals around 360 degrees to allow the PTT to be clipped in any orientation. The output line of the PTT splits into two cables and goes on to become two inline connectors. One connector goes to your radio and there is a short adapter cable that connects the inline connector to an appropriate radio connector for your model of radio. The other goes to a sniper type finger PTT. The latter can be removed, but it's best to cut the cable and seal it as an exposed connector will allow water ingress.
It must be said that the plastic locking nuts on the radio connector and the sniper PTT connector aren't the best and I had a problem with the thread not engaging on the radio connector on the test sample. The connector plug and socket themselves are very positive and have a key to allow the correct pin orientation. I would be inclined to use amalgamating tape on these connectors as it will keep the damp out and ensure that they don't come apart through weak screw threads.
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| Nice Tactile PTT Surface |
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| The Sniper Connector with its PTT removed |
Electrically, its not as good as my uncomfortable $120 bone conduction headset (but it IS comfortable !!!). The screening is not as good as it might be on a professional set, but it doesn't cause a problem or become irritating. The "earpieces" vibrate at higher volumes from strong broadcast FM stations and you can feel the vibration with your fingers on any part of the headset frame. A buddy who listened 30cm from your ears would probably hear some of the received audio. On the expensive ones, this isn't possible. Personally, I find the volume good. Using the UV5R radio in the photo as a receiver and listening to a strong broadcast station, the volume response in the earset is good. The radio volume knob on my UV5R goes from 12 o'clock to 9 o'clock in a CW direction. In a quiet place, I only have to set it to 3 o'clock. In a noisy environment, you can wind it up to about 5 o'clock before the earsets pulsate and reverb in an irritating way. Strangely, when listening to somebody else transmitting with another BaoFeng, I could wind up the volume on my radio receiver to maximum and there was no vibration and the volume was just right. You can always press the speaker part closer to your skull with a free hand and this improves the volume through better contact.
The maximum audio output from a BaoFeng UV5R open speaker is about 1000mW of audio. This bone conduction system outputs between 50 and 200mW of audio straight to your skull. Bear in mind that your ears are always exposed with these, which is the benefit of bone conduction. Your ears won't get hot and sweaty and you keep your natural hearing which is overlaid with the radio audio, not suppressed by it. However, loud explosions will still saturate your natural hearing as there is no protection like you would get with a military style headset.
I like the PTT action - it's reasonably quiet ( I hate the loud clicking of some cheap PTTs like the Z-Tactical type, but this system is fine).
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| The Complete Headset Shown As Worn |
The microphone is very flexible so you can bend it to get it just in front of your mouth, but it's not floppy. There's nothing worse than a wobbling boom microphone when you are moving.
There is also a wind deflector provided to stop the other guy hearing wind and rain through the microphone, when you are transmitting.
Note that it is only available on the left hand side, so will possibly be a problem for left handed shooters.
Furthermore, this set is great for wearing under a baseball cap, yes, UNDER.
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| Flexible Boom Microphone with Deflector |
The transmitted microphone sound quality is really good if you position the microphone just in front of your lips. I've used bone conduction kit before where it takes the transmission from your skull (no open mic as such). The sound transmission on this is far superior.The person on the receiving end said my transmission was clear, distortion-free and reasonable in volume.
SUMMARY
For the price, this is a value for money solution.
It's incredibly comfortable...
The audio quality is good if you can work with a reasonably low volume output and you are working in quiet areas e.g. excellent for snipers, not so good for riot control. For tabbing through woodland, it should be fine and it allows you to use the natural directional hearing of your ears which are far better at assessing noise source direction than any "over-the-ears headset."
Construction quality is good and durable apart from the cheap plastic locking nuts on the connectors.
Note - Personally I wouldn't want the sniper PTT - it just gets in my way.
If you can't get on with shooters type headsets that cover your ears all day, then this could be the solution for you. Don't expect perfection - they are made in China to a price - but in my humble opinion, they are worth the reasonable price tag.
