Product Description

The Plantronics Pulsar 590 offers great versatility with any Bluetooth device. If you're looking for a headset that functions as wireless stereo headphones and a Bluetooth headset at the same time, this is for you! The binaural design of this headset offers great stereo quality with bass going down to 20Hz and complete call concentration . The futuristic look of this headset is light years ahead of the game with telescoping boom and foldable design making for easy storage. The Pulsar 590 employs multipoint technology to switch between different Bluetooth devices and you have 10 hours of wireless stereo listening time and up to 12 hours of talk time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9820 in Cell Phone Accessories
• Brand: Plantronics
• Model: UNHFPA5903
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 5.00" h x 8.00" w x 12.00" l, 1.80 pounds

Features

• Employs multipoint technology to switch between different Bluetooth devices
• Up to 12 hours of talk time and 10 hours of listening time
• Binaural design offers complete call concentration
• Telescoping boom and foldable design for easy storage
• Wireless stereo listening

Amazon.com Product Description
The Plantronics Pulsar 590A Bluetooth Stereo Headset delivers remarkable sound quality with the ultimate convenience of wireless freedom. With this super-handy headset, you can seamlessly switch between your Bluetooth phone and your other favorite Bluetooth compatible devices. With up to 12 hours of talk time and 10 hours of listening time, you can enjoy wireless stereo sound on laptops, PCs, TVs, DVD and MP3 players while remaining connected to your phone.

The 590A features stereo sound for superior audio performance. With the universal adapter, the device plugs directly into most 3.5-millimeter audio devices, including the popular iPods. One of the handiest features on this headset is the ability to seamlessly switch between calls and music or movies. You'll never miss a call while you're listening to music or watching a DVD. The telescoping voice tube gives you clear calls and allows for discreet conversations, so you won't feel the need to raise your voice to be heard. The foldable headset design is perfect for travel and compact storage. Plus, with the adjustable headband and pillow-soft ear cushions, you'll experience a superior fit and excellent wearing comfort. The device features dedicated buttons that allow call and music control functions directly on the headset. And when it's not in use, the convenient desktop charging stand will power-up your A590 and safely store your headset.

What's in the Box
Foldable headset, AC charger, in-flight cable, USB charger, and travel case.

Customer Reviews

Audio lag - Otherwise good headphones
Overall, good headphones. I won't really comment on the quality of the audio, because it's so subjective... but I can say that I'm satisfied. Using headphones without wires simply makes you wonder why they all can't be this way; once you try them, the convenience is hard to beat.

The battery life appears to be excellent for both the headphones, and the analog adapter (which you also have to charge, it's the transmitter for the signal.) On full charge, my iPod died before the headset+transmitter. Nice.

However, there are two issues to be aware of. Using the adapter, there is an audio lag. It's about .5 seconds. This isn't noticeable with audio, but once you watch video... it's a problem. I have a video iPod and was disappointed with the lack of lip-synching. Strangely, the lag appears to be slightly variable... sometimes it's half a second, but when I mute the audio with the headset, then unmute, the lag appears to be slightly less. Always present, but variable. In any case, it's enough where you will not want to watch television or a movie this way.

Since I also wanted to use the headset in my home, without disturbing others at night, it's a significant drawback.

The second issue is cosmetic, and a nitpick. In use, the headset flashes a bright blue ring of light around the right earphone. It's very bright and practically screams "Look at me!"

Not really my bag, but that might be your thing. ;)

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Update (12/23/2006)
The quality of the plastics/assembly has proven disappointing.

After several months, some hairline cracks appeared, and shortly afterwards, pieces of plastic around the hinges started breaking off. Internally, pieces began rattling as well... and after a year, it would no longer charge unless you moved one of the headphone speakers around in a specific position. Finally, the left headphone just gave up. Terrible!

Has some limitations but is a wonderful product
I just received my 590a earlier this week and having been doing multiple levels of testing. First, I paired it with a Nokia 6600 cell phone. The quality is excellent on my side. The primary comment that I've received is that it seems to come through quieter on the other side. It's very comfortable for long calls though. After my initial pairing, I went into the phone options and manually connected the headphones. After that first setup, the phone would automatically pair once the headset was on.

Using the universal adapter I paired it with my ipod after that. No problem with the sound quality overall. I can't say that it is the most amazing quality but I do enjoy the convenience of Bluetooth capability. Keeping it paired with a cell phone at the same time works well. Note that while the volume buttons seem to work, they are very stiff to press and not intuitive to locate while wearing them. It seems to work best if you pair the phone first and then turn on the adapter. I was getting some interruption when I tried it with the ipod first.

Pairing with the computer...I have a Mac PowerBook G4 that I tested it on. Setup wasn't that bad but there is almost no documentation and the user guide that comes with the headset is very minimal to say the least. You do a normal Bluetooth pairing (same instructions as the phone in the users guide to make it discoverable). Once you have successfully paired it to the mac, you'll need to go into the system preferences and sound to manually set the output and input to "590Plantronics". I was the least impressed with sound quality here - at least concerning listening. I used GarageBand to test vocal recording and then ported that out as a podcast to see how the sound was. The sound quality was decent. I think that it will need some tweaking on the computer to get a better sound capability but I am quite happy with my purchase.

The primary negatives that I found were the stiff buttons and as another reviewer pointed out, you can't have your computer and the cell phone paired at the same time. As long as you keep its limitations in mind, I think that it is a wonderful purchase.

Plantronics Pulsar 590A Bluetooth Stereo Headset
I've been using this headset for about three months now, and although it was a little confusing at first, I've been very happy with it since I got everything working. I wanted a headset that I could use with VOIP for internet gaming, but something that I could also use for making Skype calls and listening to music wirelessly. This fits the bill pretty well. In order to use it as both a headset and headphones, I had to create two separate Bluetooth profiles on my computer. I just switch between the two for use as a headset or headphones (the sound quality is much better when used as headphones). The only drawback I have encountered is that some games with integrated VOIP do not recognize the headset as an input, but this is easily circumvented by using Teamspeak or Ventrilo, third-party VOIP software. It also comes with a Bluetooth reciever that can be plugged into any standard 1/8-inch audio jack, so you can go wireless with just about anything. Also included is a cable for use when on an airplane. Anyway... a neat little gadget.