Product Details

• Brand: Cardo
• Model: 0CA-S-2STEREO
• Dimensions: .50 pounds

Customer Reviews

Great product!
I was looking for a replacement bluetooth headset for my iphone. Previously I had a Motorola S9 paired with an icombi AP21. I got both at Amazon. Well, after 3 months of use, the buttons on the S9 got stuck so that I could't increase the volume. I've read that this has been a common concern for many other people as well.

I looked at the Bluetrek ST-1, the Sony DRBT21G, and the Cardo S-2. All three were within the same price range. A CNET review of the Cardo made me buy them. In comparing them to my old S9's, the sound quality is excellent. I was a little apprehensive, because I've gotten used to the small buds on the S9, but the earpiece is very light and comfortable.

Overall, a great product and I would recommend them to friends.

Great headset
I read about this on CNET's review site as being a really good product. I use it primarily to listen to music while walking to school (1hr round trip). It gets about 7hrs of battery life which is great for what it can do. After using it for a few weeks, it lives up to the review. It's really easy to setup and the controls are simple. I have it sync'd with my LG Chocolate phone (VX8550) and my laptop (Dell XPS M1330). Using it as a headset with my phone is great. It lets me multi-task much easier as my hands are free. The calls sound a little hollow, but I'm not complaining for the price I got them at. There are a few issues I've noticed over time. Sometimes it "lags" while listening to music; the song slows down and gets choppy for about 3-5 seconds and goes back to normal. When this happens, the phone is in my pants pocket so it's not very far. This happened maybe 3 times in the 3 weeks I've owned it. The other is the first few seconds of each song goes out of tune. Like the equalizer isn't kicking in right away. I've gotten used to it as I don't know how to fix it. These are happening on my phone only. Bluetooth is rated for a 30ft radius, but stay within the room. The more walls between you, the quicker the signal will die.

Not Durable
After researching Bluetooth headsets to use with my cell phone, MP3 player and laptop, I decided on the Cardo S2, based largely on the good review it received from CNET. However, after owning the S2 for 2.5 months I can only give it two stars due to a lack of durabilty. Here are my observations about the Cardo S2 Stereo Bluetooth Headset:

The GOOD:

--light and comfortable to wear
--convenient fold up design
--worked flawlessly with my bluetooth enabled MP3 player
--worked with my laptop after finding a way to get around the SCMS-T Copy Protection on my computer's bluetooth
--A2DP and AVRCP allow it to control media player programs on computers, cell phones, or bluetooth enabled MP3 players, to listen to music and movies, changing tracks or movie chapters from the controls on the headset.
--controls on the headset easily and conveniently change volume, tracks or movie chapters, and answer cell phone calls.
--good stereo sound
--also functioned well with Skype

The BAD
--experienced some problems retaining connection with my cell phone (Moto RAZR), but admittedly, this could have been a problem in the phone
--won't work with Bluetooth stack on computers that have SCMS-T Copy Protection, but this is true of many Bluetooth Stereo Headsets. (However, the Cardo Tech Support offered no assistance for dealing with this issue.)
--the design and materials used are inadequate, my headset broke within three months of normal use.

I've given the Cardo S2 only two stars because of the deficiencies in design and materials that allow it to break so easily. How practical is it to manufacture such a great headset, if it can't stand up to normal use? When I purchased mine in October, I'd only read of one person whose S2 had broken so quickly. Now I read of several other Amazon customers who have experienced this. I must add my experience to theirs to warn others of this deficiency. My headset broke when I was routinely unfolding it prior to use. It hadn't been dropped, sat on, or abused in any way -- in fact, I had been very careful with it. For that reason, I can not recommend this headset to potential buyers.