As reported yesterday, the Plantronics Voyager 510 Bluetooth Headset I bought yesterday failed to work at all. Still, I wanted a headset to go with my new Bluetooth phone; everyone seemed to think that the 510 was pretty good. So I took the busted one back to Fry's and exchanged it for an identical sibling…
The good: The headset paired perfectly with my LG VX5300 phone. Since both phone and headset support both voice and handsfree profiles, I can do some great things with it. The unit is advertised to have 3 hours of talk time or 100 hours of standby; if this is true, it seems great. I experienced no problems in a half-hour conversation; the headset still seemed mostly-charged judging by its indicator LED. The noise suppression apparently works pretty well, although I haven't messed with it much yet.
The less good: The unit cost $80. The power switch is in a funny place on the headset, and hard to work. The unit comes only with a wall wart; a car charger can be ordered for an additional $20. The indicator LED that reports what is going on is mounted in such a way that you can't see it without removing the headset. The battery is not replaceable. The manual advertises horrific consequences of charging the unit while operational (or even powered up?), which would be an easy mistake to make.
Overall, I think I'll keep this thing. It does what I want, and seems to work. I'll probably order a car charger also. (B)