Innovi Technologies G2 Bluetooth Headset

I'm kinda new to bluetooth, I know all about wifi and wireless G and even a little about wireless A but I never really had much use for bluetooth, don't even own a cellphone that supports the standard.

I started looking at products such as this one because I wanted to sit at the computer and voice chat with folks without being tangled in headphone wires and microphones sticking out in front of my face. The "G2" designation is apparently fairly new and is some new form of noise cancelling technology that is supposed to make transmissions clearer and with less noise.

This unit is sold under a fairly large variety of brand names--you can find a number of them on ebay--they all look like the same unit just under different brand names. Mine came with a usb/bluetooth dongle (1.2 standard), charger, basic software and of course the headset. So far as I can tell the battery in the headset is not easily user replaceable--which is a minus in my book, however, being lithium technology it should last for a quite a few years, i.e. I'll probably want something different before the battery no longer takes a charge.

what's in the box:
The headset and a small printed manual

USB/bluetooth dongle for pc may or may not come with your unit, if you're just using it with your phone or pda then you don't need the dongle because the phone or pda has the bluetooth built in (depending on model, if not, there are adapters to add that function).

Setup:
First charge for 12 hours before first use--AC charger only but I believe you can buy usb chargers that'll work with it.
To use this with a PC you plug the dongle into a usb port or activate your onboard bluetooth transceiver.
Then you load the software.
The next step is to put the headset into "pair" mode signified by flashing colored lights and have your phone or software search for bluetooth devices.
Once the headset is found you will probably be asked for a password which defaults to 0000 on this headset (pc asks for password, not sure if a phone does).
On the pc you activate the service using the drop down menu and press the button to connect when you hear the tone in your ear.
On a pc you may have to enter your sound setup and tell windows to use the headset for microphone input and sound output (you have to do this at least once).

Operating it:
The tough part is getting it paired with the device. The unit itself has three buttons, volume up, volume down, and the connect button which is also the LED that tells the status of the headset. (LED code: Flashing blue, on, flashing blue/red in discovery/pairing mode, flashing red then dark--unit is off). You change modes by holding down the lighted button for a different number of seconds, hold down 5 seconds flash blue=on, hold down about 12 seconds flash blue/red=pair mode, hold down till it flashes red=off.

What I think of it?
I bought this off ebay, the instructions were sparse for someone not familiar with bluetooth devices but I figured out what was going wrong from the more comprehensive manual on the cd that came with the usb dongle. The volume buttons are pretty easy to find with it hanging on your ear and the connect button is the only one on the outside surface. It works, however, after about 30 minutes of continuous use I no longer get sound in the headset. The pc still thinks it's connected but the only way to get sound back is to close my chat program and disconnect and reconnect using the software that came with the dongle. I kinda believe there's a problem in the headset, have contacted the seller.

There are now stereo bluetooth headsets but you have to have the newer version 1.2 transceiver to use them. Given the chance I'm going to return this and get a stereo unit that's only about 20 bucks more. It's comfortable in your ear and so light you barely feel it, no one has complained they couldn't hear me when I talk, however this 30 minute quit thing has got to go.

On a PC, bluetooth devices are technically a network device, you might find it activating the windows firewall--that isn't the cause of the quit problem because I've turned that off. If this is a software issue they should cover this better in the book, I really don't think it is.