Plantronics Voyager Legend Bluetooth Headset

The Plantronics Voyager Legend builds upon the previously released Voyager series by offering a great fitting Bluetooth 4.0 earpiece that is comfortable, offers stellar voice quality, and voice activation features. This review therefore builds off the previous review of the Voyager Pro HD that can be found here: http://www.applevis.com/reviews/accessories/bluetooth-headsets/plantronics-voyager-pro-hd

For those unfamiliar with the Voyager line of earpieces, they fit over one ear, possess a small boom mic, and a comfortable cup that fits in the ear like an earbud. In order to describe the location of the buttons, I will divide the earpiece into two sections, a "C" shaped piece that fits behind the ear and the boom mic.

Holding the legend in a right ear configuration, here are the locations of the charging port, buttons, and LED for the "C" piece that wraps behind the ear. Starting at the bottom outside one will feel that this is the thickest part. Feeling the outer edge, only a few bumps indicate that this is where the magnetic charger attaches. Continuing up the outside edge, the next bump is the power on/off switch. Immediately above this, I believe, is the LED light that indicates various statuses. Finally, towards the top of this utter edge, the last bump is the volume lever.

Moving over to the boom mic, there are two buttons, but locating them may prove difficult for first time users. If you feel along the boom mic, the top and bottom feels rather flat while the outside contains a defined ridge that starts from the base where the arm pivots to the vary end by the mic. Located at the base of the arm along the edge, there is a button that blends into the arm. This is the call button. Now feeling alongside the flat bottom part of the arm, one will find another small button about a half inch from the base. This is the mute and voice command toggle button. The voice commands will not toggle Siri, GoogleNow, or Cortana, but rather the few commands, like pairing status, help, and other features.

The first time the Legend turns on, it will say that it is on and that it is in pairing mode. At this point, head over to your device's bluetooth settings and pair the device. If you are prompted for a passcode, "0000" will suffice.

Once paired, the various options and features come to life. The Volume lever will indicate when it is at minimum and maximum volume, while providing beeps in between. To hear the batter status, push the call button once. pushing the call button twice will call back the last person you talked to. Pushing and holding the call button for more than two seconds will prompt your device's digital assistant. If you are on a call, simply pressing the mute button once will turn this muting on or off. Pressing and holding the mute button for more than two seconds while off a call will bring up the voice command interface.

A unique feature for Plantronics stems from the Legend's ability to sense when you put on or remove the earpiece. If your phone rings, simply picking up and placing the paired Legend onto your ear answers the call, whereas taking off the Legend ends the call. Likewise, these same actions will start and pause music, audio book, and other media playback.

Overall, the Voyager Legend is a worth wild earpiece for those looking for a simple way to talk on your device. I have found that while Voice Over is on, toggling your digital assistant through the call button is rather buggy, at best. However, the other aspects of the Legend makes this slight inconvenience tolerable. Plantronics states that the Voyager has 7 hours of battery life and 10 days of standby. This means your have about 7 hours of talk, Voice Over, streaming, playback, GPS turn by turn announcements, and similar playback options. I rated the Legend as a 4 of 5 due to the bugginess with Voice Over and the audio quality. While those you talk to might enjoy the crisp sound of your voice, I noticed that the Legend slightly distorts what you hear. For example, I had to reduce the rate of Voice Over by a little to compensate the distortion.