Product Reviews

By Rick Broida

Put…the cell phone…down.

That’s the order of the day for California drivers, who, starting July 1, will face fines if they’re caught talking on a hand-held cell phone while driving. It may sound like a harsh law, but its heart is in the right place: The new legislation (http://tinyurl.com/26wq3a) aims to improve road safety by minimizing behind-the-wheel distractions.

Of course, real estate professionals may have a tough time breaking the handset habit. For many agents, chatting while driving is as ingrained as breathing while driving. Luckily, a growing crop of gadgets makes it possible to keep both hands on the wheel while still talking with clients, colleagues, and the office. If you haven’t already, it’s time to invest in hands-free technology.

Specifically, it’s time to buy a headset for your ear or a speakerphone for your visor or dashboard. You also need a phone that has built-in Bluetooth, the short-range wireless technology that links the handset to these kinds of devices. Thankfully, virtually all phones sold in the last few years come standard with Bluetooth. The only tricky part is choosing the hands-free gear to go with it. Here’s a look at several products that’ll help make you a law-abiding driver, and a safer one, too.

Headset
Jabra BT8040
Reviewer’s Rating: 8

The name Jabra is virtually synonymous with Bluetooth headsets. The BT8040, the company’s latest effort, combines an incredibly small design with some advanced features. It’s not the perfect headset, but with a list price of just $79.99, it’s definitely worth considering.

Measuring just 1.5 inches from stem to stern, the BT8040 is small and light enough to be worn in the ear without an uncomfortable, unsightly ear loop. A specially designed earbud keeps the headset surprisingly snug inside the ear canal; Jabra supplies three different sizes (and a spare for each) so you can achieve the ideal fit. You’d think the BT8040 would just topple out of your ear, but in my tests even vigorous head-shaking failed to dislodge it.

The headset sports two tiny volume buttons (unlabeled, unfortunately) and a small, round, slightly raised call/function button. The latter is easy to operate by touch, giving the BT8040 a slight edge over the otherwise excellent Aliph Jawbone. But I disliked the multicolor status LED, which flashes for only the first minute or so after you turn on the headset: When it goes dark, it’s impossible to know if the headset is on or off just by looking at it.

I found call quality to be excellent overall. Although the BT8040 didn’t block much background noise, I had an easy time hearing callers, and they reported that my voice and calls sounded great. I especially appreciated Jabra’s Acoustic Shock Protection, which protects your ear from sudden volume spikes.

The headset has two other features worth mentioning. First, it can pair with two cell phones simultaneously, great for those who carry, say, a work phone and a personal phone: There’s no need to switch headsets when using one or the other. Second, the BT8040 supports A2DP, meaning it lets you listen to music if your phone allows it. Granted, it’s not stereo sound, but there are times when it’s nice to hear music even if it’s in just one ear.

Needless to say, the BT8040 packs a lot of hands-free prowess into its small, affordable frame. As headsets go, it’s a top pick.

Speakerphone
Venturi Mini
Reviewer’s Rating: 7

The $129.99 Venturi Mini (myventuri.com) offers a hands-free speakerphone and more in a compact, easy-to-use package. The Venturi links to your phone via Bluetooth and to your car stereo via FM; all audio gets routed wirelessly to your car’s speakers.

In other words, when you place or take a call, you hear the caller on your stereo. And if your phone supports Bluetooth A2DP and you’ve stocked it with music, you can stream your tunes through the speaker system. (You can also connect an iPod or similar player to the gizmo’s line-in jack.)

As an added plus, the Venturi features an USB port that can power devices like phones, headsets, and iPods—anything that can recharge via USB. It’s an impressive gadget, with a crisp little OLED display and an easy-to-master menu system.

However, because it plugs into—and juts out several inches from—your car’s cigarette lighter, you may have trouble positioning it for easy accessibility. And if your lighter is positioned near the floor instead of up on the dashboard, the microphone may end up too far from your mouth for callers to hear you well.

The bigger issue: Most FM transmitters don’t work too well, and this one is no different. Furthermore, although I could hear callers pretty well, they routinely reported that we were hard to hear.

The Venturi is available exclusively through Verizon, but it will work with phones on any network.

GPS
Garmin Nüvi 660
Reviewer’s Rating: 8

Kill two birds with one gadget. The Nüvi 660 is one of several Garmin models that provide GPS-powered navigation and a hands-free speakerphone. (Other GPS makers offer similarly equipped devices.) And although this model isn’t new, it’s now selling for significantly less than when it first hit the market: around $350.

As a navigator, the Nüvi 660 is solid, offering text-to-speech functionality (meaning it pronounces actual street names instead of just saying “take next right”) and an FM traffic receiver that’s built into the cigarette-lighter adapter. Spring for a Total Traffic Network subscription ($60 annually) and the Nüvi will alert you to any upcoming traffic jams or road construction (and provide an alternate route, natch).

The Nüvi also doubles as a speakerphone. Once you pair it with your phone, you can place and receive calls using the Nüvi’s built-in microphone and speaker. The former tends to pick up a lot of road noise, so this isn’t a great choice if you own a convertible or a particularly noisy car. (Actually, that’s true of all speakerphones.) But overall call quality is quite good, and the Nüvi’s big touch screen makes for easy operation of phone features, such as dialing and accessing the phone book.

Speaking of dialing, the Nüvi offers the enviable capability to auto-dial any phone number that’s listed in its points-of-interest database. So if you look up, say, a restaurant, one tap of the screen lets you call ahead to get your name on the waiting list. That option works with all phones; certain models (http://tinyurl.com/2352rm) also enable you to copy your phone’s address book to the Nüvi, compose and send text messages, view your call log, and dial by voice.

Garmin packs the Nüvi with an abundance of other useful features, including an MP3 player, an Audible audiobook player, a photo viewer (just pop your SD card out of your camera and into the GPS), a calculator, and even a measurement converter.

Even if you don’t choose the Nüvi 660, make sure the next GPS you buy offers speakerphone capabilities. Why futz with two gadgets when you can get the job done with one?

Rick Broida is a freelance writer and a contributor to Wired Magazine, CNET, and Popular Science; he also is the author of How to Do Everything with Your Palm Powered Handheld, 6th Edition.