All designs have conformed to a scarab beetleesque profile, with a nifty and unique stay-in-place mechanism.

So, just how does the Bluespoon AX live up to its peers? In a word (well two actually), pretty well. It’s not perfect, but then it’s not abysmal either. The speech quality was good, albeit a tad hollow, with some signs of crackling now and again. There was a slight cause for concern when the handset and headset were not in ‘line of sight’ with one another, but as the handset was the Sony Ericsson Z800, with a known BT issue, I’m not able to know whether that was a symptom created by the BT flaw or the Bluespoon AX itself. Sony’s normally on the money as far as BT is concerned, so I suspect it’s more the headset that’s at fault here. I’ll amend this review if this position is found to be in error.

Using the headset is relatively straightforward – there are three buttons for various functions. The main button on the front of the unit is for pairing the headset, powering on/off, and making/receiving calls. The two side buttons (one either side of the headset) are for volume adjustments.

The Bluespoon AX is a remarkably small headset, and it’s amazing to think it does all that it does in such a small package. A testament to its design of electronics, which allows this small form factor to be a reality – yes it is smaller than the Chameleon and Digital headsets that preceded it.

The unit also uses a replaceable Lithium Ion battery cell – the standard coin variety (CR2032), which is charged via a supplied mini USB cable rather than the typical wall plug. One can be bought if preferred, as well as in-car charger.

As mentioned above, the AX has a unique way of being retained in place. It is an in-ear design, like those by Jabra. The difference with the AX is that it has a rubber ‘spring’ which can be trimmed to suit. The spring part of the design is very novel and works for the most part, but, like the Jabras, although for a different reason, I found that after a good 2 hours (or 3 tops) of use, the tension of the spring was beginning to annoy me, to the point of having to remove and rub my ear. Unfortunately, this and the fact the headset wasn’t as good as the Motorola HS850 sonically, meant I didn’t use it often or for prolonged periods.

I played around with the length of the spring – trimming it ever so slightly each time, rather than lopping off big chunks and going too far, but could never get it to the point of where it was just right. So, just like the Jabras I’ve had before, it was removed every so often for a while before re-using, whereas the Motorola would stay put the entire time, often being forgotten that it I was wearing it.

If I were to re-design the AX due to this, I’d do away with the spring entirely and use either sheathed metal wire or adopt an in-ear headphone design – the sort you see used on the higher priced MP3 player headphones – something akin to that of the Shure/Future Sonic’s reviewed here. The foam expands to fill the space in the ear canal, and produces no pressure on the ear itself. Coupled with a better seal from exterior noise, the sound should be better as well as loud enough to hear over the drone of the car/van engine – especially if it’s a diesel, save those marques which cost more and have noise absorption fitted.

So, all in all, the Bluespoon AX is an interesting, if somewhat slightly flawed Bluetooth headset. I look forward to seeing what improvements transpire with any revision they may do to this unit.

Tech Specs:

Model:     Bluespoon™ AX.

Type:       Wireless analogue headset using Bluetooth® technology.   

Profiles:   Bluetooth® Headset and Handsfree.

Compatibility:  Bluetooth® enabled devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA’s and computers.

L/W/D:      42 x 25 x 27mm. 

Talktime:  Up to 6 hours.

Standby time:    More than 300 hours.

Retail package includes: Bluespoon™ AX headset (BLACK), Two soft tip ear pieces, USB charging cable (100cm), Rechargeable LI-ION coin cell battery, Neck carrying strap (BLACK), User’s Guide in 12 languages.

Review by - PJ Skelton

Published - 29/10/2005

More Bluetooth Headset Reviews -

[ Up ] [ Bluetooth Headset Reviews ] [ Jabra BT300 ] [ Motorola HS850 ] [ Motorola H500 ] [ Bluespoon AX ] [ Jabra BT500 ] [ Nokia HS-4W Bluetooth Headset ] [ Bluetake BT400 G5 ] [ Belkin Bluetooth Headset ] [ Bluetrek G2 Headset ] [ Motorola HS820 ] [ Sony Ericsson HBH-300 ] [ Logitech Bluetooth Headset ] [ nXzen Gennum 5500 ] [ Sony Ericsson HBH-GV435 ] [ LG Prada Bluetooth Headset ] [ Motorola H9 Review ] [ Qstick EVOQ ] [ Jabra BT330 Review ] [ Nokia BH-800 Review ] [ Jabra SP100 Speakerphone ] [ Jabra BT250V ] [ Jabra Bluetooth Headset BT200 ] [ Plantronics Bluetooth Headset M3000 ] [ Nextlink BlueSpoon Bluetooth Headset ] [ Sony Ericsson HBH-200 ] [ Nokia HS-11W ] [ HBH-600 Bluetooth Headset ] [ Jabra BT800 ]