Anker Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 Headset with Charging Dock Review

I love the design of the Anker Wireless Bluetooth headset and charging dock.

Hey there. I live in sunny California and I spent a lot of time in traffic.  And I mean A LOT!  If any of you have ever had the experience of driving on the freeways around Los Angeles, you'll know that you could be in for a long car ride.  One of the biggest no nos of the road out here is that you can not be caught with a cell phone in your hand.  It doesn't matter if you were using your phone's GPS system.  If a police officer finds you with a cell phone in your hand, you will be ticketed.  Trust me... I should know.  You could always have your phone in speaker mode or turn on the "car mode" on your phone, but that still means you need to touch it and risk being ticketed.  Well, worry no more, friends!  Our good friends at Anker provided me with an Anker Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 Headset with Charging Dock to try out and review and let me tell you, it's fantastic!  It's small, it's sleek, it's stylish, and IT WORKS BEAUTIFULLY.  Before I get into my experience with this wireless headset, let's get some of the technical details out of the way.

The Anker Wireless Bluetooth Headset  comes with the headset, the charging dock, 2 ear hooks and 2 ear tips, an adhesive mounting strip and a vehicle air vent mounting clip, a micro USB charging cable, and the instruction manual.  The wireless headset is equipped with Bluetooth 4.0 but it is backwards compatible with all previous Bluetooth versions.  It also comes with the hi def A2DP Bluetooth profile but the wireless headset will also support the HSP and HFP profiles.  The wireless headset will connect to a Bluetooth device up to 10 meters away.  The headset measures about 2 inches x .7 inch x 1 inch and the charging dock is about 1.6 inches x 1 inch x 1.3 in and they both are extremely light and weigh close to nothing.  On a full charge (about a 2 hour charge), you can chat up to 5 hours and have up to 100 hours of standby time.  I posted a picture of the headset on the Metallman's Reverie Facebook page and a sharp eyed reader noted that the headset and the charging dock looked just like a tiny electric shaver.  To be honest, it kind of does, but that's not a bad thing.  The design is pretty awesome, the charging dock is convenient, and it makes the whole thing look very sharp (not in a "I'll cut you" kind of way.  lol).

The Anker Wireless Bluetooth Headset and the Charging Dock looks awesome on my dash!

Some of the features included with the Anker Wireless Bluetooth Headset include:

• Take calls and stream music wirelessly
• "Pluck up" to receive calls
• Voice prompts for when you are connected or charging
• Connect to more than one device at one time
• Advanced CVC technology reduces wind interference
• Magnetic dock to assure that your headset will connect effortlessly to the charging station
• Works great with iPhones and Android devices with Bluetooth connectivity
• Will display a battery meter on iOS 5 and above cell phones

Now on to my experience.  I was pretty thrilled about getting this wireless headset.  As previously mentioned, I live in the Los Angeles area and you see signs everywhere about cell phone usage while driving.  I charged the charging dock at home using a wall charger and the micro USB cable. With the charging dock fully charged , I decided to set it up using the the air vent clip by the driver's side.  I decided against the adhesive strip based on the fact that if I wanted to charge the dock, I would need to remove it from the car and take inside.  After doing that several times, I'm sure that the adhesive will not do it's job efficiently.  At least with the air vent, I know that no adhesive is necessary and it will always stay in place.  As for charging, it's awesome that there are two ways to charge the headset piece.  You can either charge it by placing it on the charging dock (assuming that you have recently charged the charging dock) or charging the headpiece directly using a micro USB connection.  I thought this was a great way to charge the headpiece while at the office or away from the car without having to have the charging dock with you.

I prefer the air vent clip since it's easier to to remove and replace

Having it connect with my cell phone was quite a breeze as well.  The headset piece only has a few buttons (volume up and down and the answer button) so it wasn't hard at all to figure out how to use it.  I turned it on by pressing the power button and then turned it off by holding the answer button.  I fiddled with it for a second just to make sure I was familiar with it.  You know that the headset was on by the flashing blue light and when you turned it off, the light stopped blinking.  The "power off" voice prompt was pretty cool and assured me that the device was indeed off.  Then I paired it up with my cell phone.  I had a little trouble pairing it at first but that's because I didn't follow directions.  I made the mistake of having the headset on and then activating Bluetooth connectivity on my cell phone.  The Anker Wireless Bluetooth headset WILL NOT show up on your cell phone if the headset is on before you activate bluetooth on your device.  Do not make the mistake that I did.  Power off the headset and then activate Bluetooth on your phone.  Once Bluetooth is enabled, hold the power button on the headset for about 7 seconds or so.  You know you held it long enough when the indicator light starts flashing blue and red.  The voice prompt will also announce that it is "pairing" mode.  You should now be able to see the headset on the cell phone and can now connect to it.  If it asks for a password, the password is clearly indicated in the instruction manual.  Now that it's paired up and good to go, it's time to give it a test run.

Answering a call is pretty simple.  You simply press the answer call button and start talking.  The sound coming from the Anker Wireless Bluetooth Headset is pretty good.  The CVC technology really helps reduce the wind noise from interfering with your call.  I like to have the window down a bit and when asked, my caller didn't notice much noise at all.  A big plus.  I also wanted to test the voice dial feature.  Now... in order for this feature to work, you must have some sort of voice dialer software on your cell phone.  Without it, you cannot use the voice dial feature on the headset.  While driving, you press the answer button and the voice prompt will say, "voice dial".  After saying a name, the phone will dial out and you should be connected to the caller.  Pretty easy enough.  I was able able to transfer the call from my headset to my cell phone and vice versa, quite easily as well.  You can transfer your calls by holding the answer button for about a second.  You'll hear a beep and your call will continue on your phone.  Same deal when you want it to go back to the headset.  Just hold the answer button for a second and the call will be transferred.  This feature is pretty cool since I want to use the headset for when I'm in my car only.  So once I arrive at my destination, I can easily transfer my call to my phone and leave the headset charging.  I know that some of you like to wear the headset anywhere so this may not be a feature you'll use much, but I for one, love it!  

Oh yeah!  Hands free awesomeness!

The last thing that I want to talk about it the fact that you can listen to your music files as well.  This is simply awesome, for me.  I work in an office and because many of the workers are in tight quarters, having music playing may be a bit disruptive to my coworkers.  Being able to stream the music from my phone to my headset eliminates this problem.  I can easily enjoy the easy listenings of Metallica, Slayer, and Iron Maiden and not have to worry about my coworkers getting worked up over it.  And the best part is that I can seamlessly pause the music to pick up a phone call.  Personally, I preferred to use this feature in the office than in the car but again, to each their own.  

And there you have it.  My assessment of the Anker Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 Headset with Charging Dock.  Another solid product by Anker.  Crisp, clear sound, long lasting battery life, easy to use device, and a high quality design.  If you are the type of person that makes or receives calls while driving, get this wireless headset.  If you are in an office where you must be respectful of your coworker's space, get this headset.  As of this posting, you can pick up this great Anker wireless headset for under $30 (retail price $59.99) at Amazon.  It's the perfect companion for that new iPhone 5 that you just picked up.  Get yours today and make sure to let Anker know that Metallman sent ya!  Later!