Last week I looked at a sun visor Bluetooth hands free kit from BlueAnt and found that it worked very well. The thing some drivers don’t like about the sun visor type of hands free device is that everyone in the car with you can hear your conversations. If you prefer an in-ear Bluetooth device, we are checking out the BlueAnt Q1 Voice Controlled Bluetooth Headset today. Read on for all of the details on the BlueAnt Q1.

Specifications & Features

The BlueAnt Q1 offers the user full price control over their phone and supports multipoint allowing the Q1 to connect to and answer calls from two different phones. The Q1 is capable of pairing with eight different mobile phones. Talk time for the device is four hours and it has 100 hours of standby time. Other features include dual mics and voice isolation technology to increase call clarity. Dual internal windshields help reduce wind noise. The Q1 firmware is also upgradable via USB.

In Use

The BlueAnt Q1′s most interesting feature is the voice control. With most Bluetooth headsets, you have to remember an often complex series of button presses to access various features of the headset like redialing and pairing. With the Q1 all, you have to do for any feature of the headset is press the button once and use your voice to control the phone.

You can say things like teach me and the headset and will tell you all the commands that you can speak. Using only your voice you can put the Q1 into paring mode, dial memory presets form your phone, and initiate redial among others. The speaking voice the Q1 uses is clear and easy to understand as well.

BlueAnt made the Q1 very lightweight and compact with an attractive design in black anodized aluminum. The earpiece ships with an ear loop and a smaller ear tip for different user needs. The lightweight design means that you can wear the Q1 for hours without even feeling it in your ear. There were no pressure points on or in my ear during testing with the Q1.

The real worth of any Bluetooth headset is how well it works for making and receiving calls. In testing, the Q1 works very well for calls. The worst environment I can think for to test a Bluetooth headset in (short of a hurricane) is driving at highway speeds in a convertible. At speeds of up to about 50 mph, the Q1 works very well with the top down in my car. I could always hear the person I called when driving even at up to 70mph, but they couldn’t hear me at speeds over 50 mph.

With the top up the BlueAnt Q1 is clear as a bell and works fantastically. When placing calls outside the typically wind speeds in my town were no challenge to the noise reduction capabilities of the Q1. The only issue I ran into with the BlueAnt Q1 during my testing was when driving at about 55 mph on the highway. I told the Q1 to redial and for some reason it called information, which was not the last number I dialed. As I mentioned, the other person is unable to hear you well at speeds over 50 mph, so really that isn’t particularly surprising.

Pros

• Lightweight
• Comfortable
• Good call quality
• Voice control

Cons

• Voice control doesn’t work well at higher speeds in a convertible

Verdict

If you don’t own a convertible and are looking for a fantastic and easy to use Bluetooth headset, the BlueAnt Q1 is one of the best you will find. Convertible owners will also find it works very well up to about 50 mph. Overall, the BlueAnt Q1 is one of the easiest to use Bluetooth headsets I have tested.