REVIEW: Polaris HD Wireless Headset

The Polaris HD Wireless Headset is made for those who are on the phone all day and require crisp call quality. The HD Wireless Headset has been designed specifically for the office environment, the headset allows you to take calls from all corners of the office, without the need to worry about cables. The base station sports a colour touch screen allowing you to change between different modes, change volume controls and modify settings while the headset itself allows mute and volume controls. Check out our review after the break.

The Polaris HD Wireless Headset is made up of two parts: the base station and the headset. The base station allows you to plug in your desk phone – whether it has a dedicated headset port or just a connection for the handset, the Polaris HD can cater for both – and a USB connection to your computer meaning you can connect any VoIP application and use it with the base station.

Call Quality

What takes this Wireless Headset into a new level is the inclusion of HD Audio technology. The Polaris HD takes advantage of Wideband 150Hz – 8KHz bandwidth to deliver great sounding HD audio. Being operated on the 1.8GHz frequency means the Polaris HD headset can operate up to 150 metres in an office environment from the base station and a huge 200 metres line-of-sight. In testing, we found the headset to work perfectly until around the 130 metre mark where the audio started to degrade a little.

Headset

The headset comes with a number of accessories to ensure it sits comfortably on your ear. This includes an over the head configuration which is like a traditional headset option and an over the ear option which comes in three sizes (small, medium and large). It’s great for Polaris to include the different configurations in the box instead of offering them as additional accessories as you’ll be able to choose the perfect fit. No matter what configuration choice though, the headset will fit comfortably on your ear.

If you’re on the phone all day, the Polaris HD headset offers up to 13 hours of talk time in narrowband mode and 9 hours in wideband mode. The best thing is, the system will automatically choose what is best depending on the distance between the base station and headset which will improve the overall battery life you experience. Charging takes around 1 hour to reach 50% and approx 2 hours to charge completely.

Connectivity

The Polaris HD headset has two connectivity options: a desk phone and a computer via USB. When plugged into the computer, it will show as it’s own audio device. You can setup any VoIP program (like Skype) to use the Polaris HD headset. This means you can simply take a call on Skype, pop on your headset and chat away. The touch screen on the device allows you to easily switch between Computer and Desk Phone, so if you’re taking a call on either device, you can easily switch between the two. This works well and it’s great for those people who use both VoIP and a desk phone to communicate.

It would have been nice to see a Bluetooth connectivity option. Pairing your phone to the Polaris HD would mean you could use the headset with the phone while in the office. I think this would be a great inclusion for the next version of the Polaris HD headset.

Interface

The base station features a 3.5″ resistive touch screen. While it gets the job done, the touch screen is slow to respond and scrolling is almost impossible. Definitely nothing compared to a smart phone or tablet. The software on the base station allows you to switch between the desk phone and computer inputs, modify volume and mute (this can be done on the headset as well), turn on conferencing, change settings and show charge status.

The base station touch screen is also has very poor viewing angles. Meaning you’ll need to be looking directly at the screen to see it clearly – usually an indicator that a cheap screen has been used. While it can be fixed by just moving the base station to face you, it’s definitely an area that could be improved with the next version of the Polaris HD.

The Polaris HD Wireless Headset is a solid solution. This would be the perfect headset accessory for those who are on the phone all day but also want to be able to move around the office. By offering two connectivity options, it can fit any workplace or phone system with ease. It would have been nice to see bluetooth connectivity and possibly a better touch screen but these can be improved in the future.

Overall, the Polaris HD Wireless Headset has great sound quality and all day battery life.