LG Electronics Tone Ultra Bluetooth Stereo Headset - Retail Packaging - Black

I absolutely love these headphones. This is my first set of this style so I can't compare them to other sorts of headsets as far as feature comparison or a better/worse performance. I came off of the earbuds that come with a Galaxy S6 for the sake of this review. Build quality : Sufficient. They are a bit floppy and I worry about the earbud cables eventually getting weakened. They have a stress relief little cable guide but when you are using it, it's pretty easy to restrict cable length such that you can't fit them into your ears. The magnets are a good addition but they're too weak to really be of much value. The earbuds inevitably just fall out of the little sockets. Battery life : Great. I can get two days of usage depending on how much music I used them for and if the noise cancelling was on the entire time. The charging system is kind of lame: it uses a micro-USB connection but it's recessed in such a way that you NEED to use their charging cable to get a good solid connection. Comfort : I typically have these on with collared shirts. I wear them all day and often more. They're definitely comfortable around the neck especially with a collared shirt. You feel them a bit in a T-shirt but definitely not terrible. For the earbuds they're sufficient for the style. There's drawbacks with what it takes to get a rubber ball into your ear and have it be a relatively sealed/tight fit. Noise cancelling : Works quite well. Turns the annoying whirrr of a server rooms several hundred 40mm fans into a pleasant "white noise" sound of the ANC taking over. I was actually surprised about this feature as I didn't even get what it was until about 2 weeks after I bought it I saw the switch. It definitely taxes the battery though. Audio quality : I was VERY with the audio quality. I would consider myself a self-proclaimed "audiophile" but not the type who is willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money on audio equipment to listen to music in less than idea environments Bass is solid, the mix is sufficiently spread. It may not win awards but it is definitely good sound across various types of: death/metal, instrumental, electroswing, ambient music, etc. Call quality (audio) : Calling with it is good. A lot of times I need both earbuds in to be able to sufficiently hear the other party but the nature of the earbuds definitely help a weakness of mine when it comes to hearing. I'm happy with how it sounds on calls. Call quality (talk) : I've gotten a few complaints that it can be hard to hear me in some situations. I've also heard that it has zero noise cancelling tendencies for calls so the other party hears EVERY sound around you. I've not yet verified if ANC helps with this. I doubt it does. Convenience : It works fine for me. I haven't much used the speech based dialing or other features but I often switch the headset between my Pixel XL, Galaxy S6, and ASUS Zenbook, for various applications. It's even possible to (sometimes, often intermittently) get it connected to a phone AND the laptop at once. This is great and an unintended feature. Often to get it to break a pairing I have to turn it off, turn it on, and quickly try to pair from a phone/device and it's usually the first device to grab the headset successfully. Overall I'm VERY happy with these earbuds. I wish it had ambient noise cancelling on calls, but the other features work so well I would buy again.

I come from HBS-730. I have read the negative reviews about the product and was rather vary of buying the 800. I decided to try give it a shot. After a few days of use, I decided to keep it since I found it to be an improvement over the 730 (sans battery). Here are the things I observed: The pluses: -The sound quality is deeper, finer than 730. Please do not confuse this with louder. It's not as loud as 730, but it's still pretty loud at full volume. -The ANC is PHENOMENAL. You will not hear much difference if you are sitting in a quiet room and you listen to music with ANC on and ANC off. You need to be in a noisy place to appreciate the feature. I use it in PATH to NYC and it blocks out all the track noise and the announcements. This is something the HBS-730 could not do (well it didn't have the feature so I can't complain). For me the ANC is a blessing -I personally like the new design. There is less contact on the skin because of the curve. This is a plus for the people who put it directly around their necks. I prefer to keep it under my collar when I am wearing formal clothing. The overall feel of the product seems sturdier than it's predecessors. The minus: -Battery life. It needs close to 2 hours to charge and the battery doesn't last more than a few hours for me. It has less stand by battery life than the HBS-730 too. -The ANC light stays on for the duration of the time the feature is on. I am not sure what good it is since its on my neck. Plus, the ANC feature shouldn't be a toggle button. It's stupid to have the headphone off, with the ANC on (unless there's a reason for it, which I do not comprehend yet). For anybody who buys the headphones, use it for 3-4 days before you decide to give up on it. Check the ANC feature by comparing it with another device in a noisy place. You will hear the difference. Put the ear bud size that fits your ears the best. If you don't pick the right size , you will not get a good experience. For the guys that use a rooted android phone, try the Viper4Android audio mod on your device. The effect on the 800 is magic.

Best bluetooth handsfree headset I've used so far. Advantages 1. Great reception from iPhone 5s and 6. Can clearly hear incoming calls. 2. Great microphone! My voice is actually clearer on it than using the phones directly. It works well outside too, while bike riding, and the wind did not seem to affect the call clarity. Wow! 3. Really good stereo earbuds. I ride my bike on trails with these in my ears, and hear undistorted music from my iPhone, which is packed away in the saddlebag. 4. The battery lasts a long time and charges quickly. When using it for music, it can easily last 2-3 continuous hours before it gives a low battery alert. When using it as a bluetooth device, it doesn't drain the iPhone battery that much either. I've ridden for 2 hours with the iPhone starting around 20% battery, and I still have above 10% battery on the iPhone when I'm done. 5. Fits around your neck comfortably, almost don't even notice it. 6. Good voice commands for making calls. I talk on the phone during bike rides, and listen to music between calls effortlessly. It is best to know exactly how the names are listed in your contact list, or it may pull up the wrong contact. Disadvantages 1. I wish the magnets were stronger to hold the earbuds better when not in use. 2. The volume and advance/rewind buttons are small and somewhat difficult to find/use without practice. 3. When bike riding, and I turn my head to look behind, I sometimes hit the call button with my neck or chin. Not much of a problem, but one can just wait or push the button again to keep the music going. Overall, I strongly recommend this headset for multi-taskers and hands free driving.

First off, the headphones themselves are awesome. They fit under my shirt collar really well, have great battery life, and and very simple to use. In fact the only complaint about them that I ever had is that the headphones don't stay attached to the magnets very well; so when I would wear them under my shirt collar at work I would occasionally have to reach in and put the headphones back in place. Not a big deal. The reason I'm giving them a 1-star rating is that LG's customer service is arguably the worst that I've ever experienced. The headphones come with a one year warranty, and after about 10.5 months of heavy use the noise canceling function stopped working. So a few weeks before the warranty ran out I went to LG's website and requested a repair. They said they'd send me a shipping label within 1 business day. After a week of not hearing from them I tried calling them. They're phone system was down and an automated message told me to contact them via live chat on their website. So I tried that, and that was down too, and it told me to email them. So I tried emailing them and after filling out the whole form and giving them a description of what was going on, their system deleted everything and told me the email system was down as well. I got busy and it wasn't until several weeks later that I remembered to contact them again. I emailed them and I got a response saying that there was an error in the system that was preventing them from creating a shipping label for me, and gave me a phone number to call. I called that number and they said that they were getting the same error. Apparently their system was telling them that my address was not a valid address. The nice guy who helped me said he was gonna escalate it to the next level of support people and that they'd call me in 1-2 business days. That was about a week ago and they still haven't called. So today I called them back and they said that they can no longer fix my headset because the warranty is now expired. After 15 min of trying to explain to the guy that it was there fault I finally had to get off the phone and go back to work. So I called back on my lunch break and asked for the manager and was told that the managers are gone for the weekend (it's Friday evening right now) and that I need to call back on Monday. So at this point I don't know if they're going to fix my headset at all. And I've already contacted them at least half a dozen times of the course of a month and a half. Needless to say I'm extremely disappointed with LG's customer service. Which is sad because I really liked the headphones. I used to rave about them and I recommend them to people. Now I doubt that I'll ever buy anything from LG again. Sorry for the long rant, I just needed to complain about the horrible customer service. Hopefully this review is helpful to someone. And if not, at least I feel better for having wrote it, haha.

UPDATE 12/7/2014: I purchased these in May and after light usage, I've had to stop using them. Callers cannot hear me. I get a bunch of static. My HBS-730 set which I bought in November still get the job done. What Ultra has that Tone+ doesn't: The Tone+ (HBS-730) weighs 1.16oz. Ultra has shaved off some weight at 1.03oz. Despite this, the way the Ultra is shaped and weighted, it actually feels heavier in your hands and around your neck at first. You get used to it if it falls just right over your collarbone and neck. The LG website doesn't list them but we can assume that the Ultra comes with the call waiting, call reject, last number redial, auto reconnect, multipoint connection (Advanced in Ultra's case), Easy Pairing, Battery Status Alert, etc that all came with the Tone+. According to the LG website's lovely comparison chart though, the Ultra doesn't offer calling waiting, call reject, last number redial, auto connect, voice activated dialing, battery status alert, easy pairing, A2DP (Advanced Audio Disribution) or AVRCP (Audio/Voice Remote Control Profile). So, no promises here. The talk time is 15 hours for the Tone+ but now only "up to ten hours" for the Ultra. But the Standby Time now promises up to 20 days vs. the 15 days for the Tone+. Music Play is still up to 10 hours for both. Charging time is the same at less than 2 hours. I regularly charge my Tone+ and I use it for phone calls and the gym and on-the-go so the five hours less doesn't do me too much damage in the long run. Of course, with the lightweight comes only VERY SLIGHTLY different dimensions but with an altogether different look: The Tone+ is 5.34" (W) x 6.59" (L) x 0.67" (H) but the Ultra is 5.34" (W) X 6.30" (L) X 0.55" (H) Both also share the memory flex strap with magnetic ear bugs that we know and love but that the Ultra now refers to as the trademarked 3D NeckBehind (Around-the-Neck Wearing Style with Body-Contoured Fit) Design. As someone who suffers from chronic neck pain, I was skeptical when I purchased my Tone+ but now I cannot imagine any other headphones for phone calls and the gym! Expect the same level of comfort from the Ultra...except that if you're upgrading from a Tone+, it might take a little getting used to the different feel. The Ultra now has Google Voice Actions Integration which may or may not be a necessity for iPhone users. I easily access Siri often using the headset. Though both claim noise reduction and echo reduction, Ultra goes as far as to say that it has ANC (Ambient Noise Cancellation) and the new JBL Signature Sound and the aforementioned Advanced Multipoint. And yes, the ANC is a big deal. I noticed a major difference not just in phone calls but particularly in sound quality. This upgrade wants you to believe that even bluetooth headphones can offer you the best sound for your tunes. Ironically, on the LG website, the Tone+ is beating the Ultra slight in reviews with 4.5/5 happy reviewers vs. 4.4/5. So it's just a schmidgen. But really, it gives the Tone+ 92% positive reviews and the Ultra only 80%. I would take this with a grain of salt considering that only a handful have reviewed the new Ultra and thousands have reviewed the Tone+. Likely the price is a deterrent for some people. I've had my Tone+ headset for a while (as has my husband) and we drag them around all over the place and they still work and look just like new. So, yeah, the Ultra is almost twice the price of the LG Tone depending on where you get it. And as the LG Tone stands up to time fairly easily you may not need (but you may want) an upgrade. Owners have said that the Tone Ultra is much more Android friendly than the Tone+ which is very iPhone friendly and go as far as offering that you stick to the Tone+ if you have an iPhone. Personally, I didn't have any trouble with the Ultra using my iPhone. In fact, I was really impressed by the difference in quality as I was expecting the Ultra just to be a fancy looking Tone+ with "new" useless additions. There are complaints about the battery life of the new Ultra. iPhone users definitely seem unhappy with the Ultra. In fact, while the Tone+ claims to be compatible with Android, Apple and other Bluetooth enabled devices, the Ultra does not on the LG website. But again, I've had no problems with my Ultra on my iPhone or even on my iMac. While the Tone+ says it offers on/off vibration, the Ultra seems intent on peddling Google Voice Actions. Is Google Voice Actions the headphone's version of Siri? The shape of the tips/ends of Ultra are noticeably different. Very Star Trekky. No, seriously, the shape reminds me of the Enterprise! Gone are the circular buttons. Instead, there is a small triangular button for play and an equal sign button for pause. On the other side, there is a button shaped like a telephone receiver. And the Rewind/Fas Forward buttons and Volume buttons are hidden away underneath on the sides of either ends. The earbud hollers are rounder. It comes with two on/off switches which are now inconveniently on the inside of your headset (facing your neck instead of facing out like on the Tone+). One switch turns on the ANC: Ambient Noise Cancellation aka "active noise cancellation." The other is a power switch with an LED indicator tucked away discreetly unlike the way the "phone" button used to glow before. There's no doubt this is sleeker and some would argue much better looking. I'm pretty attached to the way my Tone+ headphones look so I'm not sure how I feel about them. The earbuds are the same size but the seemingly minor change to the earbud holders (rounder, not squared in any direction) make them more snug in your ears...and a bit heavier. The ANC definitively makes the sound quality better. It gets a little getting used to the placement of the ANC switch, power switches and the volume and rewind and fast forward buttons. Especially because as I've mentioned they're noticeably smaller and more discreet. I felt myself fumbling for the buttons and I have pretty small fingers so I can see someone with larger fingers fumbling even more. What really blew me away was the quality of the sound when I played some music off my iPhone. Wow. I felt like I was listening on quality headphones. The sound was incredibly rich! It felt like I was at an orchestra. The violins building on one side and the guitar and the drum in the other.The Tone+ does not even compare with regards to sound. The quality from my iMac wasn't as good but it was pretty near my non-Bluetooth Bose headphones! So if you want some really cool sleek looking bluetooth headset with amazing sound quality, the Ultra is definitely worth the upgrade though the Tone+ are really awesome themselves if you don't want to pay the extra cash just yet. This headset is really a middle ground between an awesome bluetooth headset for your phone and the gym and awesome bluetooth headphones...period. Enjoy! I'm now the proud owner of (2) Tone+ headsets and one Ultra...at least until my husband realizes how deliciously awesome the Ultra looks.

I've owned many Bluetooth headsets and have enjoyed all of them, but this is the first I've owned with the electronics located around the neck instead of hanging from the earbuds (with electronics resting around the ear or behind the neck) or connected to a dongle that rests elsewhere (I.E. a clip-on or necklace-like). Thus far, I am very impressed with this headset; it has good clean sound and the buttons all seem logically placed and easy to use. Unfortunately I don't own a prior LG Tone so I can't directly compare it to those, but judging by several reviews here the Ultra apparently doesn't get as loud as prior version. Personally, I don't mind that because I think it gets loud enough to enjoy both music and movies, but I am one who worries about hearing damage so I wouldn't turn this up to ear bleeding levels even if I could (I have too many friends with tinnitus which is something all everyone should learn more about). Changing subjects slightly, I own both an iPhone 5 and an iPad Air and found that this headset connects brilliantly to both of them. I especially like the Advanced Multipoint feature because I was able to connect my iPhone as the primary device and my iPad as the secondary. This allows me to watch movies on the iPad and hear them on the Ultra but when a call comes in via the iPhone the movie automatically stops (in place) while I answer the call and then continues after call (right where I left off). Brilliant, I was very happy to see this working exactly as I would expect it too!!! FYI, I read elsewhere that this headset doesn't have the best bass response when compared to prior versions. I also read elsewhere that the reason the bass response doesn't sound great is because the headset comes with the small ear gels installed and one really needs to select a pair that fits well (assuming that some of the bass response was loss due to poor fit). I can verify that this headset sounded fuller once larger ear gels were installed (in my case the largest), but you may get even better bass simply by altering the e.q. settings on your phone (probably not necessary on prior versions of the LG Tone but I can't really say as I've never owned one of those). I'll be flying on a plane this weekend so I'll get to try out the aptX technology then and may update this review in a week after I get back (probably only if someone requests it)... I'm currently using this set in my house which is fairly quiet so the aptX technology seems to have little or no effect here.

There is a reason this headset line is so popular. The vibration alone is a huge feature for me, because I don't always want to plug my ears while wearing a headset for hours, and the vibration feature gets my attention in loud environments where neither the phone nor the buds are loud enough when not at my ear. The way the buds magnetically attach to the neck piece allows a really convenient way to hear the headset around your neck, get the vibration notification of an incoming call, put the bud in your ear, and click the "call" button to answer. A lot of words, but it happens in just a few seconds. Your caller will never know you weren't waiting breathlessly for their call! The volume is loud enough, although I replaced the rubber tips with a different set to gain more passive noise isolation. It does also offer active sound suppression, which works about as well as it does for any device. It is a limited technology, but comes in handy in certain situations, like flights and road noise. so far I haven't ruined the headset with sweat, and I live in Florida. I haven't worn them in the rain, but I have had to scrape salt deposits off the neck piece, if that's descriptive enough! I use several apps on my Andriod that only sporadically work with the buttons on the headset, including songza, slacker, and overdrive. I have no idea whose fault it is here, between LG, sansung, android, and the app devs. All I know is that sometimes they work and sometimes they don't, but they always connect and broadcast sound, whether the play/pause and ff/rev buttons work or not. The volume buttons always work, as well, although I do with the headset offered more volume settings than it does. I am constantly using my phone's volume keys to get the volume to the general area I need, then I can use the headset's volume buttons to fine tune. That is an annoying mistake on LG's part. The headset has adequate battery life at 4-5 hours of streaming use. It uses a power button for the active noise cancellation to extend battery life, and has the latest Bluetooth features including an ultra-low power mode to extend battery life extensively when not actively streaming audio. I'm quite happy with this headset! It is the best I've ever owned and worthy of a rare 5-star review! As I said, there is a reason you see these so frequently.

UPDATE 2 July 2014. On the last day of my return window, I decided that the problem attaching the earbuds to their cradles was so annoying that I would rather return this product and purchase the HBS-730. I also downgraded my rating from 3 stars to 2 stars. I do not recommend the HBS-800 at any price. ------------------------------- ORIGINAL REVIEW. I decided to take a chance and pay a premium price for this upgrade after losing the HBS-700 that had served me faithfully for 2 years. My evaluation is coloured by my experience with the HBS-700. I most frequently use this product with my iPhone while cycling or walking. I also use it with my MacBook Pro. In a nutshell, any marginal improvement embodied in the HBS-800 is outweighed by the price. 1- It's nice to know the battery status and bluetooth connectivity, announced shortly after power on. 2- The battery life does seem to be an improvement over the HBS-700. 4- The bluetooth range is no better and no worse than the HBS-700. 3- Sound quality, always a subjective evaluation, is not noticeably better than that of the HBS-700. I can detect no evidence of JBL quality. Indeed, the bass response on this unit, regardless of the stated frequency response, is not as good as the HBS-700. The equalizer does not introduce a significant change in the lower range, although one of the 3 settings can produce a tinny-sounding treble. 4- Noise cancellation is worthless. 5- The design and magnetic interface between the earbuds and their cradles is clumsy. With the HBS-700, the earbud and cradle make instant, secure contact. With this HBS-800, the earbud must be tucked behind the cradle and perfectly oriented before the cradle will accept it. Otherwise, because of magnetic polarity, it will repel the earbud. It's so frustrating that it's not worth the effort. 6- The single weakness I identified with the HBS-700 was the frailty of the earbud cables. They began to fray in a matter of weeks. LG allegedly has addressed this issue, but only time will tell. In the meantime, the shortcomings in this product are real-time. Is the HBS-800 worth the premium price? Absolutely not. Is the HBS-800 sufficiently unsatisfactory as to warrant a return? Probably not. Would I buy the HBS-800 again? No. I would buy the HBS-700 again or the HBS-730, whichever presented the most attractive price. For the record, I paid $91.89 for the HBS-800. If it were to be priced no higher than the HBS-700 or HBS-730, I still would not buy it again.

Excellent sound, great battery life. I just wear them all day without noticing they're there. They have become indispensable for me.

Sound quality OK (compared to higher priced LG), there's no bass but I listen to talk content so don't care about bass that much but a little more bass would be good, people sound a bit tin can. I think I prefer this non retracting type of neck band headphone , the retracting type tend to hang down very far when not retracted, and its easy to damage your head phones if you forget to retract them . These do feel very plastic, but maybe that's OK considering the price, the but the call button is very easy to find as well, the wire is quite thick compared to similar but higher priced LG headsets of this type, its a bit ugly but I prefer this, I think the wire is far too thin, on the HBS 910 very easy to break. Battery life is good, however not as good as the HSB 910 (three times the price almost), but the battery life is good enough for a whole day and night so maybe that doesn't matter Another point they are very light you can't tell your wearing them. in conclusion, they are very tough, sound quality is OK, volume is good very loud, connectivity is good, will work in my whole flat, except the box room right at the front.

I had several pairs of HBS-700s which I loved, but the last pair of HBS700s broke down and amazon was kind enough to refund so I pulled the trigger on these. After reading reviews about connectivity issues, poor battery life, etc I was very hesitant to purchase HBS-800s. Comparing to 700s - the sound quality is definitely better, frequencies are a bit more balanced, range is about the same, not better but probably not worse either. Battery life is about the same, especially with active noise cancellation (ANC) off. I personally can't tell the difference with ANC. I had zero connectivity issues. Call quality wise - no complaints, excellent on both ends.When I tried them the first time sound wasn't good at all, I even thought these were counterfeits. But I realized later the trick is to pick the right sheath size - headset comes with three sizes. These look sleeker but I prefer 700-730 design, these look a bit like a fashion accessory. One thing that I don't like about these is that the volume gradation or whatever it's called, is too wide - meaning one click and the volume is either too low or too high. All in all, I recommend these if you can get them under CAD90. Otherwise - 700 is still an excellent choice. And of course amazon is the place to buy!

Stöpsel müssen tief ins Ohr damit der Bass auch wirklich wirkt, da es in ear Kophörer sind. Aber dann für meine Begriffe brillianter Sound. Bin sehr glücklich, habe nun schon die Kombinationen etlicher Player und Headsets probiert. Irgendwas passte immer nicht. Verwende das Headset mit dem Bluetooth MP3 C05 Player von AGP. Da ist auch die Lautstärke ordentlich was ich im Zusamnmenspiel mit meinem Samsung Galaxy S7 nicht behaupten kann. Also. Kaufen - meine Empfehlung. Wenn der Sound nichts ist dann liegt es am Player oder Handy. Wie gesagt. Der Sound des Billig-MP3-Players mit dem Headset ist besser als mit dem teueren Samsung Galaxy S7. Wer hätte das gedacht!

These earphones offer very good sound quality (for bluetooth audio) for a reasonable price and a comfortable wearing experience. The neck band is very light so it doesn't bother you during use and is flexible so you can roll it into a circle that can fit into your pocket. The sound quality is excellent compared to other bluetooth earphones and headphones I've tried, most others are lacking in treble clarity and seem to focus exclusively on bass but these have no such issues. I ended up using the bass boost EQ as this matches my tastes (the bass boost in noticable but the sound remains balanced), make sure you experiment with the different earbuds supplied as this has a HUGE effect on sound quality. These earphones aren't listed as sweatproof so you probably don't want to use them in the rain or during heavy exercise (though you could always risk it I suppose). The Active Noise Cancellation does work (it doesn't remove the background noise but it does reduce it) but I found it unnecessary as the earbuds block out most noise as long as you use the right size for your ears. WHILE THESE ARE LISTED AS THE KOREAN VERSION WHICH MEANS THAT ALL THE VOICE COMMANDS WOULD BE IN KOREAN, MY UNIT WAS THE ENGLISH VERSION WITH ENGLISH VOICE COMMANDS AND DOCUMENTATION. Maybe I was just lucky but if that was putting you off I would recommend taking the chance. I hope that was helpful to someone.