Motorola HS850

Design/Comfort
The HS850’s hinged mic boom doubles as a power switch (open to turn it on, close to turn it off). Top and bottom Volume buttons can be reoriented if you switch ears. All of the other functions are controlled through the central, oversized Multifunction button, but memorizing these takes effort. The headset fits well and stays comfortable for very long periods.

Features
The HS850 handles common tasks, including voice dialing, redialing, and putting calls on hold. As with most Bluetooth headsets, headset and hands-free modes are both supported.

Performance
The HS850 could use a stronger maximum volume, and it was more receptive to wind noise than most. Users’ voices sounded slightly muffled, but not unacceptably so. Noise canceling in our background music tests was impressive, with Motorola dampening our competing tunes and making even very soft speech quite audible. The HS850 shined in our distance test, with only slight garbling near the edge of our 30-foot indoor test range. Battery life was merely average, with a little over five hours of talk time.

Verdict
With better-than-average signal integrity, excellent noise canceling, and a fetching design, the HS850 can be forgiven for its navigational shortcomings.