Introduction
The Plantronics Voyager Focus B825 is a wireless headset designed for professionals seeking top-notch audio quality and comfort.
Comfort & Design
- Soft headband and comfy ear pads for wearing for a long time.
- The headband can be changed, and the ear cups can move to fit you better.
- It’s light, so it won’t bother you even if you use it for a long time.
Audio Quality
- Superior sound with noise-canceling technology for crystal-clear calls.
- Immersive audio experience for music and multimedia.
- Dynamic mute alert feature ensures you’re never on mute accidentally.
Connectivity & Controls
- Seamless Bluetooth connectivity for up to 98 feet.
- Easy access to call, track, and volume controls on the headset.
- Smart sensor technology for auto-pause/play functionality.
Battery Life & Charging
- Up to 12 hours of talk time on a single charge.
- Standby time of up to 15 days.
- Convenient charging dock included for hassle-free charging.
Pros
- Exceptional comfort for prolonged use.
- Outstanding audio quality for calls and multimedia.
- User-friendly controls and seamless Bluetooth connectivity.
- Long battery life with a convenient charging dock.
Cons
- The price might be a bit steep for some users.
- Some users might find the headset a bit bulky.
Conclusion
The Plantronics Voyager Focus B825 offers exceptional comfort, superior audio quality, and convenient controls for professional and personal use. Despite a few minor drawbacks, it’s a top choice for those valuing both performance and comfort in a headset.
Amy –
I picked this headset because it works with Teams. It has quite a lot of customizable features, however the software does not allow you to adjust many of the features, and the features themselves are fiddly and glitchy.When you answer a Teams call or join a meeting, the software throttles the volume down to zero and you have to manually raise the volume back up. There is no setting where you can tell it what volume you WANT when answering calls.Also, when you join a Teams meeting, half the time it MUTES the meeting. I don’t mean it mutes your mic, which would make sense. No, it mutes the whole meeting and you can’t hear anything. There will be a brief popup as soon as you join telling you that it’s muted, and if you don’t hit that unmute button immediately, there is NO WAY to get the audio to come back without leaving then rejoining the meeting.I don’t personally like the mic arm, which you can raise and lower. It is too much to remember on top of all the other hoops you have to jump through just to answer a call. If it’s raised and out of the way, you are muted, so you HAVE to remember to lower the arm every time. Or just leave it down all the time, which is what I usually do, but it can get moved if you take your headset on and off.The headset has a sensor that can tell if you’re wearing it or not, and you have the option of allowing the headset to mute itself or pause your videos if you take it off. Unfortunately, this sensor is VERY sensitive, so you end up causing your videos to pause every few seconds unless you turn that feature completely off.If you turn your headset off and/or place it on the charger, the software does not intelligently then switch your audio back to your computer speakers. So every time you take your headset off, turn it off, or charge it, you have to manually go into audio settings and switch your audio source from headset back to speakers.There are quite a few other annoying aspects of the headset’s software that make it frustrating to use. However, the sound is quite good, and it connects easily via bluetooth or USB wireless. I was able to connect it to both my computer and my phone, which allows me to take Teams calls while out of the office. Overall, it’s an okay headset but the features and options often inhibit the functionality rather than enhance it.
Harvey Stills –
I don’t normally leave reviews but I spent a lot of time researching and testing for the best work from home headset with the best overall functionality and comfort. I thought it would be worthwhile to share my experience given the time I spent on finding my ideal headset. I started a new job as a sales executive which means making 300 calls a day for basically 8 hours straight so I needed the best headset possible. I started with the Jabra Evolve 75 because if you look on bestreviews.com and Wire Cutter the consensus is the Jabra Evolve 75 is the best and I agree from a functionality and compatibility standpoint they are but when it comes to comfort which is really important they are terrible. I was hoping after a week my ears would get used to them and they just would not. After 30-60 minutes my ears felt like they were being compressed and tortured by hard plastic, needless to say they got returned. The Bose 700 were more comfortable, functionally on par with Jabra Evolve 75 though the headband got uncomfortable after 1+ hour even though it’s Bose and this is more of personal preference but I felt weird making calls with my ears completely covered and not being able to hear my voice the same way threw me off even with ANC turned off. For listening to music and ANC they get a 10 stars but for making calls 8 hours in a day they don’t cut it. They got returned. The Blue Parrott S450-XT were the 2nd most comfortable after Bose but functionally were the worst. I got really aggravated when I couldn’t pair to computer and gave up, the app didn’t help at all. I watched some youtube videos of people being very fond of the Poly Voyager Focus UC. I tried them out and I was pleasantly surprised. They are a good balance between Bose and Jabra. In terms of functionality, it was annoying at first to setup to my computer, had to go through settings to figure out how to connect as there were 2 different devices for the Plantronics showing up and only 1 worked but eventually I got it figured out and it’s been fine though switching between my phone and computer and not as seamless as it was with Jabra and Bose. Calls I make are through a custom CRM so VOIP calls 95% of the day but it was annoying when I got a call to my cell phone and it wouldn’t switch over easily like with Jabra or Bose. I updated the firmware for the Plantronics USB dongle and it didn’t make any difference. In terms of comfort the adjustable top headband on the Plantronics is AMAZING. Easy to overlook something which seems minute but wearing it for 8 hours straight you notice these things but with the Plantroics it felt like nothing was there even after 8 hours. Jabra and Bose I felt top headband and it was not comfortable. The ear pieces on the other hand I do feel after 1-2 hours but an upgrade in comfort over the Jabra but not as comfortable as Bose. I have to take short breaks for a minute here and there throughout the day but it’s the best of the 4 I tested. As a side note I did read some reviews about people saying their Poly Voyager Focus UC breaking after ~1 year. I highly recommend making the $23 investment in the 3 year Allstate warranty.
Alexander Bath –
Best work headphones I’ve had yetCan pair with multiple devices at once, works well and is reliable. The only downside is you need the Bluetooth dongle to make it work well with a PC.
shannon –
Fits very well, but a number of annoying minor issuesUPDATE: after chats with Poly’s tech support, I’m updating this to reflect some new info. I am also increasing my rating to 4 stars as a result.ORIGINAL:I have long used Logitech USB headsets on my mac and pc for telephony and light gaming. I would invariably step on the cable or roll over it with my chair and they would eventually break. This happened a couple of months ago so I got what I thought was the identical set but with BlueTooth – to avoid cable-pulling – but found it tightly clamped onto my head. I returned those for a version of the same USB ones I used to have, the H390, but found it had been modified and was even tighter. Wearing it for even 15 minutes became very uncomfortable.So I asked around on the ‘net and someone suggested Plantronics. I got this set after reading many reviews here on Amazon and on Reddit, which all suggested this earlier model is better than the latest one.So, the good:1) it is much more comfortable! The ear cups are soft and the headset as a whole does not clamp as much sideways. For hold, it relies more on the band on the top of the head rather than gripping your ears. I have worn this for hours without too much discomfort.2) the battery life is pretty good. Not super-fantastic, but there’s only so much capacity you can fit into something of this weight. Compared to a few other brands I tried, including the Logi, I’d estimate this lasts twice as long.3) The desktop charger is great.4) Sound quality is a bit tinny, especially compared to the Logis. These are OK for gaming (especially compared to some cheap sets I tried out) and perfectly fine for telephony.UPDATE:5) there are sensors in the headset that can be programmed for different tasks, like answering the phone when you pick them up and muting the mic when you put them down. This is a very useful feature! My only complaint is that the system defaults to “play music when call ends”, which means that it would run iTunes every time I put them down. This is easy enough to turn off, but well hidden, and I think it should not be defaulted to on.And the bad:a) On the mac at least, for a period after pairing the sound breaks up and stutters. It goes away after a time, but that’s often on the order of a couple of minutes. My mac is about 3 feet from my chair, so it’s not an issue of range. I have used other BT headsets on this system, including cheapo ones, and none of them had this problem. This is problematic enough I might return them.UPDATE: this was solved by using the included USB-BT dongle. I don’t like having to use it (only so may USBs on my machine) but it definitely solves the problem. This gets it another star. If it turns out this problem is due to the machine I’ll give it one more.b) you can’t use it in “wired mode”. Although the system includes a mini-USB port for charging, plugging the set into a computer does not make it appear as an audio device on the USB. This seems *really* dumb. Not only would that allow it to work on any machine, with or without BT, it would also allow you to use it while you charge, which could be an issue if you have a long day of calls.c) there is no easy way to switch the set between two or more machines, you have to re-select it in your BT menu. This is a bit annoying, especially when one of the two machines is using the dongle because it tries to stay connected to that over BT so you have to disconnect.UPDATE: now that I’m using the dongle on all my machines, (c) is no longer as big a deal, but I still think this could be improved.And some nice-to-haves:i) there is nowhere to store the USB dongle when not in use. My pc doesn’t have BT (yeah, weird) so I have to use the dongle, but they don’t give you any place to store it. It would be great if there was a spot on the desktop charger it could clip to so you don’t lose it.ii) the light on the charger never goes out, even when you’re not charging. Kind of annoying.
Kelvin –
Definitely one of the best, if not “The” best headset in the market !There’s not much more to say, just read the tons of reviews in amazon and also youtube.I chose this among other models from Plantronics as well as Jabra, based on these reviews, and have to say I am super happy with this choice.Have been using this for about a month and here’s my feedback.Plus points:- Works really well for teleconference, I use both Skype for business and Zoom- Mic and speakers are clear to me and my conference partners- Comfortable to wear for hours of teleconferences (although if not positioned or adjusted correctly, ears will hurt a bit)- Superb for music, balanced, good base and soundstage (comparing to my other headphones & earphones)- Mute button is very practical (had to install the application to get the button to integrate with Zoom, but now i can walk around and mute/unmute to talk, but mute does not work when mic boom is rotated vertical (need to test more, as I remembered it used to work with Skype)- all buttons and knobs are so practical, located well and easy to findMinus points:- Not much if you consider what its primary functions are but I am just nitpicking- As mentioned above, mic boom docking to vertical position does not auto-mute in zoom and vice-versa, but will try it out on Skype again, may be a Zoom setting thing or may be affected after I updated the firmware- ANC, I tried it out but not much improvement both on my side (speakers) and the other party (mic), so now i turned it off totally to improve battery life- With ANC on, sometimes there are slight cracking sounds emitted, during silence (nothing is playing, not in telecon), its quite annoying- Battery life is intermittent, a full charge can last a full week and sometimes 2 days, but I suspect it could be because of ANC, as I have been testing it out initially; ANC is turned it off now, so will monitor for battery life- Initially I paired to my Laptop and Samsung phone, after a telecon ended, the headset will automatically restart my music in the phone, which can be shocking if unexpected (as i play music at quite a loud volume) – have unpaired my phone as I don’t really listen to music on my phone and take calls there (this point has also been mentioned in several reviews)Other than the points above, I was initially concerned over the many complaints of headset arm breaking, and always breaking at around the same area. One reviewer mentioned a good point, if left in the charging dock, and depending on the height adjustment, the whole weight of the headset is resting on one pivot point and causes stress on that area. For me, to prevent this, I only dock to charge when the headset tells me that i have less than 2 hours of talk time, and remove it immediately when fully charged. This also helps to extend the rechargeable battery’s lifespan (I hope).Bottom line, I highly recommend this model if you’re still looking for a reliable headset, monitor the price at Amazon as the price fluctuates from time to time and you may get a great deal, I did 🙂 !!
S.BEE –
Can’t beat PlantroncisBeen wearing headsets for the most of my career. And by far Plantronics have always been the better quality, best sounding and most durable I’ve ever seen.These wireless ones are even better!The Bluetooth range is quite impressive, the echo cancelling and background cancelling is amazing and it fits well, doesn’t feel heavy or sweaty.Truly recommend.
Jenny –
Works wellA bit finicky to set up but once set up, works well.