Avantree Hive Bluetooth Over-Ear Headphones

I didn't use the mic on a cell phone as of yet because this headset was purchase to match with an iPod for stereo listening. Sound quality is fine for me, with the volume capacity more than I need. The ear piece pads do not cup and surround the ears but they sit atop the ears and I can wear them for quite a while for they are mostly comfortable. The pads do isolate the ear from outside noise but not as much as a full over the ear cupping. This is not an issue with me as I like the design of the ear pieces including the retrostyle (double wire slide) of adjusting the span ear to ear. The edge stitching of the headband is retro too, presented in an elegant mat black finish over the entire device. That there is no real padding in the headband I wont miss since the device sits on my head with good cooperation and comfort. The controls are interesting. The big start/stop the track control SWITCH on the circular flat of the one earpiece is a clean and convenient switch to use, nice and wide.....the on/off is minimal.....and the volume control rocker has a second function (forward/ reverse to the adjacent sound tracks) that needs the practice of the user to get understood correctly and then it's fine. One week of travel using the new headset daily for a number of hours have not outlasted the initial battery charge. Battery power life between charges was said to be .........I THIINK........15 hours or so according to Avantree, I think.....so far my first week use was covered with no need to recharge the battery (or does it have "batteries")...... The headset is light in weight and the BLUE TOOTH range is outstanding........50 feet or more? I didn't measure this but I noted the impressive range by happenstance. The only nitpick is when or if you switch the power off.........while still having the headset on over the ears.......there's a brief string of erratic beeps as it powers off, which seems sloppy......maybe I'm spoiled by all the clean and highly designed little signal tones of all the high tech devices that surround me in my world......perfect little tones some in an actual melody.....this is only a nitpick of no real consequence.....the erratic little string of beeps at power off if you keep the headset on....maybe the next unit off the production line hasn't any sound at power off.....who knows? So now, how long it functions well will be the final and most revealing measurement of the product. We'll see I expect. I love it, or rather I'm satisfied with the product. My Koss porta-pro is second string now, but only because I had come to almost despise the entanglement of the hard wire that would snag on every damn thing in my surroundings. How nice to be free from that bane. UPDATE on Decoration Day 2013: No problems so far and I continue to enjoy and fully recommend the product. The battery life is great in that I just charge it on the weekend and it covers all week. Not once yet did the battery go low (is there a warning? I haven't heard it).....I have two blue tooth headsets now, the blue parrot for talking on the cell and this one for good stereo sound for my iPod (I still didn't try to use the phone with this Avantree Hive headset.....on both my blue tooth headsets' one or more remote control buttons are occasionally glitchy, needing another push or tap to send the command, and of course there's the host components that have a part in the transmitting smoothness, after all it's radio frequency and that gets subject to interference.....the Hive has a weird volume control switch that advances or backtracks the audio selection you're on to the next in line...for me setting the volume at the headset erroneously triggered the next rack in line back or forward according to the volume control direction I was seeking....the switch is not a roller but a rocker....and it has a push down action that must be another switch to do something but I haven't learn that.....for me it's just weird but I'm improved using that strange multi-action switch.... The product "Hive" doesn't have a branding on the products that I can find and I did find another exact looking headset under another brand on Amazon that is surely the same production except for round button covers, but the switching looks all the same....they were $5.00 less than these "Hive".......but I'm still giving the Hive product I bought a 5 star salute.....I'm high use and if I can get two years out of them I'll be fine...so far so good, and no regrets. I'd buy these as a gift in a moment. UPDATE on July 28, 2013: Still, the battery gets charged on the weekend and all week trucking with all the time I need for the headset, the battery hasn't stopped. Excellent. I still haven't used the headset for the cellphone (as I've said, I have a second dedicated blue tooth headset for the cell), so I have no opinion there.....but I'm sticking with the 5 star rating for my experience with this unit. Yeah man. UPDATE on January 22, 2015: All's well with the product but I can add that today I first used the Hive blue tooth headset as a phone connected headset and the microphone on the right ear piece really did sound good to the other party I was talking to. I don't use the Hive as my primary blue tooth for phone conversations but only for excellent stereo listening, but I was curious on how the microphone sounded to the other party during a phone call and as I said, it really did well. All the other functions of the Hive continue to perform well too, including rechargeable battery life, and it still looks really good. I visited the Avantree webpage and it looks like they make really good stuff...... My FIVE STAR rating stands on the Hive blue tooth stereo headset.