BlueAnt Q3 Wireless Bluetooth Headset

Here's my personal summary of my experience with the BlueAnt Q3: Not nearly as good as the Jawbone Era 2011 Edition. If you'd like to know the details, read on. First of all, my Q3 did not work very well. It had an issue whereby switching the on/off switch to on, would not turn the unit on every time. Sometimes, it would take several attempts to turn it on. Annoying to say the least, deadly if you're trying to switch the unit on while driving. Additionally, there was one call where I disconnected the call by clicking the Talk button, heard the beep confirming the call ended, and the call was still active. Fortunately, I continued to hear the conference and knew that I was still live. You know how bad of a situation that can be. Now, these first two issues could be chalked up to a lemon unit. Perhaps the one I received was defective, which might be a rare occurrence. I didn't contact the manufacturer to find out, so I'll never know, but I didn't like the experience so back to Amazon it went. I will say that I bought this from Amazon from a direct link from the BlueAnt website. Another issue with the Q3 is the placement of the Micro-USB charging connector in the back. It's slightly inset and is also near the protruding volume rocker. This makes it difficult to charge the unit using non-BlueAnt-supplied cable. If you're like me, you have charging cables strategically placed everywhere so you can charge your accessories up wherever you go. It's somewhat annoying to have to trim the plastic sheathing off of your non-BlueAnt cables simply to get them plugged in to charge the Q3. Now, I've returned the Q3 and have a bunch of mutilated Micro-USB cables, nice. There's a rubber pad near the mouth end of the Q3. I'm sure this is engineered for comfort and function, allowing the unit's microphone to be slightly elevated from your face. However, just after a week of use, I noticed this little rubber piece was coming out in one corner. It took a little bit of play to get it back in, but I thought to myself, "Oh great. That thing is going to fly off and get lost or be impossible to put back in some day." Poor quality design. I also had issue with the BlueAnt voice that talks to you when using the Q3. This is a real personal one, but the voice is very unfriendly, mechanical, and robotic. This is my first BlueAnt product so I'm not sure if that's the same voice that's been used on all BlueAnt bluetooth products since inception. If so, it makes sense to continue with a legend (I guess) but if not, boy did they miss the boat on this one. This made me realize how much I appreciate the Jawbone Era 2011's ability to change the voice to suit my mood or tickle my fancy. Here's another issue that is just a personal preference thing, but the BlueAnt Q3 comes with it's own interactive voice command software. The problem is that you can't turn it off. I'm an iPhone user and Siri's voice commands are more than powerful enough to manage virtually everything I want to do with my phone through my Bluetooth headset. With the Q3, you have to double-click the Talk button to bypass the Q3's voice command software (a single click activates the Q3 software). This is an issue because you don't always time the double-click just right. Sometimes you inadvertently activate the Q3 voice command instead of the phone's. And this just leads to problems. You just don't need these types of distractions and problems when you're driving a car and trying to make a phone call on your bluetooth headset. Of course, the software might be a welcomed addition for users whose phones do not have built-in voice command technology. But for iPhone users, it's not needed and unfortunately, you can't turn it off. The ear buds are not as comfortable out of the bag as the Era 2011's. They're virtually identical in design, however the Q3 has a small channel that extends from the speaker port to the tip of the earbud, presumably to channel the sound into the user's ear better. The issue is that this small channel results in firm ridges that tend to press into the ear a little bit. Fortunately, this discomfort only lasts a couple of days as your ear gets used to the ear bud. Up until now, I've only owned Jawbone bluetooth headsets. I lose them and because Jawbone discontinued their 2011 model for the 2014, which has gotten mixed reviews and appears to use a proprietary charger (yuck!), I decided to try out the Q3. I know BlueAnt has been around a long time so I expected a lot more polish from their product. The Q3 design Design-wise, the Q3 pretty attractive. In black, it's small and sleek (other colors appear to have shiny elements in them and I'd rather stay stealthy). The Q3 also has a physical volume rocker which is hugely and enormously superior to the Era 2011's hold-button method for changing volume. It also features an ear loop option which may be great for those real power users, but I learned from previous earpiece headsets that those things only bend or break over time so I prefer to go without. After experiencing all of these issues with the Q3, I decided to return it to Amazon. Some Amazon sellers still sell the Jawbone Era 2011 edition, so get your hands on one if you can, but it's risky because many of them are refurbs or used models sold seemingly as 'new'. Maybe I'll stock up on a couple of Era 2011's if I find brand new ones, just in case I lose it. After comparing the Q3 to the Era 2011, I realize what a great thing Jawbone had going on. Hopefully they continue build on a legend instead of morphing it into an inferior product.