Review: Motorola HT820 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones

I can’t stand wires and think the world of wireless technology. Any opportunity to eliminate wires is a good opportunity in my mind. Some of the most frustrating wires of all are those on stereo headphones. They get tangled, twisted, knotted, and unless you get a 30’ extension they restrict your movement. Then you’ve got the 30’ extension to contend with.

The Motorola HT820 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones ($69.95)are one option to eliminate the headaches associated with wired headphones. You get the freedom of movement without the need for miles of extension cords and no more tangled, knotted wires. Oh and as an added bonus, these headphones can double as a wireless headset for your phone as well.

Read on for the full review!

Out of the Box

The HT820 comes packaged with a soft pouch, audio cable, and charger. The headphones are the “over the back of the head” style. The earpieces are large, solidly built while the frame is lightweight. The frames flexibility makes the headphones feel a little flimsy.

One drawback of the design is that the headphones are not adjustable. You can adjust the fit a little by adjusting the angle of the frame but some manner of adjusting the size of the frame would be nice.

The earpieces are well made and are cushioned to add to the comfort. Each earpiece has a large, center control button and two buttons on top of the earpiece. The left earpiece controls power, phone functions, and volume. The right earpiece controls music pause and skip forward/backward functions (device/program dependant).

Each center control button has Motorola’s trademark “M” that lights up to indicate/confirm functions as well as to let the user the headphones are active. The light is bright enough that at night, aircraft passing overhead will be able to tell if the headphones are active. Fortunately, you can disable these lights.

The unit comes with an audio cable that will allow the headphones to work with non-Bluetooth enabled devices.

Performance

Stereo Headphones

Pairing the HT820 with your phone was no more difficult than any other Bluetooth device. It took me no time to pair the headphones with my Samsung BlackJack II and I was enjoying my favorite Jimmy Buffet tunes without wires.

Sound quality through the headphones was good. The headphones seem to rely more on the host devices volume than its internal volume. When I maxed out the volume on the headphones I still had room to go by increasing the volume on my BlackJack II.

While I enjoyed pairing the HT820 with my BlackJack II, I also enjoyed listening to music off my laptop. Pairing the HT820 with my Dell Inspiron E1505 was almost as easy as pairing it with the phone. The challenge was to tweak the internal settings of the laptop so the audio was transmitted through the headphones instead of the internal speakers.

The reported range of these headphones is approximately 10 meters. I won’t argue with that. While listening to music on my laptop, I set my computer down to go upstairs to check on something. Not paying attention, I still had the headphones on and was able to listen to the music with no difficulty upstairs.

Phone Headset

As mentioned, the HT820 doubles as a wireless headset for your phone. Sound quality was good and it took a little getting used to hearing callers in stereo. The microphone picked up my voice using a normal tone and volume. There was a little crackling detected by those I called but nothing bad enough to interfere with the call. As my wife described it, “I could hear you fine but the crackling was a little distracting.”

The headphones have basic phone operations such as answering/ending calls, voice dialing, redialing last number, and ignoring calls. Some features are phone dependant.

Battery life for the HT820 is reported at 14 hours of music listening, 17 hours of talk time and 500 hours of standby time. After using these headphones extensively during the review, I’ll agree with Motorola’s assessment.

Overall Impression

The HT820 is a solid set of headphones. Sound quality is good, connectivity is good and the headphones can double as a wireless headset for your phone. The only concern I have over these headphones is the lack of adjustability. While they fit me comfortably, my son had problems getting them to fit just right.

If you are like me and are seeking to reduce the number of wired devices you have in your life, the Motorola HT820 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones are worth considering.