Gennum nXZEN VoIP Bluetooth Headset Review

Setting up nXZEN

Gennum did a good job of including a variety of ear tips and hooks in their package. Many times we get the absolute minimum in accessories from the manufactures, but Gennum surprised us with multiple earpieces and more than one way to charge the headset. Our favorite manufacturer is still Plantronics with all the things they provide, including a battery charger, but if you purchase this headset, you will not be missing anything.

What?s in the box:

• nXZEN Wireless Headset (Model 5000)
• 2 ear hook sizes, multiple ear tips
• nXZEN USB Dongle and nXZEN Dongle Manager CD
• User?s Manual
• Quick Reference Card
• AC Wall Charger
• USB cable (charging only)

The headset took only a few hours to fully charge with the wall charger which was great. The headset was fully functional during the course of the day and evening without a charge. Even after this heavy use, we didn’t start seeing any ‘low-power’ indications until the next morning. When the battery gets dangerously low, you hear an audible warning in your ear during conversations that the party you are talking is not aware of. This gives you lots of time to transfer you phone conversation over to the handset. Gennum’s claim of 7 hours talk-time is not an exaggeration.

As we mentioned in our first article about the nXZEN, the fit of this in-the-ear headset was fairly comfortable. If you have never used an in-ear headset, it might take you some getting used to. Its design is a bit unusual where the headset boom goes a bit futher down your ear canal than most other headsets on the market. This of course is to help the user hear in loud and noisy conditions.

We paired up this headset with our normal cadre of cell phones: Treo 650, Treo 700w, Motorola RAZR V3, and a T-mobile MDA Vario. They all paired well and easily. The Gennum nXZEN gave us pretty good range away from the handset. I was able to stay in contact with my caller when walking almost 20 feet away from the phone. The headset’s main action button has the ability to redial your last call, swap incoming/outgoing calls, as well as transferring calls from the headset to the handset – pretty standard stuff for headsets these days. It would be news if the nXZEN didn?t perform these minimal functions.