UKC

My Bose headphones have broken and I’ve been given a refund. They were the Sound Sport and had amazing sound quality but unless you were in a silent room they were useless for phone calls. 

I could do with a pair that I can use when out walking, driving, on the train, doing jobs around the house etc where the microphone is only picking up me and not everything that’s going on. 

My £5 wired ones were way better than the Bose pair - but they get in the way when driving etc. 

Can anyone recommend something which would fit the bill (music quality doesn’t matter. 

Thanks!

If you want really good call quality, you should get a professional headset with boom mic (and a dead cat if you're going to be using it in the wind.

I have Jabra ones for work (other makes are available) that I sometimes use around the house or out and about and they are brilliant, especially when talking to my elderly parents.

2nd jabra, I also have a work supplied pair and they are excellent.

Unfortunately there is no getting away from the fact that if you want to be heard you need a microphone in front of your mouth. There's only so much you can do with speech picked up by mics on your ears! A £10 headset with a boom mic will outperform the best earbuds you can buy when it comes to calls.

As per the other recent thread - I use a Jabra 65 set for teaching online, and cannot fault them.  I use the bluetooth dongle in my PC, so I can't comment on how well they'd bluetooth directly to a phone but I wouldn't imagine it's poor.  Currently £30 used at CEX.

I bought a pair of Sony WH-1000XM5 noise cancelling phones for listening to podcasts in my gym, in which they play obnoxiously loud, terrible music. Whenever I receive a call while I am there, the caller says they can hear my voice clearly and not the music. Which is frankly astonishing. Much more expensive than the ones other people have recommended, mind.

I’ve got an XBC bluetooth headset and mic that works quite well. Folds away into quite a small space. Reasonably comfortable. £32.

Oh. You're that guy.

Sounds like you are, tbh. Have a good one.

Unless you have an extended microphone, the only option is to embrace it, Trigger Happy TV style "CAN YOU HEAR ME? WHAT? I'M ON HEADPHONES. ON WIRELESS HEADPHONES. NO, HEADPHONES. HOW ABOUT NOW?" They also work better in libraries, where there is less ambient noise. 

Jabra Elite 45h/bluetooth for the phone.

For PC meetings I use a Logitech H800 and its DECT dongle which works better for wandering around, making tea etc.

From your post, I guess the Logitech ones would be better. Also has bluetooth.

I did reply to this but it must not have gone through.

Thanks for all the replies. I hadn’t considered a headset with a boom microphone. It makes sense that these would be superior, and also why my cheap wired earphones are better than my wireless Bose ones. 

I’ll have a good think about the options, but I think the boom wouldn’t be right for what I want as I will still use them day-to-day for podcasts etc and I think the boom would be annoying if there all the time. Though perhaps getting one for the car could be an option when I know I’ve a long drive and want to call someone. 

Thanks for the help and advice

The boom does fold away!