Jabra BT160 Bluetooth Headset

Using a Bluetooth headset in public tends to make people stare at you with a mix of pity and envy. You may as well be wearing a sign that says, “I’m a dork, but I’m a dork with the latest technology.” Jabra’s new headset attempts to address this chronic problem. The BT160 competes with the best headsets on the market. A quick two-hour charge gives you six hours of talk time; weighing around 0.6 ounces, this headset is so light, you’ll forget that you’re wearing it.

What sets the BT160 apart from the competition is customization. The unit comes with a variety of interchangeable faceplates. Tango, Turquoise, Red Velvet, and Summer Cream are a small sampling of the 33 faceplates with names that sound like they were plagiarized from a Pottery Barn catalog. Changing the faceplates is a snap, quite literally. Pop off the clear plastic cover and transform your headset from Lime Spirit to Passion Flower in seconds.

Set up was certainly easy enough, as well. We paired the BT160 with a Samsung SCH-a970 within a few minutes. The volume was a bit low, even on the highest setting, but the BT160 is still a welcome and very civilized alternative to the colder, utilitarian headsets that most of us dorks are wearing around these days.