Sony SBH54 Gold Stereo Bluetooth Headset

I have enjoyed 2 Sony Ericsson MW600 devices for 4 years. I was going to replace one I lost and discovered the Sony SBH54. The SBH54 is a significant improvement. The functionality as a handset is exceptional. The clip is more durable. Usability of the device's control buttons are very user friendly. There is a greater operational adaptive feel when controlling the device than the MW600. It recharges exceptionally fast. My headset charges within minutes using a high capacity charger. I use these devices because of the flexibility it provides for the choice of headphone. I just bought a second device.

Horrible mic. Avoid if you want to have phone conversations with moderate or low, distant sounds. Horrible pairing. Nightmare device. Do not buy this product if you want to pair with more than one device.First there are some good points. I love this concept. Connect your most favorite headphones ever, of any type, and be able to swap out and change based on your needs. For example, I have earbud headphones that are excellent for fit and block out outside noise (tangent: Klipsch with the oval shape buds, not a gimmick, your earholes are actually oval not circular so you get a good seal snug fit without excess pressure). That pair is great for sound quality for music, but there is no mic. I have an old school single earbud headphone which I use 90% at work while I listen to podcasts or audio books and want to keep one ear open to hear things going on around me; and this one has a mic if I want to make a call.I know others have more than one pair of headphones for different uses in their life. Also, it's usually cheaper to replace headphones, easier to have a few "spare pairs" laying around. If you use a BT headset that has the BT functionality tied in with the headphones or buds or whatever, if one speaker goes out or if you get a wire to break internally, you must replace the whole BT/headphones device at higher expense.Headphones usually fail right where the wire enters the ear bud, or the speaker component breaks down. That's just how things go. That's why I love this device. I owned the MW600 version for a long time. The spring clip eventually broke. And then it failed internally, I think it's a battery issue. While it worked I loved it a lot. Pairing was fine and no complaints about the mic.Back to this review. At first it paired just fine with my phone. The NFC pairing works well, although I don't like keeping my NFC on all the time for security reasons. The app works well. Everything was fine until I tried talking on the phone. I work in a light factory environment, with mild noise. Generally a very low hum of equipment running in the background, its fairly low. Occasionally bursts of louder noises like beeps, buzzers, fork lift driving by or tooting his horn, etc. At those moments of louder noises, to my bare ears, the noise was not the least bit loud. Similar to someone with a strong speaking voice nearby. But the party at the other end of my call would howl and complain, "OMG, break my eardrum!" Another example, I was standing in line at a grocery store, with a couple customers ahead of me, I didn't even notice the beep beep of the checker scanning product barcodes 15 ft away. My friend on the call stopped the conversation and asked, "what is that infernal beeping? That is very loud, just call me back later."The next problem was when I paired the device to a second device, my tablet. It took a little more effort than it should have, but not too extreme, and eventually it did work. However, after that, I have been unable to connect it the first device it had been paired with, that being my phone. I'm generally not dumb with technology. I disconnected, unpaired, restarted all devices in all configurations and have been entirely unable to connect to my phone, now only to the tablet.If you truly will only use this dongle for one device, and if you're sure you'll never have phone conversations or only talk while in totally silent environments, probably even tolerable for short conversations in the car, then the format of this product could work for you. I really wish this device could work. But I will return it. If you can accept that the clip will eventually break, then get the MW600 instead. If you're considering the LG neckband style, the HBS800 version is probably best. See my review on that product

Good Bluetooth device to connect to HP ZBook laptop. Got this to replace my Sony Ericsson MW600 (which requires a Bluetooth USB dongle to be able to pair to laptop since the BT version is old). I think the BT version on this SBH54 is 3.0. It does pair but a little flaky after pairing but might be my laptop BT drivers. After connecting to laptop the microphone enables and have to disconnect and reconnect to disable it. Still trying to figure that one out. Currently only using this to listen to music (don't want to be physically tethered to LT) and the battery doesn't last long (around 3 hours until I have to recharge it, MW600 lasts around 7 to 8 hrs). The menu on it isn't as good as the MW600 and the SBH54 is little larger in size. The MW600 allows to toggle between PCs if needed but this one doesn't, that I can see. But seems to be good construction and durable. The headphone jack is another reason why these devices are great since you can plug your own headphones in. I use the MDR-EX083 that I got from an old Sony Walkman 10 years ago (best ear buds ever!). The sound is great. Haven't used the phone answer option yet so that option is unknown for me). The FM radio seems to work good. Apparently different stations can be saved in the menu as well as phone contacts. The manual it came with doesn't have a lot of information so had to download a PDF manual that explains all of the options.

Works pretty well with my iPhone. I love the display that shows you the battery life and name of song you are currently listening to.The radio is pretty cool too!Though I suspect if I have an android there will be more features. But I m happy with it.

For me this is the best bluetooth setup. It let me use good I mean really good earbuds or headphones. The sound is like it is actually plugged in the phone instead of being bluetooth connection. The sound is very good. It blinks out once in awhile sometimes in some areas, for me it is liveable.

It has pairing issues with my phone... It's Sony to Sony :/

Like : good voice specially musicDislike: short battery, unstable Bluetooth connectionBattery become very short after 2 months

Is a really good product from Sony, is small and very efficient is a good technology, I wish it could have more battery life, other then that is really really good