In my search for a Bluetooth headset for my Treo 650 and VoIP use, I revisited a favorable Treonauts review of the Cardo Scala 650 that I pointed out a couple of weeks ago. I was surprised to see the following paragraph had been added to the review:
UPDATE: Following a flurry of comments and emails as well as additional testing on my part, I have very disappointingly found that the Scala 500 suffers from a significantly higher level of ‘static’ compared with the Palm Treo BT Headset as well as others. There is no doubt that the Scala 500 still offers the best accessory kit but unfortunately with a sub-par call quality I now have to reconsider my earlier rating and lower it to just 6/10. It’s a real shame but I hope that Scala will work to improve their offering in the future.
This caused me to look elsewhere for reviews of the Cardo Scala 500. The sense I got from reading dozens of reviews and comments on different websites is that some people had a great experience using the Cardo Scala 500 with the Treo 650 and some people experienced the static problem that’s mentioned in the revised Treonauts review.
What’s more troubling to me, however, is the idea in several articles that the problem may lie more with Treo 650 Bluetooth performance than with the Scala 500 itself. Some headsets have a harder time maintaining a connection with the Treo 650 than with other phones. Some have intermittent or persistent static issues with the Treo 650 and not with other phones.
I’m surprised that the experience people have with Bluetooth headsets is so configuration-dependent. I’d think that a device that’s Bluetooth 1.1 or 1.2 certified would “just work” with another certified device. On the other hand, this is wireless networking, so is it unreasonable to expect some variability.
Your mileage may vary with the Cardo Scala 500 and the Treo 650. I’m not changing my view that this headset is a great value, but I may not buy one myself either.