Review by M. Robert Goldston:

I have a blackberry 8350i Curve (software version 4.6.1.204) with the Nextel push-to-talk feature. I find the EQ7 to have excellent sound quality and range. Set up was extremely easy and it only took me about 1 minute to open the box, plug in power, and connect to my phone using Bluetooth. The hands free phone features work with the push-to-talk and regular phone calls on the 8350i. When I leave my office, I just press the pause button on the EQ7 and walk away. After I return (sometimes +90 minutes), I just press the play button and start the music again. The EQ7 would also work as an excellent conference phone for small groups.

EQ7 Pros:

- easy to set up and use

- uses 4 “AA” batteries for music on the go

- very good sound quality for music and phone, it can play very loud for its size

- affordable price, looks good on your desk

- comes with double 3.5 audio connector if you have mp3 or IPod device. (My blackberry only has a 2.5 connector and adaptors don’t work well with the 8350i).

- You can control the music/phone features with the EQ7 or by using the 8350i (volume, track, pause, voice command dialing, pause, play, mute).

EQ7 Cons:

- The music kept cutting in/out every 30-90 seconds when I had my Plantronics Discovery 925 earpiece connected at the same time. I disconnect other Bluetooth devices on my blackberry when using the EQ7.

- The music cuts out momentarily if you are in the process of connecting another Bluetooth device in the same area (Example: when syncing a Bluetooth PowerPoint presenter to a laptop within 30 feet).

- Battery life isn’t very long (about 7-9 hours), I changed to rechargeable AA.

Review by Charles Duncan:

This little package is the best thing yet! It sounds great and functions flawlessly with my Moto Q9H. The range is all they say too! Almost makes me want to buy another…just because!

I highly suggest this for anyone that wants to be able to listen to their music, and still be available for the phone. Perfect for the personal office!

Review by Michael H. Kay:

I bought these wireless outdoor speakers for a Mothers Day gift for my wife and I have found them to be either very good or very bad, depending on a few critical factors. Of the 150+ reviews I wish someone had taken the time to figure out the “bad” factors – it would have saved my Mothers Day. Here it is for your information – you decide.

The Good:

For the price (under 0) the reproduced sound quality of the speakers is very good. The technical details from Amazon are a bit misleading, though. The speaker has a SINGLE, 3 inch rubberized element housed inside the weatherproof enclosure, projecting the sound upward. There is a venturi sound dispersal structure which sends the sound out the sides and top. There is also a low frequency sound tunnel similar to those used in some high end sound systems (you know the ones, very expensive, four letter name beginning with B and rhyming with “nose.”) At 900mhz, the distance is limited. In my ordinary stucco-and-wood two story house, it is about 25-30 feet. By taking the transmitter outside the house the range increased by 3x to 60-75 feet. While the speakers are not truly stereo (they blend the right and left channels into a single mono channel) the sound effect when you’re within earshot of both speakers is quite good. With a high quality sound source like an Ipod, the full range of sound can be heard. When I thought some music sounded “tinny” I ultimately traced it back to source; the source music was the cause. The transmitter is quite forgiving about the input sound level. The printed instruction booklet that comes with the speakers gives good advice (set earpiece volume on source device at two thirds full). The speaker enclosure is well thought out, has two simple mounting eyelets on the back where the surface is flat. No mounting screws are included; you’ll need to provide those yourself if you want to mount on a wall. There are low-profile four rubberized feet on the bottom in case you want to set it on a delicate surface. The brand name (Audio Unlimited) appears as a small discreet logo on the front of the speaker. The transmitter has two transmission channels selected by a switch on the transmitter itself. Tuning between the two offered channels is a snap, just press the button on each speaker and it automatically finds the signal. There is a reassuring blue LED on the front of the speaker to let you know it is active at full power. Using the remote’s Power button puts the speaker in Standby and the LED turns to yellow. To fully power off the speaker you must press the power button on each speaker. The Infrared remote emits a strong enough signal to work in direct sunlight and the infrared sensor on each speaker is a 2 inch oval vrtical window on the front. It works well from just about any angle. Each speaker comes with its own AC power adapter capable of 110-240v input. when loaded with its six C-cell batteries the weight of each speaker is hefty enough to withstand wind gusts or the occasional bump, when not fix-mounted, without toppling over.

The Bad

Each speaker requires 6 (six) C-size 1.5v batteries, not included. The remote needs two AAA batteries (again, NOT included.) If you haven’t bought the C-size battery lately and you’re accustomed to AA and AAA prices, get ready for a shock. The price for twelve good quality alkaline batteries is between 12 and 26 dollars, depending on brand. I bought Ray-O-Vac at . Duracell copper top were . I had planned to use rechargeable niMh, but at for TWO batteries (you can find twelve on the internet for about ), I decided to wait to see if I liked the speakers. I do not know if the speakers will actually work on rechargeable – something to check out before you buy those expensive batteries. Rechargeables are only 1.2volt (versus the 1.5v of regular batteries). Batteries last for approximately 16 hours of continuous use.

NOW HERE IS THE REALLY IMPORTANT PART:

If you are surrounded by lots of wireless technology already – wireless telephones, wireless internet, wireless security, wireless garage door openers, wireless mailbox sensors, wireless garage door sensors, wireless iPod headphones, bluetooth headsets, bluetooth printers, keyboards, mouse… THESE SPEAKERS ARE NOT FOR YOU.

I’m a fairly geeky guy who loves his gadgets, and I reasoned that most of my devices operate at or above 2.5ghz and wouldn’t interfere. I was WRONG! by process of elimination I figured out that you need to get up abouve 5ghz to be safe from interference with this device. Remember this is an analog device that translates signals into sounds. Our ears are remarkably sensitive to any interference. And the digital kind of interference doesn’t come across the speakers the gentle hiss of background static; it comes across as sharply (loud) punctuated squeals, cracks and pops. I live on a golf course, and by taking the transmitter and speaker out onto the middle of the fairway behind my house (with a long extension cord for the transmitter) I was able to eliminate all interference. But as soon as I went back near the house, the transmitter needed to be 4-5 feet away from the speakers to eliminate most of the digital wireless interference (it never truly went away unless I was on the fairway, well removed from any human digital wireless technology).

Summary

If you live in a relatively wireless-free world, or all your other wireless devices operate above 5ghz, these are great value for the money – watch the batteries, the cost can quickly overrun what you paid for the speakers.

Review by Sssan:

I bought these wireless speakers with some trepidation, and I love them! The sound is good, they work at the advertised distance, and they look cool! I’ve tried many other wireless speakers, and all the annoying hisses and drops got to me and I returned every one.

This one’s a keeper – even at 900MHz frequency, there’s no perceptible interference from other devices, and the sound remained remarkably steady as I moved the speakers from room to room.

On the flip side, a few pet peeves:

- With individual volume controls on each speaker, it’s hard to tell if you’ve got the balance right (this may be moot – see below)

- The transmitter needs plug-in power, not batteries, thus making it less than portable

- The Saitek speakers had one neat feature – the ability to control Windows Media Player functions (pause, skip, etc.) from the speakers and the remote. This is more useful than you can imagine!

Also, I discovered one dirty little secret – that there’s no Left and Right channel with these speakers. In other works, sound is not in stereo! This is a bummer (-1 star).

Other than these issues, I think this one’s a winner.

Review by ike porter:

I was searching for wireless speakers for an outdoor event, and I’m certain these will do nicely. While it’s true that the transmitter needs to be plugged into the music source (via a standard headphone jack that will fit all devices I would need it to) and into a wall outlet, I expected that. For a test run I plugged into my laptop sitting in the middle of the first floor then slotted 6 AA batteries into the speaker and turned it on. It automatically picked up the signal. I took a walk around the house and got about 100′ away and still got good signal. I also like the feature to select L,R,or Mono on the speaker itself. Bass boost helps the sound a lot. Also, I was able to run 4 speakers from 1 transmitter. Don’t know yet about interference or battery life for the speaker. I love the aesthetics of it.

Review by B. Cole:

Easy to set up, resonable effective range, good sound for a small speaker package, and a good looking package. For what it is, and the price we paid, this is a great deal. If you want great sound from a 0 speaker system, then buy a 0 speaker system. This unit fills a specific need. It is portable, wireless, and rugged enough to be used outdoors. It does all that for .

Review by Philip R. Heath:

I was looking for a replacement for my bluetooth headset when I started looking at bluetooth speakerphones. After doing some research, I was looking for the following:

* No installation – I wanted to use it in multiple vehicles/locations

* Reasonable price

* Trusted brand

* Good sound quality

* Easy to use

I am happy to report that the T305 does a good (sometimes great) job of satisfying my requirements. Here’s a look at how it has performed:

Setup – Upon opening the box, there are really two things to do: insert the visor clip which is easily secured and use the car charger that comes with the unit. While the instructions said that charging could take up to two hours, my unit fully charged in about 30 minutes. Once complete, simply power on the device, and it automatically enters pairing mode. I was able to find it with my LG VX-9900 (see my review) with no problems at all.

Use – Coming from a background of using headsets, I must say that I cannot imagine going back. I really like not having anything hanging on my ear (and sometimes inserted in my ear depending on the headset). This model also seems geared toward the people who use headsets because the operation is very similar. One nice thing is that the power button is separate from the multi-function button. With my 9900, I am able to initiate voice dialing from the speakerphone and with the 9900 set to auto-answer, calls are automatically transferred after 2 seconds. The volume controls on the sides are easily accessible and operate similar to most headsets. I never have to touch my phone at all so it truly is hands-free.

Call Quality – All of the above is meaningless if the calls don’t sound good, right? Well, have no fear. The call quality for both parties is better than any headset that I have ever used – and I’ve used six different ones over last 2 years. Some of this has to do with positioning. In the Texas heat, most people have their AC on a high setting. Unfortunately, most headsets are positioned directly in line with the air flow. However with a visor clip-on of this speakerphone, this is not the case. Add to that the noise canceling technology, and the people on the other end hardly know that they are on speakerphone at all. On my end, the volume is more than adequate. It’s really a simple matter of physics – the speaker is bigger here than it is on a headset.

Cons – So what’s the catch? As I mentioned earlier, the device only ships with a car charger. I ordered (rather cheaply) a wall charger to compensate for this. While it was annoying, it wasn’t the end of the world. Others have mentioned the flashing blue light. I have to admit that the first time I was driving in the dark, it was initially distracting. However, I got used to it rather quickly, and I don’t notice it anymore. I would compare it to getting a new car that has a loud turn signal. You notice it a lot at first, but you learn to tune it out. Also, it does not have a display, but then again, neither do headsets. Finally, I use it in a similar manner to a headset. I take it with me when I get out of the car, and I power it off between uses. It’s not an integrated speakerphone so it isn’t tied to your car’s power supply like more sophisticated (and expensive) models. None of these are deal-breakers for me.

Bottom line – If you are looking for a good alternative to bluetooth headsets, and you intended use pattern will be similar to that of a headset, then this is what you are looking for. It has great quality, and it’s easy to use.

Review by S. Power:

Pros: Good sound quality for each side of the conversation. Good battery life, easy recharging, simple to use. Basically perfect except for my cons..

Cons: Huge blinking blue light is annoying at night and invisible during the day. Sometimes it take a second for it to answer a call when you click the answer button. I guess the solution for that is probably to wait a few seconds after answering before saying “hello”. This flaw also demonstrates itself when using VZ Navigator, because it cuts off the first word of driving instructions. This flaw might be from my MOTOKRZR phone and not from the T305, but I don’t have any way to know which end causes it.

Another reviewer stated that the “on/off” button is too small. When I first read that, I didn’t know why it matters. I now know. At least with a MOTOKRZR (and I’d assume other phones), the speaker on your phone will be inactive when it is connected via Bluetooth to your T305. With 150 feet of range, it actually stays connected if you are 150 feet from your car. Therefore you have to turn it off every time you get out of the car, or else you won’t be able to hear calls you receive on your phone. It isn’t a huge deal, and something you can get used to, but Motorola should have either made the on/off button more accessible or cut the Bluetooth range down to about 15 feet.

Overall the best handsfree solution for talking in the car. The light thing is my biggest annoyance. I would buy again. (I updated this post after about a month of use)