Many of the same design elements that make the Jabra Eclipse our pick as the most comfortable Bluetooth headset could also be deal-breakers for certain people. The super-lightweight earpiece can only be worn in the right ear, has no buttons and requires its charging pod to function, but if you can overlook these quirks, the Eclipse is a great, simple headset.
The Eclipse’s egg-shaped charging pod is integral to the device’s use. It holds the charging port and the only button, which you use to pair the headset. The device has to be in the pod to charge or pair, which can be annoying. Besides acting as a home base for the earpiece, the pod can also hold up to three charges for the earpiece, which is great for charging on the go. The charging aspect of the pod is pretty necessary, considering that you can only expect three to four hours of talk time or three days of standby from each charge. This is the shortest battery life of any headset we tested, so the Eclipse is best suited to more periodic use than other headsets – like the Motorola Boom 2+ – that have more talk time.
At just six grams, the Jabra Eclipse is the lightest of the products we tested, but it doesn’t feel light in a cheap way. It stays securely in your ear and is comfortable enough to wear for hours at a time. You may even forget you’re wearing it. One of the reasons it can be so light is that it doesn’t have any buttons or switches on the earpiece itself. You control the volume on your device, and you use taps and voice commands to answer calls.
One of the problems with this minimalist design is that the headset’s mic doesn’t always respond to voice commands. Because the headset is so small, its mic is a good distance from your mouth, which is not the best position for giving voice commands or even using to talk on a call. In our tests, users reported that the mic doesn’t do the best job of filtering out background noises like traffic.
On the wearer’s end, however, audio quality is great. The Eclipse’s ear cushions do an excellent job blocking out ambient noise, allowing you to hear the headset audio better, even at lower volumes. If you choose to listen to music through your headset, the Eclipse handles most sound ranges impressively. You won’t get any booming bass, but the balance is good for a Bluetooth speaker.
Overall, the Jabra Eclipse could be the best choice if you’re looking for something simple that you can wear comfortably for hours. It does everything you need a Bluetooth headset to do, plus offers great audio quality and an interesting design.
