[read the follow-up review, for the whole story here].
sure, my vw bus doesn't take of and land like a blackhawk helicopter --that doesn't mean i can't have other cool toys and upgrades installed...
it's pretty noisey inside (rather, not unlike a blackhawk), a bad place to make calls even with a decent headset (gotta be hands-free on the road!).
so i've decided to splurge on a headset that features the same technology used by the military, stock brokers, and race car drivers alike. umevoice sells a headset series they call 'theboom'. in addition to its gooseneck boom, it contains a unique patented microphone with a cone shape that passively eliminates most incidental off-angle noises. in other words, it's remarkably unidirectional without the aid of active electronics. it's a novel design.
sure, i really liked my bluetooth hands-free, but the battery has been dying and in terms of road noise in my car, it was just passable. maybe with a decent boom on those would work well enough. i had to be pretty vigilant to keep it charged up lately (and for some reason it seemed call quality plummeted recently, maybe the mic got busted along the way).
perhaps a good bluetooth version of the theboom would present the best of both worlds. anyway there is still a trade off here, with a wire i never have to worry about keep it charged up, or interference.... on the other hand i have to plug it in just to use it. i don't expect to keep my phone corded -which would also mean swapping out with the charging cable regularly (i really love the desktop stand for that!).
most other (quieter) cars don't have a problem here, a decent headset would be just fine. but my vw bus presents a lot more road noise and i'd like to make calls (as needed) while not frustrating the folks i'm calling. plus for my business it'd like to potential field calls and with more privacy from my office environment and the surrounding clutter... better clarity on the phone presents a better image. plus i'll be able to speak in a lower volume, affording me some personal privacy as well.
theboom is pretty amazing, at worst it improves the sound working as well as the phone's internal mic, at it's best its nothing short of staggering. i called myself and listened to my voice against a stereo at full volume. nothing. just my voice. wow.
i'm trying to use this in conjunction with my cdt-10 desktop stand in the car, so the headset is plugged in and ready to go (with out fishing for the cables and plugging it in). it didn't work at first since the desktop stand needs to be [1] powered [2] recognize the phone. it ~does~ work, but a loose connection with the phone will break the connection with the headset. some of my charging stands seem to have weak pins right where the phone connects and doesn't make a solid connection as it should. anyway, fyi... it's not a simple pass thru to the phone since the charger needs power for the headset to work. it's a trade off, since you can contol which profile the phone is in (unlike the passive stands which put the phone in the hands-free profile). so the 'smart' desktop chargers are good for the office where you want the headset plugged in, but keep the ringer low.
[read the follow-up review, for my results on testing theboom out].