In recent months, my much-praised, but somewhat long in the tooth, Motorola visor-mounted Bluetooth hands free kit had begun to act like a back-alley counterfeit. It was dropping calls on a regular basis, and when it managed to hang on to a connection there was so much noise and echo at the other end that my friends refused to talk to me until I pulled over and switched to the handset. Needless to say, when the opportunity arose to take GoldLantern’s VisorTalk VT-MK20 around the block a few times I didn’t hesitate.
My first impression of the $129 VisorTalk VT-MK20 was very positive. Its fit-and-finish are first rate, and it feels solid in the hand. Of course, first impressions are often wrong. The aforementioned Motorola, for example, looks and feels a little tacky, as if it should be blister-packed and hung on a hook at the drug store checkout counter. Despite that, it worked well for a good two years. (Never mind that we used to expect name-brand electronics products to last for decades. Different times, different expectations.)
Back to the VisorTalk: The front panel’s microphone and speaker flank a flip-up subpanel that houses the VisorTalk’s bright blue LCD panel. Below it are three buttons: Talk, Hotline, and End. The Talk and End buttons are self-explanatory; the Hotline button can be programmed with any number, for one-touch dialing. The bottom panel contains an earphone jack, the ultra-mini USB charging input, and a toggle/push switch that controls the speaker volume and is used to access the unit’s menu and data-entry system. (Not to worry: beyond entering the Hotline number, for most purposes there’s no need to use the menu system. While the VisorTalk has a built in phone book, it makes much more sense to use the one in your phone instead.)
Flipping open the LCD panel turns the VisorTalk on, and (after the one-time pairing process) initiates a connection with the phone. The display reads “ready” when the connection is made. It also reports on battery, signal, and volume control status. In order to conserve battery power, the display dims after a while.
My sample arrived almost fully charged, so I flipped through the well-written instructions, found the section on pairing, and in about 45 seconds had it connected to my phone. A minute later, someone called me, so I grabbed the manual and searched fanatically for the section on answering a call. I needn’t had bothered, since my phone sets itself to auto-answer when in Bluetooth mode. Within a couple of seconds, the VisorTalk’s bright blue LCD panel displayed the number of the incoming call, and made the connection. The display switched to “Active Call,” I said “hello” and we were good to go.
With the unit a couple of feet away on my desk, the caller could tell that I was on a speakerphone, but not the kind that’s annoying. At the end of the conversation, he hung up, and a second later my phone responded in kind. My only job was to talk. Speaking of talking, the VisorTalk supports the phone’s onboard voice-activated dialing. It’s activated by pressing the Talk button for three seconds. After a confirming beep, the phone’s own message (e.g. “Say a Command”) plays through the speaker. On a couple of occasions the voice recognition failed, but that turned out to be a function of noise in the car. With the car stereo turned off, it works fine.
The VisorTalk comes with a visor clip that holds it in place with a couple of powerful magnets. This makes it dead simple to move from car to home or office and back again. When deployed in the car, the distance between mouth and microphone is very short, which greatly reduces the speakerphone effect at the other end. In my car, with the windows shut, several callers thought I was at home, using a regular phone.
When I first saw the VisorTalk, my only complaint had to do with the car-based charging system and the unit’s teeny-weenie USB socket. Had it been fitted with a more common USB socket – and there’s plenty of room for one – the VisorTalk could be charged from my PC’s USB port. As it is, it must be charged in the car. This is still the case, but I no longer care. I’ve been using the unit for almost a month, and the battery indicator has only dropped one notch. (The manufacturer claims 260 hours of standby, and eight hours of talk time.)
Bottom Line: the VisorTalk VT-MK20 is a sturdy, well-made piece of gear. It delivers exactly the combination of high performance and ease of use that I look for when considering a product for The Grown-Up’s Guide to Technology.