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Motorola HS850 Bluetooth headset

By Kent German on 27 May 2005

The Motorola HS850 offers Bluetooth fans a stylish, well-performing headset that you won't mind wearing.

User rating:7.3
  • Good: Comfortable fit • Attractive design • Decent sound quality
  • Bad: Hard-to-press buttons • Somewhat loose on the ear
  • Specs: Headset • See more specifications
  • RRP: AU$150.00 • Where to buy? Check price listings
Sometimes in the technology world, things don't change all that much. And in some cases, that can be a good thing. If you have an admirable product, why mess with it? Take the Motorola HS850, for example. Building on the success of the HS8910, the HS850 offers a worthy combination of design and performance. This is one Bluetooth headset we don't mind using. At AU$150, though, it's somewhat overpriced, so be sure to give it a test run first.

Since we approve of the look and feel of the Motorola HS8910, we're pleased to see that the newer model seems about the same. A pleasant oval shape means there are no sharp angles and corners, and we like the large, blue LED light that indicates the headset's status. All those features, along with a two-tone gray hue, make for a stylish headset. In fact, you may feel comfortable wearing it on the street. And at 30mm by 20mm by 50mm and 20 gram, it can slip easily into a pocket. Alternately, you can loop it onto a lanyard for wearing around your neck.

Like its predecessor, the HS850 has a nifty foldable boom that not only makes the headset more compact when not in use but also acts as a power switch. The ear loop is highly flexible and can be switched easily for wearing on either ear. Without a protruding earpiece, we had no problem slipping it on and off, and the headset sat comfortably on our ear. Our only real complaint was that because the headset is so light, it felt somewhat loose. In fact, if we moved our head quickly from side to side, the boom mike banged against our cheek. Like with the HS8910, we would have preferred a more snug fit.

We also didn't quite care for the headset's controls. We had trouble finding the thin volume buttons when wearing the HS850, but once we located them, they were easy to manipulate. We had the opposite problem with the multifunction button, however. Besides placing calls (via voice dialing) and terminating them, it also redials the last called number when held down.

It was easy to find due to its large size, but we had to press very hard to get it to do anything. We paired the HS850 with the Motorola Razr V3. The process took just a few seconds, and we were up and running. Call quality was good on our end, with clear sound and adequate volume. On their end, callers said we sounded a bit metallic, but they were satisfied overall. Sound quality diminished in windy environments, but that often goes along with using a Bluetooth headset.

Though made by Motorola, the HS850 can be used with other Bluetooth 1.2-enabled phones, and it is also backward compatible with Bluetooth 1.1 devices. The headset has a rated talk time of 8 hours and a promised standby time of 8.3 days (an improvement over the HS8910). In our standby tests, however, we got only half that time on a single charge.

Topics: wireless, motorola, bluetooth, headset, hs850

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Comments (22)

  • klmglyph gave 8/10 on 09/12/2008 17:15

    • Good: holds a charge well (i charge it much less often than the phone); no malfunctions/dropped connections; good clarity; simple
    • Bad: would like a more gain in noisy situations; i always have to feel out which volume button increases or decreases

    after two years my hs850 is still working well. i got the motorola carrying case (blt-04) with it, maybe that's why mine has lasted. if so, it was worth the extra $8 to make the $60 for the headset worth every penny.

  • anonymous gave 4/10 on 31/05/2007 15:08

    I loved this headset. I thought it worked very well...for the 4 months of use that I got out of it. After that, the mic stopped working, and I can no longer use it. It has been well taken care of... no abuse, but the headset is just not made to last, it seems. I've seen several other comments with the same problem. For as much money as we paid for these, you'd think that we'd get more use. At least a year, maybe?!? Now, I guess I have no other option but to move on to something different...spend some more $ and pray that the next one holds up better, but I think I'll be purchasing a headset that's not made by Motorola this time.

  • esp02101103 gave 6/10 on 28/03/2007 03:46

    • Good: ON/OFF flip
      comfortable on ear
      easy pairing with motorola razr
    • Bad: poor sound quality
      only non staticy when set is in line of sight of phone

    Got one reconditioned and got a lot of static. Thought is was the because of it being reconditioned so bought new one... same problem

  • rlevin gave 6/10 on 07/03/2007 07:00

    • Good: Flip is great, so that the headset doesn't turn on when you have it in your pocket.
      Easy pairing, worked great before the mic stopped working.
    • Bad: Mic stopped working less than a year of use. Feels flimsy on the ear.

    Feels loose on the ear.
    Mic stopped working.
    Otherwise it worked great

  • Eddie gave 2/10 on 26/02/2007 00:11

    • Good: None I can think of
    • Bad: Not Happy

    Cannot pair with my phone Nokia 73 - absolute pain....

  • Alsalaman gave 4/10 on 22/02/2007 15:44

    • Good: Easy pairing, several functions with the button, good on/off feature by opening/closing the boom
    • Bad: Pricey, very poor sound quality, mic brokedown without a reason, oversized compared to other models, provided carrying system by hanging from the neck is very inconvenient.

    After 3 months of use the microphone just stopped working. I've read other people had same issue. I can hear but the other parties do not hear what I say, so it is useless now. Buy other model/manufacturer, don't make same mistake as I did!

  • sowes1 gave 4/10 on 23/01/2007 10:32

    • Good: when it works it is great
    • Bad: i had two now bad i can hear fine but the mic goes

    on my second one one i bought and one was given to me.

  • cvillega33 gave 2/10 on 01/12/2006 08:15

    • Good: None that I can think of, I've gotten very little use out of it.
    • Bad: Very loose on the ear, and Motorola doesn't offer any different earhook sizes.

    Like the look. It feels very floppy on the ear.

  • rickyg88101 gave 5/10 on 17/10/2006 01:11

    • Good: Very well put together headset. Easy to use controls.
    • Bad: Loose fit on the ear.
      Headset volume not what I expected. Low volume when turned all the way up.

    Really Nice Headset but....

  • Frost Bite gave 2/10 on 26/09/2006 14:23

    • Good: *Looks good
      *um....
    • Bad: *wont work-full stop.
      *loose on the ear
      *weak ear hook
      *dosent hold charge
      *hard to get recognised by phone!

    hmmmm......not good

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