BlueAnt V12 LCD Bluetooth Headset Review

While it’s not exactly the most attractive design that I have come across the BlueAnt V12 LCD Bluetooth Headset has nonetheless managed to impress me – it’s comfortable, delivers excellent audio quality thanks to its Ambient Noise Reduction, offers up to 12 hours of talk time and 15 days standby, has a large backlit LCD with a 12 number caller ID as well a Vibrabing Alert for incoming calls.  All of this in a very competitively light 16 grams package – not bad at all.

The V12 combines a rubberized black body with a brushed aluminium panel at the front and simply a single Call Answer/End button as well as Volume Up/Down on the side.  Personally I would have preferred if they had not added the “V12” imprint as well as the Bluetooth logo – it would have made the headset a lot more elegant.

The rather convenient LCD display (above) offers 12 digits caller ID; Volume Level; Battery Level and Charging Level (0 to 100%); Connection and Call Status as well as Automatic Backlight.  My favourite is without a doubt the Battery Level display as I can quickly and easily see how much battery is remaining – it’s very much something that I wish more headsets had.

The LCD also provides you with access to advanced functions such as: placing a call from numbers stored in call History (the V12 automatically stores the last 10 received numbers); turning the Vibrate option On or Off as well as Multi-Pairing/Switching connections (the V12 can be paired with up to 5 different Bluetooth devices).

The profile of the BlueAnt V12 (above) at some 13mm is a bit thicker than the average headset in this category even though volumetrically they’re about the same but naturally the thickness somewhat hinders its pocketability.  Evidently, the LCD accounts for about 40% of this thickness.

The V12 kit (above) includes two reversible ear hooks (large and small); a wall charger as well as a lanyard so that you can attach the headset around your neck.  Unfortunately, sorely missed in the package is a microUSB cable to charge the headset via a USB port.

As I mentioned earlier, I found the BlueAnt V12 extremely comfortable to wear (I chose the small ear hook but you can also wear it without any ear hook at all by just pressing the earpiece inside your ear).  However, I am a bit concerned that the ear hook might easily break or get lost because of the way that it attaches to the headset and I would also have preferred the earpiece cover to have been made out of plastic instead of rubber so as to avoid so easily accumulating ear wax around it.

Is the BlueAnt V12 right for you compared to my other four favourite Bluetooth headsets below?  If you’re looking for a headset with a versatile and useful LCD, very good call quality and excellent talk time then there is no doubt that I would very highly recommend this headset. 

It is actually the only one to offer an LCD display, it delivers better call quality than the Motorola H700, the same convenient Vibrate mode that the Jabra BT5020 has and finally a more robust body than the Jabra JX10 whose ear loops have a nasty habit of breaking.  Having said this however, thanks to its noise cancellation technology the call quality of the Aliph Jawbone (voted Best Treo Bluetooth Headset and recently reduced from $139.95 to only $99.95) remains far superior even though it is the least pocketable.

Please also see the Bestselling Treo Accessories This Month for a wider selection of top rated accessory choices for your Treo.

Treonauts always look for innovation…