The Jawbone bluetooth headset and wind noise in a convertible

Have you been trying to find the best bluetooth headset to deal with wind noise, especially while driving in a convertible? If so, then you've undoubtedly read all about how the best noise-cancelling headsets can't do much of anything about wind noise. Holding out hope? Don't. When it comes to even relatively mild wind noise, bluetooth headsets suck. I tried three of the allegedly most wind-and-noise resistant -- the Plantronics 510, the Blue Ant Z9 and the much-touted Aliph Jawbone. The Jawbone was the best of the three, and also the most expensive -- but it still isn't half as good as the regular old handset, with no bluetooth headset at all, when driving in a convertible with the top down and the windows up.

What I did NOT find was very many sites with audio recordings of how the headsets performed in wind -- and the manufacturers' own promotional recordings aren't to be trusted. There's one excellent site that I did find: a thorough comparison, with postings, by Dan Craft at SiezeTruth.com. Since Dan didn't include any recordings of the Jawbone, I've included one below. While the Jawbone was the best of the lot, its outgoing audio in a convertible with the top down at anything much over 40 mph is peppered with spikes of wind noise every few seconds, and much more unpleasant for your listener than if you use no headset at all. Dan concludes that the best bluetooth headset for driving in a convertible with the top down is no headset at all, and I concur.

The solution? We might have to hold out until either the makers of The Boom come out with a bluetooth version, or until Motorola releases (what was) the Invisio Q7, a true bone-conduction headset which, unlike the Jawbone, uses no external microphone at all, but instead digitally reconstructs your voice from vibrations in your ear bones. Nextlink (the original developer of the Q7) released a few pre-production models before selling it recently to Motorola, which will release it who-knows-when. Early reports from these pre-pro Q7s were that they suffered from tinny sound, but that wind didn't affect them at all.

Until then, take a fashion hint from The Royal Tenenbaums' Baumer and strap your cellphone to the side of your head with a tennis headband.



(2007 Miata convertible, top down, windows up, 60-70 mph, backdraft windscreen, not much engine noise, very little cockpit wind)