The guys over at 4Gamers where nice enough to send us a COMM-PLAY Bluetooth Headset CP-BT01 to test and review. After more than a week of testing, here are our thoughts about it.
COMM-PLAY Bluetooth Headset CP-BT01 (wow that's a long name!) is made by 4Gamers, a UK based company that makes official branded Playstation accessories and peripherals. So when it comes to the quality of their products, that first sentence speaks for itself. Since they started their company, they have created many PS3 and PS Vita branded accessories and peripherals which you can see over at their official website, but enough about that, lets talk about this specific headset.
The first thing that struck me when the package arrived was the size of it. It was very small, well packed in a clear plastic box where you could clearly see the headset. The headset itself was very surprising too. Very small, much smaller hands on that it appears on images and that is a good thing. Being this small, the headset is super light, so light that you don't even feel it while you are wearing it. In the past I have used the other Playstation bluetooth headset, the one made by Sony, and in comparison to this, that was bigger, bulky and my ear was tired after a hour of using it.
The second thing I like about this headset is its minimalist design. It has a matte finish on the side and a glossy one on top, where there is also the Playstation logo and a small LED light. It comes in three different colors: red, blue and black. Mine was black, but I think the other colors look better. From the middle of the headset to the top, there's the button of the headset. Yes this is the only button on it and it is used for powering On/Off, pairing and for accepting or ending calls. Now some of you might like this and some of you might hate it, I, however, put myself somewhere in the middle. I like that the headset has only one button and the size is very small and it's practically weightless, but I also don't like it for not having at least volume buttons. The other headset made by Sony, has volume buttons as well as a Mute Mic button, but this 4Gamers headset doesn't have any of them, so it is like a double-edged sword situation.
Pairing it with the PS3 was a very easy process. I had to hold the button for some seconds until I the blue LED was lit solid, entered the (stupid if I can add) password and the headset was paired with the PS3. Then at the Audio Settings on the PS3 I had to choose the microphone level 4, cause level 3 was too low and level 5 caused a lot of feedback. After that I started playing The Last of Us and started testing the quality. Chat quality is mixed. With the headset in your ear, voices can sound a little digitized, with some fuzz around the edge and the overall volume goes sometimes loud and sometimes very quiet (maybe it was the "fault" of the other players), but most of the time the sound is clear enough that you won't have trouble understanding anyone.
Range was pretty good too. I stood up to ten meters away and the quality was still good enough, this, however, in an open area. When I tested it by moving around the house, the quality dropped a lot and it started to sound very robotic, but keep in mind that my home walls are more than 25cm of thick concrete and I think any headset would have had the same problem. Another thing that was somewhat spotty was the ambient noise cancellation. I could see during my play session that the indicator, the small speaker next to my name was being displayed even when I didn't speak or made any noise, but I could also understand it by all of the whining of the little kids.
Battery life was surprisingly good and the recharge time too. One day I played Battlefield 3 from 9am to 1pm and the headset had still juice to go for at least another 2 hours the next day. Also the recharge time is very quick, the manual says 2 hours, but mine seems to fully charge under the 2 hour mark.
Being a bluetooth headset, you can use it with any phone. I tested it with my iPhone and also with an Android mobile and it worked perfectly. Pairing was quick and the call quality was great, quiet compared to other headsets, but still great. To accept calls tap the button once and to end tap it once again, to recall the last person on your recent list tap once. I also tested it two times for continuous talk time. The first time it clocked at 2:45 hours, after a full recharge the second time 3:20 hours, so expect around 3 hours.
Being this small, I take it with me every time I go outside hanging out with my friends, to the gym or during jogging. The plastic that wraps around the ear, which by the way is removable so that you can use this on either of your ears, make this headset very stable and prevent it from falling off.
Bottom Line: COMM-PLAY Bluetooth Headset CP-BT01 is a fantastic bluetooth headset and the price, being only £11.99, makes it one of the best and cheapest on the market for the PS3 and even for mobile devices. Sleek design, very small and super light, your ear will love it. Quality is great, ambient noise cancellation could have been better and volume buttons would have been greatly appreciated, but for the price you pay, this headset is totally worth it.
COMM-PLAY Bluetooth Headset CP-BT01 was tested for a week before reviewing it. The unit used for this review was provided by 4Gamers and it is available for purchase.
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