Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I needed to replace the Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth Headset - Retail Packaging - Graphite I had previously bought from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JIMZU4) and took a chance on the Plantronics M165 Marque 2. Boy, am I glad I did! If you like the Plantronics ear gel fittings (I think they are great), this is definitely the product to own. Here are the ways in which the M165 beats the 975: a) Quality of Sound. Though I could always hear the other caller quite well on the 975, for years people have told me of the "tinny" and/or noisy quality at my end of the call. This all disappeared with the M165. People have commented that occasionally it now sounds like I am on a landline - even if I happen to be driving on a noisy highway. b) Audio Streaming. I can now navigate with my smartphone with ease because I no longer have to strain to listen the smallish speakers on my smartphone. The M165 pumps everything right to the earpiece with crystal clarity and it's fantastic. (If I wanted, I can also listen to music off my smartphone this way, but there is too much compression to really enjoy it.) The 975 cannot stream. c) Pairing. For whatever reason, the 975 takes longer to pair with my smartphone, sometimes as much as a minute. In contrast, the M165 pairs essentially immediately. Turn it on and it's connected! d) General User Experience. The M165 hands down is an easier earpiece to use. It has an on/off switch (unlike the on/off button of the 975) making the on/off state of the M165 immediately apparently to the eye. The earpiece cues you with status info over the set. As a result, I can hear, from a synthesized voice, if (a) I'm connected to the smartphone and (b) how much talk time I have. There are no codes and beeps to memorize to understand the state of the earpiece, as on the 975. e) Battery life. The 975 has a convenience chargercase which the M165 lacks. I don't miss it, however, because the M165 has a superior talk time (up to 7 hours) and announces how much battery life is left when it is turned on! I am therefore never in danger of running out of battery. Happily, the same ear gel pieces for the 975 also fit the M165 so Plantronics shows a loyalty to their customers with this interchangeability. The M165 is so small, I use an old pill bottle as a tiny, crushresistant case which is smaller (and cheaper) than the bluetooth cases you can find on Amazon. I've used various Plantronics bluetooth sets for years now and this one finally got it right in terms of both audio quality and user features. AND it's cheaper than their old flagship product!