Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've become a common evaluator of headphones for Amazon, having evaluated quite a few high quality over the ear headphones, in-the-ear bud-style products, and also lots of single-ear bluetooth earpieces. This is my first bluetooth wrap-around style headphone review. Overall I am impressed, but I have a few reservations. COMFORT Most important for this class of headphones is comfort and fit. These are behind the head style headphones that are designed to stay in even during strenuous activity. They come with 4 different ear bud silicone inserts, but I found the ones already installed worked just fine (there are 2 smaller options a 1 bigger one over the ones installed). The headphones form a nice seal inside the ears that doesn't feel too tight and stayed put. Behind the head, the headphones were a little large, but there is an additional adjustable band you can install that reduces the size quite well. Even on my larger head the headphones stayed put. The individual buds also pivoted to adjust to exact head shape. How well did they stay put? I decided to do a Beach Body P90X Cardio workout including Yoga and they stayed put the entire time. Of course, they started to get a bit uncomfortable as I sweated, but it's to be expected. The point is that they did not move despite doing floor exercises and jumping jacks. SOUND Just as I would expect, they sound great and well balanced. Not too hard on the bass, not too hard on the treble. Hard rock for workouts, classical for relaxing - it all sounded great to me. Immersive sound while outside noises were completely blocked. I'd say my Audio Technica's or my Monster headphones with large pads are likely better sounding and fuller, but those are wired headphones with thick pads that are certainly not designed for workouts. INTERFACE The headphones arrived partially charged (a soothing voice told me they have 4 hours of charge). They were incredibly simple to use. I turned them on and had them paired with my iPhone in no time. The right ear features the power switch and volume control while the left ear has the multi-function button. The right ear also has the LED status light and a rubber-grommeted micro-USB port for charging. Thanks Motorola for using a standard charging port! The package includes a wall-wart micro-USB charger as well. The place the interface suffers is in the multi-plexed switch. Push once to pause, twice to skip forward, three times to skip back. The instruction manual has a dozen phone features that can be activated, but you will need the manual to figure it out. It worked, but with so much space, couldn't we get more intuitive controls and a few more buttons? BLUETOOTH RANGE Unbelievably long. I use a Plantronics Legend with my phone and it will lose signal after a short distance. But with the S11-Flex HD, I can put my iPhone 4 in one corner of my house and walk to the other corner of the other floor and still get great sound. Truly impressive bluetooth range. TELEPHONE CALLS No problem here - I made a call and the microphone picked up my voice quite well. I was enjoying my music during a run and was able to easily take a call without missing a beat. Noise cancellation isn't great like a dedicated headset, but for switching to a phone call without removing the headset, it works very well. BLUETOOTH FUNCTIONALITY Sadly, here is where the headphones lose a star. First, I noticed that the volume switch on the headphones doesn't send a signal to the phone to change the volume (as my Plantronics devices do), but rather changes the volume of the headset. So if the phone volume is set low it can be impossible to get it turned up high enough using just the headset controls. Other bluetooth headphones I have owned send the signal to the phone to change the volume. I was also disappointed that multipoint didn't work. My Plantronics Legend is paired to both my iPhone 4 and iPad 3, both running iOS 6.0.1. I routinely switch back and forth between them, so I know how it should work. The Motorola paired successfully to the iPhone 4, but when I tried to pair it to the iPad, the screen said pairing was "unsuccessful", but then it showed as connected in Settings. I had never seen that before. Sure enough, the audio prompts in the headset said it was connected to 2 devices, but the iPad never recognized it. Switching the order, I deleted it from both devices, paired it to the iPad first and then the iPhone. The iPad then worked fine, but when I paired to the iPhone, I got the same "unsuccessful" message. Sadly, I must report that at least for the iPhone/iPad, I could not get it to switch back and forth, even though the headset thinks it is paired to both. CONCLUSION Motorola has done a nice job with the form factor and audio quality here. The range is truly impressive, and the ability to keep up with the activity of P90X was truly impressive. These would be 5 star headphones, but the clunky multiplexed interface combined with the malfunctioning multipoint force me to detract a star. If you don't absolutely need multipoint, I recommend these headphones. UPDATE September 2013: When I wrote this review, I wasn't into running yet. I got into running about 8 months ago, and found this headset to be amazing for my runs. It stays put on my head and doesn't slip around. I love having it bluetooth-paired to my iPod Nano so I can listen to music while running. I do wish there was another switch to switch tracks though. The multifunction switch requires you to "double click" to skip a song, which isn't always easy while running. I also run with my iPhone and if someone calls, I am able to take the call with this headset, another nice feature. I did want to note one thing. The bendy white plastic back of the headset started to develop cracks last month. I could still get it on my head, but it did not hold tight. A few other reviewers had the same issue. I called Motorola to complain, and they replaced the headset when I explained which part broke. It appears that this is a known issue with early models of the headset. The new one they sent looks a bit different - both control buttons are orange (on the old one, one was orange the other was black). I have had no issue with cracking since I got the new one. A good accessory to consider as well is Otterbox Motorola S11 Flex HD Headphone Case - Black to protect these headphones in a gym bag.