Published on May 25th, 2013 | by Kieran
Plantronics Voyager Legend UC
For the past few months I have been looking for a wireless headset to replace my old wired USB headset. Preferably the headset should work with my mobile phone as well as my softphone (in this case Cisco IP Communicator / Microsoft Lync). Having done some research I think I may have found a suitable candidate.
The Plantronics Voyager Legend UC Headset, seems to meet all of my requirements with connectivity to PC, smartphone, or tablet. The device itself is quite comfortable to wear and extremely easy to seup and configure. When installing the device onto your computer, be sure to download and install the latest release of Plantronics Spokes software. This will enable one-touch call answer/end with a wide variety of softphones.
“Voyager Legend UC B235” vs “Voyager Legend UC B235-M”
If you look closely, you will notice that there is in fact two versions of the Voyager Legend UC.
- Plantronics Voyager Legend UC B235 – This is the UC standard version built for UC applications and softphones from Avaya, Cisco, IBM, Skype and more.
- Plantronics Voyager Legend UC B235-M – The subtle M at the end of the part code signifies that this is the “Microsoft-certified version optimized for Microsoft® Lync and Microsoft OCS 2007.”
Both versions of the Voyager Legend UC come with some very useful accessories:
- The BT300 USB Bluetooth Adaptor – even though you may have an inbuilt bluetooth adpator on your PC/Laptop, I found the BT300 provides much improved call quailty
- Portable charging case – not only does it protect your headset, it also provides up to 14 hours of additional talk time
- Desktop charging stand – unlike most desk stands the build quaility of is excellent and has some decent weight to it providing an elegant charging and storage solution.
- Long USB charging cable
- Wall charger
- Spare ear bud kit
To further complicate things, you may notice that you can also buy the Voyager Legend (with no UC at the end). While this is a cheaper version it is missing a few accesories that come with the UC version. Namely the BT300 / BT300M bluetooth dongle.
What if I buy the wrong one?
While each headset is optimised for the various applications, I have yet to find out exactly what the differences are. I bought the Microsoft Certified version and have found it to work very well with my Cisco softphone. I would be quite confident that no matter which one you buy it will work with most applications supported by the Plantronics Spokes Software.
Do I Really Need The Bluetooth Adaptor?
I tried using the standard Voyager Legend headset, connecting it to the built in bluetooth adapter in a Dell Latitude E6420 and an iMac (27-inch, Late 2009). The audio on the Mac was quite good however using Cisco IP Communictator on the PC, the call was terrible. After playing around with settings, upgrading firmware and software I reverted back to using the BT300 dongle.