Inateck BH1001 Wireless Sport Headset [Review]

Bluetooth headsets with Sport in the title usually feature a plastic band which goes around the back of your neck. This not only makes you look a bit strange it can also be uncomfortable.

Inateck's headset does away with this and just has a thin wire between the two earpieces. There's a control unit on the right-hand side to allow you to adjust the volume, accept calls, pair with your phone, etc, and this also houses the built-in mic.

The earpieces are magnetic, so when you're not listening to them you can attach the two together and carry them safely around your neck, which also avoids the cable getting tangled. They come with a soft fabric carrying pouch, a USB charging cable and a couple of spare silicon ear buds.

On the technical side they feature Bluetooth 4.1 and a 100mAh battery. A three hour charge gives you up to 8 hours of listening time. Overall they have a quality feel and the design is nicely thought out, so how well do they work?

Pairing is straightforward, press the power button until the LED flashes red and blue and you're good to go. The unit can only pair to one device and will automatically reconnect to the last one used when turned on. Sound quality is very good with decent bass response and clear higher frequencies too. They also do a reasonable job of shutting out other sounds. Taking the ear buds out and snapping the magnetic ends together automatically pauses the music which is a neat touch.

There are a few niggles, the cover over the USB port seems a bit flimsy, and the earpieces are rather bulky compared to wired units so they don't feel particularly secure -- that could be a fault of my ears but for something that's aimed at sports use it's not reassuring.

At $32.99 from Amazon (£30.99 in the UK) the BH1001 offers decent value, if you have the right sized ears, more information can be found on the Inateck website.