Technophiles of the world, unite!
So I've been thinking. I am, increasingly, becoming absurdly fond of things like Skype, especially when I'm tired. However, it has serious drawbacks in that it means I'm tethered to my computer, which given my ever-shortening window of conversation in the evenings, and the need to do washing, cooking, cleaning (Oh dear lord I need to do that more) and the like, it's getting ever harder to do this.
I've come up with a partial solution via obtaining a set of 6ft extension leads, and running the headset off of my laptop, letting me set it up in a corner of my kitchen and thereby chatter away whilst cooking or cleaning. But the cord is still quite an issue, and it only works for jobs where one must be relatively stationary, still.
So I was thinking! A wireless headset would let me talk to people, have company etc, whilst moving around and doing other stuff.
One of the reasons I took up Skyping in the kitchen is because cooking/cleaning can be a tad touchy on the OCD at times, and simply having the company of another voice helps alleviate it by distracting large chunks of my brain. I often thereby quite happily and successfully do my cooking/cleaning, and feel accomplished, and happy - and then regret that I can't really do the same while cleaning the rest of my house, due to the fact that the laptop+extension cord combo is really only useful for "Staying in one place somewhere away from my computer", etc.
So! I would like to ask folks out there for opinions and advice on a wireless headset. The key features, as usual, are:
- Must be a headset, and one with an actually usable mic to boot. I don't need to listen to music while walking around, I need to be able to talk. This, alas, seems to instantly jack up the price and kill the speaker quality, sooo...
- Must be actually usable in audio and microphone quality. I'm not too picky here, but if it's shit it's not much good, is it?
- Range would be nice. I hear they usually manage about 10m from station, which with some vaugely sneaky placement would cover most of my house. But at the same time, I have no idea how to judge the radio/reception quality on such matters.
- Price. Um. I'm willing to spend money to avoid buying crap, but there's also a very distinct upper limit on what I'm physically able to afford. If the set is excelent, it may be worth money anyway on the basis that I have a hunch it may actually be life-changing in my evenings all the same, but... Cheaper the better, though such things are always a balance. I have a tendancy with computer hardware to spend just enough to get assured quality, if not great quality - Microstar motherboard, Kingston RAM, Seagate hard drives... it's not the flashest in the world, but it's at least less likely to fall apart too.
I have a hunch that a worthwhile and usable set may actually be honestly life-changing for me in the evenings - it'd let me be sociable with folks while getting on with life simultaneously, something I'm having more and more trouble with as I find my entire evening being cut down to even 4 or 5 hours all up before I need to go to bed. Considering I'd like to spend at least a couple hours chatting to folk, this is not exactly much time for Getting On With Life, you know?
And a headset with decent range might even let me have company doing the washing, a job I hate 'cuz it's outside. >.>
Anyone got ideas or reccomendations or opinions? I never trust google'd reviews... and I live in NZ which can make pricing occasionally tricky.
I've come up with a partial solution via obtaining a set of 6ft extension leads, and running the headset off of my laptop, letting me set it up in a corner of my kitchen and thereby chatter away whilst cooking or cleaning. But the cord is still quite an issue, and it only works for jobs where one must be relatively stationary, still.
So I was thinking! A wireless headset would let me talk to people, have company etc, whilst moving around and doing other stuff.
One of the reasons I took up Skyping in the kitchen is because cooking/cleaning can be a tad touchy on the OCD at times, and simply having the company of another voice helps alleviate it by distracting large chunks of my brain. I often thereby quite happily and successfully do my cooking/cleaning, and feel accomplished, and happy - and then regret that I can't really do the same while cleaning the rest of my house, due to the fact that the laptop+extension cord combo is really only useful for "Staying in one place somewhere away from my computer", etc.
So! I would like to ask folks out there for opinions and advice on a wireless headset. The key features, as usual, are:
- Must be a headset, and one with an actually usable mic to boot. I don't need to listen to music while walking around, I need to be able to talk. This, alas, seems to instantly jack up the price and kill the speaker quality, sooo...
- Must be actually usable in audio and microphone quality. I'm not too picky here, but if it's shit it's not much good, is it?
- Range would be nice. I hear they usually manage about 10m from station, which with some vaugely sneaky placement would cover most of my house. But at the same time, I have no idea how to judge the radio/reception quality on such matters.
- Price. Um. I'm willing to spend money to avoid buying crap, but there's also a very distinct upper limit on what I'm physically able to afford. If the set is excelent, it may be worth money anyway on the basis that I have a hunch it may actually be life-changing in my evenings all the same, but... Cheaper the better, though such things are always a balance. I have a tendancy with computer hardware to spend just enough to get assured quality, if not great quality - Microstar motherboard, Kingston RAM, Seagate hard drives... it's not the flashest in the world, but it's at least less likely to fall apart too.
I have a hunch that a worthwhile and usable set may actually be honestly life-changing for me in the evenings - it'd let me be sociable with folks while getting on with life simultaneously, something I'm having more and more trouble with as I find my entire evening being cut down to even 4 or 5 hours all up before I need to go to bed. Considering I'd like to spend at least a couple hours chatting to folk, this is not exactly much time for Getting On With Life, you know?
And a headset with decent range might even let me have company doing the washing, a job I hate 'cuz it's outside. >.>
Anyone got ideas or reccomendations or opinions? I never trust google'd reviews... and I live in NZ which can make pricing occasionally tricky.