After a lackluster Move Style Edition, Jabra is renewing the nomadic headset experience for less than €100 with the Elite 45h. Presented modestly as “best headset in its class”we wanted to know if he was worthy of such a title.
Well designed, very pleasant to use, particularly durable and equipped with an effective hands-free kit, the Elite 45h masters its subject in terms of ergonomics. For better sound performance, you may prefer the Live 500BT, for example (or its version with noise reduction, the 650BTNC), which is more melodious, but less feature-rich — even with a mini-jack input!
Strong points
- Gigantic autonomy (58 h).
- Good quality hands-free kit.
- Pleasant and intuitive use (complete controls and companion app, multipoint connection, multilingual voice prompts).
- A very good manufacturing quality.
Weak points
- Sound reproduction certainly homogeneous and rich, but particularly imprecise.
- Can only be used via Bluetooth.
- Sensations of discomfort, mainly related to the supra-auricular format of the atria.
NB: The reported price drop is calculated by comparing the lowest price of the day with the average of the lowest prices charged by all merchants for the product last month, with security rules to exclude prices from shops whose the VAT policy is not clear (known as “grey” shops, typically in the case of imports from China).
Alternatively
The Backbeat Go 810 is a good choice if you’re looking for an active noise-canceling wireless listening companion under the $150 mark…especially if you’ll be using it primarily that way. Indeed, the sound reproduction is really interesting only in this use. Apart from that, it remains a complete and pleasant model to use. If you are unsure, take a look at the equally interesting HD 4.50 BTNC, or simply the Backbeat Pro 2 since it is now close in terms of price.