A good headset can make your workday more enjoyable and more productive. You want comfort, quality, and functionality from your headset. And you want the freedom of a wireless connection. The Kensington H3000 Bluetooth over-ear headset promises to meet those expectations. I had the chance to test these headphones while working at home and at various other locations. Here’s a look at my experience with the headset and the features it offers.
Kensington H3000 is designed for comfort and convenience
Your ears can get unbearably sore after a full day of wearing a bad headset. Luckily, the Kensington H3000 headset is designed for comfort. The earpads are made of memory foam, so they shape themselves to the contours of your ears. And they are filled with cooling gel to reduce the buildup of body heat. No one wants sweaty ears. The adjustable headband and swiveling earcups allow you to adjust the fit of the headset to your preference. And the rotating microphone means you can have the microphone side on either your left or right, whichever works best for you.
Physical controls
The Kensington H3000 Bluetooth over-ear headset has button controls built in to one earcup. So with a touch of your finger you can skip songs forward and back, pause audio, or modify the volume level. I found that the controls were responsive and easy to use, though there were a few rare applications that didn’t want to acknowledge the pause/play command.
Kensington H3000 productivity-friendly features
The H3000 is built to make work sessions as friction-less as possible. Its comfortable design is enhanced by several features that make it more convenient to use as you go through your work day.
Microphone flip to mute
I appreciated this feature. By simply flipping up the microphone arm, the Kensington H3000 automatically muted the microphone. So if you’re on a phone call and your son starts arguing about his chores, you can quickly mute the call and keep your clients and colleagues from being accidentally included in your family drama.
Busy light indicator
We have all had that awkward moment when someone starts talking to us while we’re already on a phone call. You gesture wildly to try and explain the situation without alerting the person on the other end of the phone. Which means you miss some of what they’re saying to you. Kensington has a solution to this problem. The H3000 headset has an LED light ring on the earcups that light up with a double press of a button on the earcup. This causes the LED to flash red so anyone coming up to you can easily tell that you’re busy. When you turn the busy light on or off, you’ll get a voice notification of the change.
Bluetooth 5.2 multi-device pairing
The really great thing about Bluetooth 5.2 is that it’s multipoint. What does that mean? Well, it means that the Kensington H3000 headset can pair with up to 8 devices simultaneously. Only two of those devices can be the active Bluetooth connections, but the capacity to quickly switch between devices and scenarios is incredibly convenient. I went from pairing with my home PC, tablet and phone, to my remote office set up of laptop, phone, and car audio, and the process was simple and easy.
Application compatibility
As you might expect from a productivity focused device, the Kensington H3000 Bluetooth over-ear headset works with just about everything. It is compatible with all the primary video conferencing platforms like Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. And you can use any of the voice command systems like Siri or Google Assistant with the headset to make taking notes or setting reminders for tasks even more effortless.
Enhanced Intel compatibility
Intel has established a specific set of standards for device compatibility with their Evo line of laptops. The goal is to get the best performance from any device that connects to an Evo laptop. And since the Kensington H3000 Bluetooth headset meets the Evo standard, you’ll get a seamless, high quality user experience when combining the headset with an Intel Evo certified laptop.
Active and passive noise cancellation
You’ll get two different applications of noise cancellation when wearing the Kensington H3000 headset. The first type is passive noise cancellation. The physical sound barrier created by the earcups blocks a portion of the sound from your environment. And that barrier is good enough to be considered hearing protection. I was able to focus on the task at hand without being interrupted by external noise.
The second application pertains to the quality of the audio from the microphone. The AI driven environmental noise cancellation technology adjusts the sound that is picked up by the microphone, removing any unwanted noise like keyboard clicking or nearby voices. So the person you’re talking to will only hear the sound of your smooth, soothing voice. I appreciated the removal of extraneous microphone noise, since I hate hearing those sounds when I’m on the other end of the call.
Kensington H3000 battery life
You will get around 60 hours of battery life when using the Kensington H3000 Bluetooth headset for music. When used primarily for calls, the battery life between recharges is around 40 hours. Keep in mind that having the “busy light” LED turned on will mean a reduction in battery life. But the good news is that you can continue to use the headset while it recharges via USB.
The recharging time is very fast when connecting to a USB 3.0 port. Using the Rapid Charge Technology (RCT), you’ll be able to get 8 hours of battery life recharged in just 15 minutes! If you’re connecting via an older USB 2.0, you recharge time will be a bit slower. With the RCT, I was able to keep the headset fully charged and ready for use whenever I needed it. A quick recharge over lunch would repower the headset for a few days worth of use.
Final thoughts
I have to admit that I try to avoid talking on the phone in any and all situations. But as a freelancer, it’s inevitable that I’m a part of various phone calls and video meetings. And the Kensington H3000 Bluetooth over-ear headset is exactly the type of headset I need for those situations. They are comfortable and have good sound quality. I enjoyed using them throughout the day, for both productive work activities and listening to recreational music and media. I was comfortable wearing the headset all day, with very little pressure on my ears and a consistently cool temperature within the earcups. Overall, the Kensington H3000 Bluetooth over-ear headset provides great value and functionality for your audio needs in the office, at home, and on the go.
Find more Kensington computer accessories for your home office at Best Buy. Happy shopping!
