Logitech USB Headset: Listen to all the Garbage Online

Socom night is a tradition among me and some friends from college. We get together at one person’s house or apartment and hook up our PS2s and play the latest Socom game for hours. A week ago we had another Socom night, but my previous Logitech USB Headset broke during our latest move. Luckily Best Buy was having a sale so I picked up another one.

The Logitech USB Headset allows you to communicate vocally through many different online PS2 games. The USB port fits into the front of your classic or slimline PS2. Games like Socom have a button which turns on the microphone allowing your speech to travel to other gamers you’re currently playing with. While it sounds like something that really would make online games much more entertaining, what spews out of the mouths of the people who play these games makes you want to put down your headset and sigh. Many of the talk is racist, homophobic, or just plain graphically vile. So unless you have a thick skin or a group of friends you can play with privately, having this headset can be more of a liability than something that can enhance your experience. Fortunately, a headset isn’t required for any online PS2 games that I have played.


Appearance and Features

The headset has roughly a 14 foot cord sectioned into 4 parts. The first part is on the end with the standard USB plug. The thick cable runs about 3 inches to a 2" x 4" converter box. It's contoured to slide into a plastic rail, but I couldn't find where that could be on the PS2. A thinner cord runs from the other side of the converter box another 10-11 feet to a circular unit. The circular unit has a two color LED on the front (blue when active, red when muted), a mute button also on the face, and a volume dial on the left side. The cord continues out the other side of the circular unit another 3 feet to the headset itself. In between is a shirt clip that can be adjusted all along that 3 foot section of cord.

The cord runs into the left side of the headset where the single headphone is. On the other side of the headphone is the microphone. The microphone can be adjusted to wear on either your right or left ear. If you head up the headset along the earphone side there's an adjustable slider to fit larger or smaller heads. The rest of the headset loops around and has a rubbery clip that fits above your other ear comfortably. On both the earpiece and microphone components there is a foam protector.

The headset can not only be used with a PS2, but also with PC games and other PC applications. By using it with a PC it frequently locks out other audio output whether it's your laptop speakers or other external speakers. I have even used it for making internet phone calls. Finally, despite only having one earpiece, it supports stereo sound.


Performance and Sturdiness

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the performance of the Logitech USB Headset. Most of the time it's pretty easy to hear the other gamers through the headset as well as for other gamers to hear you. Occasionally there's an issue where you can't be heard by other people, but I think that might have been a software issue with some games and other applications. The sound quality isn't stellar because the online games try to conserve bandwidth. However, when using the headphone as a personal speaker for an MP3 file on your computer, it sounds great.

The mute button is also a nice feature but it doesn't always work. Sometimes people can still hear you over the microphone even when the mute button is pressed.

The headset fits pretty comfortably for the most part, but after more than 4-5 hours of use it can leave a red mark or indent on the skin around your ears. I recommend putting it down after a while.

The cord length is nice and long, but with all the devices along the cord it makes it hard to really wind it up and organize it. Frequently it gets tangled up really good to the point where I have to spend 15 minutes trying to untangle it.


The Logitech USB Headset isn't terribly sturdy. My previous headset broke after about a year's use. The plastic part of the headset the fits over your head breaks really easily during any significant pressure. The plastic bar which runs to the microphone can also break rather easily both along the shaft and where it connects to the earpiece. I also found that the earpiece can also detach from the headset base as well. The cords seemed to be pretty good at preserving their connectivity after a year's worth of use. That's probably the single most annoying thing about electronic equipment with wires and cords.


Conclusions

Overall this is a pretty reliable headset. It's a little bulky compared to the Xbox Live headset. It doesn't store well so you have to be careful not to break the fragile plastic pieces. However, I am pretty satisfied with the performance of the device and the features. Given the options available for USB communicator headsets for the PS2, this is about as good as they come. I prefer the design of the Xbox Live one, but you have to take what you can get in this case.