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What's in the Box?
- Plantronics Discovery 655 Bluetooth headset
- Small-, medium- and large-sized soft-gel ear tips
- Optional ear loop
- Headset charging pocket with shirt-pocket clip
- AC charger (works with charging pocket only)
- Attachable Mini USB charging adapter (can be used with Motorola charger)
- USB cable for use with Mini USB charging adapter
- Two-piece battery charging adapter (uses one size-AAA alkaline battery)
- Plantronics Discovery 655/665 user guide
- Safety and operational information
Setting Up The Headset
 Plantronics Discovery 655 Bluetooth headset comes with small-, medium- and large-sized ear tips, one of which should fit snugly in your ear. The device comes with the medium-sized ear tip preinstalled and aligned for wearing on the right ear. To wear the Discovery 655 on the left ear, simply twist the ear tip counter clockwise. There is a slight protrusion on the ear tip, which should face upward inside the ear. Twist the ear tip back the other way to change ears.
My ears, being - I suppose - on the large side, I had to remove the medium-sized ear tip so I could install the biggest one. A user with smaller ears would also have to remove the pre-installed ear tip. To do so, twist the ear tip so its protrusion lies parallel to the headset itself. Then simply jiggle it until it comes off. At this point, a user may want to install an optional ear loop by simply attaching the ear loop so it is facing the correct way for wearing the headset on the ear of choice, and then installing the proper sized ear tip on top of it.
 In my test, I found that the device did not fit snugly in my ear with any of the three ear tips, so I opted to attach the optional ear loop to make sure it stayed in place. It worked, at least while it was on my ear. Whether I put the headset in my pants pocket, my shirt pocket or in the headset charging pocket attached to my shirt pocket, both the ear tip and the ear loop fell off - every time. This was a major flaw to the device. Unless I was wearing the headset at all times, which I don't like to do, I had to reassemble the three-part headset in haste, every time I received a call. This resulted in lost calls - a major waste of time. The problem was exacerbated in one instance, when the ear tip and ear loop fell on the ground and the ear tip rolled away. It took me a very valuable 15 minutes to find both attachments. The most acute instance, however, was when the ear loop bounced away into oblivion. I have yet to find it, and have considered it a loss.
Battery Life and Charging
Plantronics Discovery 655 Bluetooth headset, like all headsets, must be charged before use. It may confuse a Discovery 655 user, as it did me, that the device lacks charging ports and cannot be charged without the help of a "charging pocket." Plantronics 640 and 645 devices also use such pockets, which are extraneous but simple to use. Place the headset inside the pocket then determine which of at least three methods to use for charging the device:
The Discovery 655 comes with its own AC charger, which has a very small prong that attaches to the bottom of the charging pocket, sans attachments. The Discovery 655 also comes with a Mini-USB adapter and a USB cord, so users could charge it with a computer. To do so, fit the adapter on to the bottom of the charging pocket, attach the Mini-USB cable to the attachment and connect the other end of the USB cord into a powered USB port on your computer. The adapter also works with a Motorola-style charger, which comes in handy for users who have a Motorola mobile phone. Finally, the device also comes with a two-piece (three if you count the battery) AAA-battery charger adapter. The attachment fits on the charging pocket the same way as the Mini-USB adapter, but not at the same time. If you have a working AAA battery in the charger adapter, the adapter plugged into the charging pocket and the Discovery 655 fit snugly in the pocket, the device will begin to charge immediately.
With a charging method selected, users will have to charge the Discovery 655 for at least an hour to get it to work, but three long hours to charge it completely. Once fully charged, turn the headset on by pressing and holding the call button until the indicator light glows blue. The headset indicator light will flash blue every five seconds while the power is on. Hold the call control button for six-to-eight seconds until the light glows red to turn it off. When first turning on the headset again, it will briefly show the headset charge level. One red flash indicates the battery is 1/3 charged, two red flashes indicate it is 1/3 to 2/3 charged and three red flashes indicates it is greater than 2/3 charged.
I was very disappointed with the length of time I could use the headset before it needed to be recharged. Even Plantronics' advertised 3 hours of talk time is short, but the Discovery 655 more accurately needed juice after about an hour and a half. The headset does not get close to 80 hours of standby time, as advertised; it gets more like 30 hours. The AAA-battery charger adapter is rather large to be carrying around, though it may be necessary if a Discovery 655 user doesn't plan to be near a power source with one of the device's chargers. The device needs to be recharged often, which interferes with its usability.
In general, Plantronics should consider redesigning its charger prong. To me, it seems like it's too small of a connection, which will wear out rather quickly. I would recommend using the Mini-USB connection, which strikes me as being the most reliable of connections I've seen. Plantronics should get rid of the respective Mini-USB adapter once it has incorporated the design into its device. The three prongs inside the charging pocket that connect to the headset seem like they may last a little longer, but the second connection to charge the device concerns me. The third connection between the charging pocket and the adapters may also fail in the long run, which could render the device, or the respective attachments, useless.
Finally, the Discovery 655 pretends to have a changeable battery with its AAA-battery charger adapter, but the device itself still has a Lithium ion battery that cannot be removed or replaced. The headset has lower-than-average battery life out of the box, but it will get worse over time, requiring even more frequent recharging, until it wears down permanently. Device makers, including Apple Computer with its iPod, must reconsider the use of non-replaceable batteries; it is a major downfall.
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