One thing I've noticed as a newcomer to the telecom industry is that lots of companies like to make their stuff proprietary - only working with other products that they make.
Headsets are a prime example of this.
First of all, headsets have to adapt to the phone. Plantronics gets around this by creating two different lines of headsets - Polaris and H-series - to connect to different types of phones either directly, or through an amplifier.
Of course, you can't use a Plantronics amplifier with a GN Netcom headset - and the opposite is true as well.
Then you get a subversive product like the Chameleon 3007 universal phone headset amplifier.
Yeah - subversive. You read correctly.
This product is truly universal - accepting headsets from Plantronics and GN Netcom - and pretty much any other major headset manufacturer. It also connects to virtually any business phone.
Compare that to the "universal" headset amplifiers from Plantronics, which connect to virtually any business phone but only accept headsets within the Plantronics universe. I guess that's how they can call it "universal" - referring only to the phones it can connect to.
One of the neat features about the Chameleon is a "magic switch" as they call it, which eliminates the "speaking into a tin can sound" that can sometimes happen when used with high transmit application. One flick of the switch and the call clarity is boosted tremendously. It's amazing nobody else has thought of this before.
So, if you have a Plantronics of GN Netcom headset and need a new amplifier, I strongly suggest you look into the Chameleon 3007. It works great and will probably make your existing headset work even better than with its former amplifier. It's also the best looking of the bunch, in my opinion.
