Jabra SP200 review

The Jabra SP200 car speakerphone is an affordable Bluetooth car speakerphone kit.

For its price, the Jabra SP200 is a great value. You get all of the basic calling features you'd expect (voice-dialing activation, call answer/reject, and redial, for instance). In addition, the bundle includes a USB charger (along with the standard in-car charger). A second charger is handy to have, but many speakerphones do not provide one.

On the other hand, the Jabra SP200 does not offer some more advanced features, such as voice announcements (for caller ID, for instance) and an FM transmitter.

The Jabra SP200 is extremely easy to use, thanks to conveniently oversized controls. The Jabra SP200 has an odd oblong shape: squarish at one end and round at the other. The enormous protruding volume control wheel accounts for the circular end.

Right out of the box, the SP200 is ready to attach to one of your car's sun visors. The thin, prefixed clip on the back of the Jabra SP200 unit looks a bit flimsy, but the clamping mechanism proved to be strong. The speakerphone remained tightly affixed to our visor throughout testing.

The large main call control button near the top of the Jabra SP200 was easy to locate while we were driving, and it provided great tactile feedback when we pressed it. You can use this button to answer or reject calls, redial, initiate voice-dialing (provided that your cell phone supports this feature), and mute or unmute conversations. You adjust the volume by turning the huge volume wheel that is exposed at the top of the unit.

Jabra SP200: call quality

Another bonus of the Jabra SP200 is its dedicated on/off switch. To conserve battery life, you can turn the unit off when you aren't using it. This particular switch on the side of the unit is small, however,and the knob barely juts out. Still, it didn't take us long to get a feel for it when driving.

The Jabra SP200's call quality overall was about average (and occasionally above average) for a product of its genre. Most conversations came through clearly at the other end. Callers noted a subtle muffling, hollow, or wavy effect, but they could hear what we were saying without any problem.

(At times, they said, I sounded as if I had a cold; at other times, my voice had a slightly metallic or robotic edge - but again, all of my words came through.)

We did not encounter choppiness or voice breakups. The Jabra SP200 also did a pretty good job reducing background noise from the car radio and the roadways. Voices over the SP200 on our end sounded reasonably good, though a little splotchy.