The distinctive functional case, all-day battery life and advanced features give you every reason to buy the HP Poly Voyager Free 60 Series Wireless Earbuds if you travel for business or spend time working on a computer and smartphone.
Enterprise workers in office settings are ideal users of these high-end and specially designed earbuds. Remote corporate employees also gain a tremendous amount of added functionality to enhance the convenience of their workday.
I have yet to find a set of earpieces that compete successfully with the features packed into these relatively small yet well-fitted dual devices.
However, the cost is also in the higher price range than most people would be willing to buy out-of-pocket. But if your needs go beyond wireless convenience for phone calls and listening to music throughout your workday, HP gives you a compelling list of reasons to plug in a pair.
Pricing and Purchasing
For some potential users, the performance outweighs the $329.95 price tag for the premium product – the Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC that comes with a touchscreen charging case and more.
Two less-endowed but still great performing versions of these earbuds start at $229.95.
The starting price gets you the Poly Voyager Free 60 model that comes with a standard charge case that offers premium call and music features. The dependability and reliability of this unit is designed for what HP calls “prosumers”.
The Poly Voyager Free 60 wireless earbuds and basic charge case, shown here in Carbon Black, are also available in White Sand. (Image credit: HP/Poly)
In addition to the HP/Poly website, you can find these earbuds at B&H Photo and other online outlets.
Be careful when searching for this product. I found it listed under the Plantronics label on Amazon and elsewhere. Based on the price and product description, such listings that are not branded as HP appear to be older units rather than the latest product releases from HP.
HP acquired Poly last August and rebranded the new release but kept the Poly moniker. For example, the Poly name is on the charge case, and even the Poly app doesn’t have an HP label.
For stepping up to $279.95, you get the Poly Voyager Free 60 UC earbuds with a standard charging case and enterprise-grade audio and music features. This edition is Microsoft Teams/Zoom-certified and designed for enterprise users.
Unmatched Premium Features
One of the really impressive performance factors of these earbuds is the Poly Voyager Free 60 UC’s ability to fight off ambient noise during calls and video sessions that affects both sides of the conversation.
This product reduces background noise during calls with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). Between calls, the same ANC functionality reduces background noise and provides the ability to listen to music in high quality thanks to three environment settings.
One of them, Transparency Mode, lets you hear your surroundings without having to remove one or both of the earbuds. If you remove one earbud, it will pause the soundtrack playing from the connected device.
Voice production is at a premium level, stemming from the six microphones, stem design, and noise-canceling circuitry called NoiseBlock, which is AI-powered.
With the help of multi point connectivity, users can stay connected to two devices simultaneously. The technology associates the phones as Phone One and Phone Two, regardless of whether one of the devices is a speakerphone or a computer.
Smart Charge Case Does More
Another advantage of the Voyager Free 60+ UC earpiece is the unique charging case. All three Voyager models come with cases that wirelessly charge the earbuds in the rechargeable case and have Qi charging capabilities.
The free 60+ UC model goes well beyond that limited functionality. The smart charging case features a color touch screen with three control panels for customizing configuration and earbud controls.
The Voyager Free 60+ uC touchscreen charge case displays the charge status of the case and the battery level of each earpiece. (Image credit: HP/Poly)
The case charges with a USB cable that connects to a computer or wall power plug. When the earbuds are in use, their case is wirelessly connected to control voice functions showing battery charge status, listening environment settings and volume controls.
You can easily switch between connected devices. The case lets you connect to external audio sources via the 3.5 analog audio input.
intelligent design
The oval shaped design and includes three shaped rubberized ear shields that provide extra wearing comfort to the earbuds. The tips are designed to reduce pressure in the ear while providing superior audio isolation.
You can use both pieces in either ear for extended use. For long-term travel listening, for example, you can simply insert one earpiece into either ear while the other is charging in the case.
The earbuds offer up to 5.5 hours of talk time with the ANC on. If you don’t need the ANC, the usage time is even longer.
The Smart Charge Case provides up to 16 hours of additional talk time and comes with a USB-C port for charging on the go. The case also includes the BT700 Bluetooth Adapter for advanced functionality.
The inclusion of a USB-C to 3.5mm audio cable is a really neat feature that lets you plug the charging case into almost any modern device and use the earphones wherever a physical connection is needed instead of wireless connectivity. uses.
The included USB receiver tricks the host computer into pairing the earbuds without needing to open the computer’s Bluetooth stack to connect the dongle. The result is a more seamless user experience than built-in Bluetooth on a computer.
Video credit: HP/Poly
long stem functionality
The stems of the Poly Voyager Free 60 series earbuds are longer than other wireless ear devices. The oval shaped tip adds to the comfort factor and makes the earpiece very easy to hold, insert and remove.
A small button on the bottom of each stem plays or pauses music and answers calls. Press and hold it for two seconds to activate Google Assistant and offer even more functionality.
A touch sensor is located along the middle portion of each stem. Swipe it up and down to change the volume or mute the sound.
It took me a while to get used to the swiping motion to activate functions, and I didn’t find it very comfortable to use in conjunction with the smaller buttons on the bottom.
app power handy
Last but certainly not least is the Poly Lens app, available on Google Play and the App Store. You can just use the earbuds and get an excellent out-of-the-box user experience.
But I didn’t find it any less convenient to reach for my smartphone to adjust additional settings. It’s similar to using a smartphone app to aid in setting up my smart watch, and as a complement to a smart TV remote control device.
You need the app to handle software updates for the earpieces and smart charge case, and to access detailed configuration options for setting up your earbuds to your preferences. The app offers a long list of toggles and sliders to tweak every possible decibel and frequency to fine-tune your productivity and enjoyment.
Enhanced Communication Features
Advanced SideTone technology lets you be aware of how loudly you’re speaking. I never lost my boisterous vocal projection learned in my early days of public speaking classes. This special feature helps me not to strain my voice.
The earbuds are designed with a wide microphone pickup area so users can adjust the wearing position for maximum comfort.
The Poly Voyager Free 60 Series wireless earbuds are available in two colors: Carbon Black and White Sand.
