LifeChat headset perfect for Skype

While traveling to South Africa and working remotely last year, there were problems operating our voice over IP phone over the hotel Internet connection. As often happens, the support staff claimed they were not blocking any ports, but still the Netphone would not work. So I ran out to the local PC shop and picked up the Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000 headset to use with Skype.

This headset is comfortable to wear and the headphones really seal the sound in quite nicely. The sound quality with Skype was quite good and most people could not tell that I was calling the U.S. from South Africa on Skype. A lot of my conference calls use toll free numbers, which are perfect for using Skype around the world.  Another nice feature is the ability to mute the microphone with a convenient button on the pad attached to the headset, this gets a lot of use.

Although the main reason for getting this headset was for Skype usage, I also found it to be perfect for listening to music or watching a movie without disturbing anyone else, as the headphones provide a nice sound blocking seal. We were pleasantly surprised to find that it worked seamlessly with our new Mac Powerbook as well, increasing its value even further. All in all, this is a great headset and perfect for use with Skype to do phone calls, or in conjunction with recording software to capture podcasts.