Doqaus Care 1 headset review

Finding a fully working, affordable wireless headset feels a bit like the quest for the Lost Ark or the Holy Grail... So far the headsets I have tried had either Bluetooth connection issues, very poor battery life or crappy unusable microphone (or a combination of all of these).

So when I saw the Doqaus Care 1 on sale on Amazon.ca down to 38.28$CAD from 59.99$CAD I decided to give it a try.

The reviews were ok and they look pretty neat. Also they were documented as being able to use them wirelessly (over Bluetooth) or wired using a standard 1/8" stereo jack. So it sounded like a winner.

Unboxing

The headset comes in a neat, very professional looking, all recyclable packaging:

As you can see here included are the headset, a carrying/protecting pouch, a standard micro-USB charging cable and a 1/8" stereo cable with one end terminated in a 90 degree angle.

Usage

The first red flag was the 1/8" stereo cable... Looking at it closely I could see that it was a cable to carry the left and right sound only, not the microphone. This means that the headset when used in a wired configuration could only be used to listen to sound and the microphone was not usable. 

Bluetooth sync was easy enough even if I had to reboot my laptop because the Bluetooth stack was in a strange mode. After the reboot the headset connected right away and it stayed connected.

Now was the real test. The next day after a full night charging I used it in Zoom conference. Total disappointment... First, even if I had made sure that the headset was connected and recognized maybe 30 minutes before the Zoom call when I entered the call it had disconnected and it looked like the headset had powered-off... I powered it back on and it connected right away.

BUT... The microphone sound to what the peoples on the call said was horrible, like talking on down a tunnel or an old amateur radio unit... So again an other Bluetooth headset with an unusable microphone...

There is also a EQ switch on the headset. It's suppose to alternate between 3 modes. However there is no feedback as to which more it's in and I could not ear any difference in sound quality while attempting to change modes.

May 20th 2020 update: The headset still remains paired via Bluetooth and remains usable while charging.

Manufacturer website and support

The manufacturer site (http://www.doqaus.com) is very slow and missing some translation from (probably) Chinese language translations.

There was a coupon in the package saying that registering my headset would get me an extra 18 months warranty. When going on the site I created an account and then tried to register my headset. On the form there was a select drop down for the color, but selecting my headset color would not register in the form so I got a form validation error when trying to submit it. So I decided to contact support...

They list 3 e-mail addresses on their site:

• E.support@duqaus.com
• bd@duqaus.com
• sales@duqaus.com

Tried e-mailing all three bud they all bounced with an invalid recipient message. Ok let's try the web site form... Again it would not work because it does not accept north american phone number formal....

As a last ditch effort I decided to try an e-mail to support@doquaus.com, 24 hours later it did not bounce but I did not get and feedback either...

May 20th 2020 update: They answered to my e-mail sent to support@doqaus.com but they did not understand what I ment regarding the product registration form issue. Will keep the channel open with them.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Nice simple recyclable packaging
• Clean lines looks high end
• Very comfortable on the head and ears
• Sounds to me is pretty good, background noise very well muted by the ear cushions
• Battery life sounds good
• Can be used while charging

Cons

• Microphone over USB is crap and unusable. Comments in video conference was that I sounded like someone talking over a old ham radio...
• USB connector (for charging) on the headset is really stiff to get in and out.
• Manufacturer website and support
• Rather slow
• Could not register my product because of malfunctioning HTML form
• Could not send message from the web form as it does not accept US/Canada phone number format
• Listed e-mails (E.support, bd and sales) do not work and bounce back
• support@doquaus.com works
• Audio cable is for sound output only (no microphone)
• A bit too tight to wear around the neck (I'm a 15.5" neck)

Conclusion

If your are looking for a sub 75$ headset to listen to music over bluetooth or wired this is a good buy at the promotion price. If you want to use it for it's intergraded microphone, keep you money...