I three problems that the QuietSpot fixed immediately: I spend a lot of time on the phone, I doni't have the world's best hearing and I really like to be able to talk in public without getting everyone's attention, and after I did a lot of research I went out and bought a Shure QuietSpot headset.I was very surprised to find out that it more or less lived up to every claim made by the manufacturer: The headset's isolation reduces very significant amounts of background noise while the noise-cancelling microphone allowed people to hear me with my speaking in a more or less normal voice in nearly every environment where I made phone calls; up to and including bars with their sound-systems going. To put that another way: I heard and was heard in places where I could barely hear myself.That's the glowing part of what I have to say. There are some things that I found less than optimal about the quietspot, but they have to do with its design and ergonomics and not its function.The Quietspot's microphone is very, very sensitive to wind and to its position with respect to the user's mouth. Any wind at all in the quietspot and your listener stops hearing you--period. This means that you pretty much have to use the windscreen all the time if you're planning to make calls outdoors (my windscreen was a foam Radio Shack microphone cover held on with a piece of copper wire ). The microphone, however needs to be as close as possible to the corner of the user's mouth with the opening in the microphone parallell to the user's lips. When it isn't, the noice-cancelling aspects of the microphone kick in and work to block the speaker's voice as noise.Now, the fun part about all this is that having the windscreen on pretty much forces you to make at least a small adjustment to the microphone every time you use the thing. Having the foam on for this process makes it much more of an "adventure" than it needs to be.The Quietspot's performance is exemplary when you use it properly, but the amenities are lacking. It doesn't come with a case so it's hard to put it away to protect it and keep it adjusted the way it needs to be.I like the Shure's quality of construction and I love its function, but having lost my first one, I'm torn between buying another QuietSpot from Shure and buying another high-end headset; not for improved function, but for variety.