I have owned 4 of these. Well, I actually owned an EarBoom by Jabra first. When it died (after about 6 or 9 months), I bought this little baby. My husband loved it so much he got one too. Mine died after a month, so I took it back and had it replaced. Then his died, and we had it replaced. Then my replacement died, and his did too. In all cases, the cause of failure was the join between the wire and the set itself. The flex point ruptures eventually, and then the wires are exposed and quickly break, resulting in a loss of either microphone or speaker function, eventually. This is very frustrating. Luckily, they have an excellent warranty, and the guys at RadioShack have been great about it.On the other hand, this is a great product. The earGel can be a little uncomfortable at first, but after you use it for a week or so, you start to forget you're wearing it. The winder is a wonder, although a touch finicky, but if you treat it with respect and make a habit of always fully extending it (gently)before retracting it, you shouldn't have any problems. I am currently going through the agony of either replacing it again (this time buying it again since I've dithered long enough to slip out of warranty) or trying a new one. I already have a big enough collection of (sometimes expensive) headsets that didn't work for me.Luckily the price has come down considerably to match the quality, although personally I would have preferred the opposite.