LG HBS-730 & iPhone 5

"I'm not sure why any of you are having problems."
If you had read the thread before posting, you would have seen that nobody is having issues with pairing to the HBS730. This is a playback issue.

"There is a chance that you have a bum headset."

There probably *is* a chance that someone in this thread has a bum headset, but considering the number of postings in this thread by multiple people having the same exact problems, I'm guessing that's not the case. Furthermore, at least one person in the thread has tried exchanging their headset for a new unit with no improvement.

Again, please read the thread before you post.

I'm using the HBS730 with my iPhone 4 which is using the latest iOS at the time of this writing. I'm having some of the problems others are describing here concerning playback, but I never use the headset for phone calls so I'm not able to speak to those issues.

At the end of every song, the audio drops out for the first few seconds of the next one which makes listening to any album (gapless or not) next to unbearable.

Another interesting thing I've noticed with these headphones that my HBS700s didn't do:
My 730s are currently paired with my iPhone 4 and playing music. I'm using a 2007 iMac with an Apple wireless keyboard and mouse. While I'm typing this, my cursor has been jumping across the text box. My mouse is also behaving erratically. Perhaps there is some issue with the Bluetooth implementation on the HBS730, not the iPhone.

I had the same issue

but I had to exectute certain steps to set it up rather than just doing a "browse device" and try to connect.

1. "Go to Setup Blue Tooth device" by clicking on blue tooth icon and connect to the device. enter the password if needed. Make sure you click on remember the device.

2. Now click on your device by clicking on blue tooth icon and select "Open Sound Preferences" and go to output tab and select the device.

That is all I had to do to make it connect and work.

Good Luck Folks.

I have a somewhat new issue on this. I am able my LG HBS 730 pair "perfectly" - or at least acceptably - with my iPhone 5 and second generation iPad, but I can't get it to pair with my MacBookPro. I spoke with the Apple rep at our local Best Buy store. The rep told me that many bluetooth devices do not pair with an unlimited number of devices. The rep said originally blue tooth devices could only pair with one device. That makes it a problem if one wants to use a bluetooth pared mouse and/or a keyboard. I Anyway I tried to elimate the pair between my iPhone and iPad with the MacBook Pro and then "reboot". The MacBook recognized the 730, but I was not able to connect. I'm not sure if it is a LG problem? Next I'll try rebooting my MacBook and let you know. Thank you...

Bruce

I now have my LG HBS 730 paired with my computer for the first time. One of my problems is that I had my iPhone 5 and MacBook Pro paired. Once I did away with that linkage, I was able to reboot the MacBook Pro and LG and I am now paired! Thank you all very much...

Bruce

I have the HBS730s and they have the video audio lag as well, and I also have iOS 7 so they haven't fixed the lag just yet... Hopefully just bc it's the beta version 3. I can only hope they fix it in the future as I love this device.

Same issue here with iPhone 5 running iOS 6.1.4 and LG Tone+ 730. This is really frustrating. These were the best headphones I could have possibly found for use while riding my motorcycle.

Music plays well, but as with others I encounter the slight hiccups between track changes using the hardware buttons on the 730s or when the track advances on it's own.

Making things even more annoying, is using navigation apps. I was first using Waze and discovered that the very beginning of each step of navigation will cut out about 50% of the time (especially at low speeds.)

For example I will be coming up to a road and in my ear I hear ____Right, where the preceeding blank would have been the direction eg: "At Main St. turn right."

This holds true for both Waze and Apple's own maps application. This is extremely annoying.

At this point we really are no closer to figuring out if the issue is the bluetooth stack on the iOS level, or if the problem resides with the bluetooth stack on the Tones themselves.

I give it until iOS 7 GM is released. The 730s are about a year old now anyways, and the thin cords have had me worried about the durability of the Tones when repetitively pulling my helmet off. If not fixed in iOS 7 I'll upgrade to the next best thing.

It's not entirely out of the question that I would get an Android phone either when I'm due for an upgrade. Pity I paid $75 for this headset.

From a fellow Motorcycle Rider myself I can feel you frustration.

The delays can be quite annoying. What I have found is that if you play music while the navigation is running, there wont be any pause in the audio stream, so you will hear the navigation cues without any pauses.

My question to you is how you keep the headset still while you are riding. Because I have tried a few things, Some seem to work, others have just failed. The wind resistance kicks up and they usually fly off my neck. And usually the only thing that keeps them on is the earplugs sandwiched between my ear and the helmet.

They finally just fell off my neck one day, on a road trip. and I have since changed to the Sony Erricson mw600

I have tried long twist ties. I even tried rubber bands to keep the collar around my neck.. I am just curious how you do ride with them.

I have an iPhone 5 and the LG HBS-730 and now on my third set. After approximately one month, the first one would drop the connection in the middle of a conversation and it would sometimes sound garbled, or like they were in a barrel, echoing, etc. Then it quit pairing with the phone altogether, Verizon gave me a new "Tone". Three weeks later the second "Tone" would drop the connection and sometimes sound garbled. I went yesterday and they gave me a third set, now it's doing the same thing. Yesterday, a Verizon store manager said since I am past the 14 day return policy, all she could do was replace it but if this one doesn't work, call LG and ask for a refund. I did. LG emphatically stated they do not give refunds that that was up to the retailer. I went back to Verison today, the Manager, who had a little bit of an attitude, said all he could do was replace it. I explained I liked the "Tone" if it would work and didn't necessarily want a refund or another product, however, this one will not work. A Verizon employee said she had had a similar problem with her iPhone 5 but was now using another phone. Here's the sad part. I found a Plantronics set that I liked but it was $10.00 cheaper and he would not swap for it. I said I don't care about the refund. I bought a phone and Bluetooth device, both from Verizon that won't work. He refused. It had to be same price or higher. They had a Jawbone that was $10.00 more so I decided to take it. Another problem. The LG item had been sold to me with a discount. They didn't show I had a discount on my record so they would not sell me the Jawbone with the same discount. No, I said, I'm not doing that. AND, to add insult to injury, they said the new Jawbone would be under the same warranty the LG was which had 10 months left. I said, do you hear what you're saying. You tell me the one-year warranty is with the manufacturer but you won't honor the same with Jawbone. He said it's from the original date of purchase. I said, I didn't buy the Jawbone two months ago, I would be buying it today. No deal. So, I'm still the proud owner of an LG HBS-730 that doesn't work properly. So much for customer support. I DO NOT RECOMMENT THE HBS-730 with the iPhone 5. And at this point I'm not real happy with Verizon. Look at this page, numerous one's have had similar problems and they Verizon and LG refuse to admit there is a problem.

Another testament: iPhone 5 running 6.1.4.

LG HBS730 callers frequently report distorted audio from me when using on phone. Have tested with sound recorder app and, indeed, I sound terrible when using this headset. Also, unable to walk with iPhone in pocket and listen to music without it stuttering/pausing to the point of becoming unusuble.

It is sad that LG nor Apple can get the bugs worked out, and provide terrible customer service on this issue.

LG HBS700 works much better. Music quality is not the best, phone quality is not the best either. But the design is so comfortable that it is worth the sacrifice to use.

The lag when playing video seems to be consistent across most bluetooth devices paired with iPhone 5, and is not unique to LG.

If anyone finds a TWO EAR bluetooth headset alternative that works well for phone calls with the iPhone 5, please let me know.

iamtigg,

I'm using an iPhone 4S, and yes, there were changes, good ones.

Of the two bluetooth headphones I have, the HBS-730 and the Jabra Halo 2, both presented significant improvements, specially with the Halo 2, which right now is about perfect.

The HBS-730 though, still has issues. Every now and then the first seconds of a new song are lost, or lets say just "muted". Apparently, it takes the headphone a few seconds to "synchronize" again, and that time is lost as the phone just goes on playing the song.

Overall, it has improved, but for a device which is advertised as "designed for the iPhone", it is still faulty.

iOS 7 is a great improvement for bluetooth, but some issues are still around. Given the Halo 2 is working really well, I would still blame the HBS-730 for not being totally compatible.

I think its even worse with iOs7.

Had absolutely NO problems running my Nokia 920 on WP8, now switched to iPhone 5s - the headset doesnt work properly, looks like it loses connection in-between the phrases in podcasts and audiobooks!

Thats weird, can it be some extremely unsuccessful 'optimization' by Apple?

I have since switched back to the 700 with Bluetooth 2.0. It seems as if most iOS devices cant handle the 730 properly. I really wished Apple would attempt to do something about this. the 700 works just fine. For anyone with this problem my suggestion is to switch back to the 700. You wont be loosing any features and functionality. In terms of the sound quality being apparently better, I have not heard any difference in the qualty of sound. Plus LG claims that the battery life is better with the 730, I went through 4, yes 4 pairs of 730's thinking that I was getting headsets with bad batteries. The result was that the 730 performs worst than then 700. The 700 has a much longer battery life. Plus the range was slashed in half when walking away from the handset.

The only other features that they added was a recorded voice that says "battery low" but I could always tell that on the 700 with the tone that sounded and the flashing light. the 730 is not worth the trade off.

'switch back' is not an option for many, including myself.

now I have to sell 730 and then buy 700... but in any case, we are proud owners of "premium" apple devices that cannot make use of bluetooth 4.0 which is claimed to be supported since iphone 4s.