| | |  | LG Accessories | Home » » LG HFB-500 Bluetooth Solar Speaker Phone | | | | | | | Description: | | HFB-500 is 2009 Consumer Electronics Innovation Award Winner. It offers exceptional sound quality, and the ability to pair with two mobile phones. Just two hours of sunligh equals one hour of talk time. Go green with HFB-500. | | | Features: | |
• Handsfree Car Kit
• Solar powered
• Echo and Noise Suppression
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 5.0 inches | | Product Width:
| 5.0 inches | | Product Height:
| 8.0 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.32 pounds | | Package Length:
| 7.1 inches | | Package Width:
| 4.3 inches | | Package Height:
| 2.8 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.5 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 12 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 12 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 33 found the following review helpful:
 Good sound, great convenienceFeb 03, 2010
By Roger A. Knopf
"makes sawdust in spare time"
I've had mine for about 5 months, and my wife just asked me to get one for her as well. Its not perfect (but hardly any bluetooth accessory is in my experience). Here are some of the pros and cons:
LOVE that it is solar powered. My wife never remembers to charge her bluetooth earbud and the fact that, once initially charged, you pretty much never have to think about charging it again is huge.
LIKE the sound quality, I have very few issues with not being able to understand or be understood when talking via this thing. Sound quality both ways is WAY better than on my wife's iPhone speakerphone, which is frequently unacceptable - thats why she asked me to get one for her.
LIKE being able to have it in convenient reach on my windshield.
LIKE and DON'T LIKE at the same time the strength of the bluetooth connection - if I forget to turn it off, half the time when I park my car in the driveway and go into my home office if I call comes in it goes via the speakerphone in the car, LOL!!! So good connection but sometimes too good.
DON'T LIKE the suction cups giving out once in a while - I wish it had a visor clip, but of course it wouldn't be in the sun that way, would it?
DON'T LIKE the charging cord - it is short and inflexible - so if I have to use it I can't put it on the windshield where I am used to it. Fortunately almost never have to use it after the initial charge.
DON'T LIKE the volume buttons, small and hard to use when driving, so I pretty much never use them and adjust on my phone (Blackberry Bold) when I need to.
**** UPDATE (Oct 2010)**** While mine still works fine, the second one I got for my wife has begun to behave oddly - especially that it will not stay turned OFF when not in use (like when the car is parked all day at work). The primary side-effect of this is that it is not charged and ready when she needs it. Definitely makes me hesitant to purchase a replacement.
11 of 12 found the following review helpful:
 I got a refundNov 01, 2009
By Sweetheart
"Tweety"
I bought this hands free unit because it is solar powered and compact. When I placed it on my windshield and tried it out, the people that I called told me that they were hearing feedback. I did not have that problem but my problem was that I could hardly hear them even though the volume was at the max. This was really unacceptable because when I was on the highway I couldn't hear at all.
I had it about a month before going back because I could not find the time to take it back. I was given a new unit, the volume seemed like it was even lower. I went on line to LG and had a live customer service chat to try to resolve the issue because I was still attracted to it being solar and compact. The rep did not have a solution and told me that I should go back to where I purchased it to get it serviced. At this time I had this NEW one for only one week and the thought of having it serviced did not sit well with me. The final straw came the next day. The unit would not turn on even though I live in Florida and sun (solar) is year round. I took it back and got a refund!!!
8 of 9 found the following review helpful:
 Great until it overchargedAug 06, 2010
By MY
I've had this over a year and it worked great until recently. I did the initial charge as instructed. It's gotten only solar power charging since then and I've never had a low battery issue. Some callers reported hearing a lot of background noise but I was still understandable. Volume was sufficient for my car environment. I had an ad-hoc visor mount when in use. The way the volume drops periodically to indicate you are on mute was annoying so I used the phone's mute instead. Voice dialing worked fine for me. I also like the fact that I could pair it with my wife's phone too in case she drove my car.
Like another reviewer though, we had a hot sunny period and the unit appears to have overcharged its battery. It is so swollen none of the buttons can work. (sealed batteries swell when overcharged) On cool days it seems to partially recover but is sporadic at best. Sometimes turns on by itself and won't pair automatically any more. I can only assume it didn't have sufficient overcharge protection (if any). Too bad because I liked the solar feature.
I'm now having to look at a replacement and it won't be this model.
7 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Good but only lasted 11 monthsJul 02, 2010
By Michael J. Pacheco
First 11 months:
Nice and loud.
No pairing issues.
"Never" had to charge it, ever.
Last week:
90 degree sunny weather appears to have fried the unit. "Answer button frozen solid", power button rarely works. When it can be convinced to be turned on, if the unit is even moderately hot it will not work. It can be cooled down via AC flow, and fighting with the power button you can eventually get it turn on... but it can take minutes. so, its basically unusable.
Anecdotal: Friend who bought same unit weeks after me had his unit fried same day as mine, with same symptoms. 90 - 95 degrees on hot dry day.
YMMV.
6 of 7 found the following review helpful:
safe, easy, reasonable handsfreeDec 13, 2009
By Bob
Easily charges in sunlight, and powers up easily. Audio quality is adequate -- occasionally people (on the other end) will complain but for short conversations while driving it's a very safe and easy option. Lack of wires is very nice. Overall, a good deal if you're looking for a hands-free option for safer telephoning while driving.
See all 12 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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