Do you want the best headset? 
Most people who are given a choice between using a headset with a wire or one without, would in most cases choose a model without. After all, wires do tend to get in the way, and limit your movement to the length of the cord.
Wireless headsets, on the other hand, give you the freedom to move around your work space and allow you to take calls remotely as well. So it’s no mystery why there’s a fast growing wireless headset fan base.
Poly Voyager 4245 Vs Savi 8240 Office Video
Connectivity
The Poly Voyager 4245, and the Poly Savi 8240 Office are both designed to be used with desk phones, computers and mobile devices. On the surface you’d think that these are the same because they connect to the same devices. And that would be a reasonable thing to assume when looked at on paper.
But, even though they both connect to the same devices, there is a difference in how they both connect to mobile devices.
The Poly Voyager 4245 is a Bluetooth headset, whereas the Poly Savi 8240 is a DECT headset. And it’s because of this distinction that has them connecting to mobile devices differently.
The Voyager 4245 headset connects to the mobile device, but with the Savi 8240, it’s the base that makes the connection. Because the 4245 headset connects to the mobile device, you can therefore take your headset with you outside of the office.
The Poly 8240 Office, on the other hand, is reliant on the headset base making the connection, so as you can see, it doesn’t allow for the headset to be used with a mobile device away from the office.
For some, this limitation could be a drawback for this model especially if you would like to use your headset on the go.
In either case, there is a difference in mobile connectivity between these two models, with desk phone and computer connectivity being the same.
Talk time
The battery performance differs on both headsets because the Voyager 4245 comes with two batteries that are designed to give you up to 5 hours each. While using one of these two batteries, the second one is charging.
So, when the first battery is in need of a recharge, simply slide it off, and then slide on the spare, charged battery. When you do, you’d then slide the discharged battery onto the charger and repeat the process.
All told, you get unlimited battery life because there’s always a fresh battery on the charger ready to go.
The battery in the Savi 8240 Office is designed to give you up to 7 hours of talk time. This has been the standard for the Poly headsets that share this same headset design. No doubt they all use the same battery because they all give the same amount of talk time at 7 hours.
Is 7 hours inadequate? I’d say not. Clearly it’s not at the higher end of battery performance, but it is enough to get you through a full, even heavy, workday. When you stop to consider that the battery can give you up to 7 hours of talk time, and the fact that in a typical 8 hour work day, most of us don’t spend 7 hours talking.
Instead, we’re on a call, off the call, working on a project, back on a call etc. So it’s my opinion that a 7 hour talk time battery is very adequate for a full work day. But, if you begin to feel battery anxiety, remember that you can always drop the headset into the charging cradle anytime you’re not on a call, or when you take a break, or having lunch.
The time spent on the charger will help to extend the amount of talk time and you could extend it to 9 hours or even more.
If you don’t want to have to remember to dock the headset for those short charge bursts, you do have the option to consider the Poly Savi 8245 instead of the 8240. The 8245, like the Voyager 4245, comes with a spare battery that’s hot swappable which gives you unlimited talk time.
But on paper, when you compare the 4245 to the 8240, it’s pretty clear that the Voyager 4245 has the advantage simply due to it having the two hot swappable batteries for that unlimited talk time.
Wireless Range
Given that these are both wireless headsets, it makes sense to know how much wireless talk range they provide.
According to Poly, the Savi 8240 gives you line of sight up to 590 feet of wireless range, and in an office, it’s estimated at around 180 feet. The Poly
Voyager 4245 is designed to give you up to 328 feet. Now before you begin thinking that you can head on down to the local Starbucks with your headset on, there’s something you need to know about wireless headset range.
There’s a big difference between advertised wireless range, and usable wireless range. That’s because all of our working environments contain obstructions. These obstructions can vary a lot and include things like walls, windows, people, partians, and elevators to name a few.
The wireless headset signal must penetrate through these obstructions in order to maintain the connection. And, as the signal penetrates these barriers, it weakens the signal and shortens the wireless range.
With that said, it’s safe to estimate the usable wireless range at about half of the advertised. For both of these headsets that would mean:
- The Voyager 4245 at around 164 feet, plus or minus depending on your environment
- The Savi 8240 at around 295 feet, plus or minus.
It’s nearly impossible to nail down exactly how much wireless range you should expect. But, for the way most of us would use a wireless headset, either of these range estimates should be adequate for anyone’s normal daily use.
Wearing styles
One of the nice things about both of these headsets is you don’t have to choose your wearing style. That’s because the 4245, and 8240 both come with
- Headband for over-the-head wearing - single ear
- Ear loops for an over-the-ear wearing experience - 3 sizes of loops
- Behind-the-neck band for those who don’t want to mess up their hair, and don’t like earpieces
Having all three wearing options included makes either of these headsets a great choice for individuals or larger headset deployments. It’s a major task to poll everyone to find out what wearing style they prefer, and then order accordingly. Though that’s possible, it’s very challenging from a logistical and support point of view.
Different headsets require different parts and pieces which means you’d have to stock a variety of things in order to have the necessary items on hand to support the headsets in use. The 4245, and 8240 help to simplify the process because they all use the same common parts. And because of that, they can be interchanged. So, there’s some economies of scale.
Another nice aspect of having these different wearing styles included is you can change your wearing style whenever you want. For example, you can utilize the mono headband style for a while, and later, when you like, you can easily change over to an on-ear style. Then, if you’d like to refresh with a new wearing option, you can attach the neckband for a third, uniquely different style.
Having all these options included is particularly nice should you experience discomfort with a particular style. If that happens, you simply change to a different wearing style. Without this flexibility, you’d either have to put up with the pain, or seek out a replacement headset.
How Do They Sound?
Watch our YouTube video here to find out
There’s no denying that the Poly Voyager 4245, and the Savi 8240 are both excellent headsets. After all, they’re a Poly product, have some great features and they’re both very lightweight. But all that doesn’t matter much unless they sound good. So, how do they sound?
Well, before I let you know what my thoughts are on this, I have to mention that we do our own in-house sound tests. We test the voice audio quality in a quiet room, and also test the microphone in a room with a few different loud background sounds.
The background noise we use in these tests are:
- Office sounds - such as people talking, office equipment etc.
- Barking dogs - this is a good test for those at-home workers who have their favorite four legged friend nearby.
- And we also include in our tests a noisy blender that’s just a few feet away. We’ve found this to be a very challenging noise test for any headset.
Generally speaking, what we’re looking for is the speech clarity, volume, and tone. We also evaluate how well that speech quality is maintained when the headset is dealing with all the different noises. And of course, how well it does overall to remove unwanted background noise.
Both of these headsets sound good. The audio quality is loud, clear, sharp and professional. But to my ears, the Voyager 4245 sounded a bit better. I can’t say that it sounded a ton better, but to me, it had a slightly richer tone compared to the Savi 8240.
In terms of noise canceling, I’d have to say that it’s practically a toss up. Both did a very good job to eliminate all the crazy noise we threw at them. But if I had to choose one, I’d have to say the Voyager 4245 did a slightly better job, but keep in mind I’m splitting hairs here because both were solid.
This takes me to how well the voice audio quality was maintained when the microphone was working to reduce background noise. In that department, I’ll once again give the nod to the Voyager 4245.
Though it wasn’t significantly better in this evaluation, to me, the voice quality was better because with the Savi 8240, I could detect a slight bit of distortion that wasn’t present with the Voyager 4245. Both sounded good, but to me, the Voyager sounded a bit better.
So, to me, the Voyager 4245 overall sounded better. And in saying that, I have to also say that the differences between them were subtle. If I were making a choice between these two models after listening to our sound tests, I’d select the Voyager 4245. You might come to a different conclusion because it’s a widely accepted belief that sound quality is very subjective.
A few other things these headsets have in common
- Conference feature. This is a feature that’s found on both of these headsets that allows you to shadow, or monitor an employee for coaching, and training purposes.
- Compatibility with 98% of desk phones. Both can be used with all the leading desk phones, whether they be analog, digital or VOIP models.
- Remote call answering. The Voyager 4245, and the Savi 8240 both support the highly desirable feature of remote call answering. This feature requires the optional accessory of a handset lifter, or electronic hookswitch (EHS) cable. With this optional accessory, you’re able to answer incoming calls when away from the desk, up to the usable wireless range.
So is there a clear winner between these two headsets?
Regrettably, no. I feel that both of these headsets have their strong points, but at the same time, both share many things in common. And because they’re very similar in so many ways, choosing between them would really come down to something one has, that the other doesn’t.
For example, if you want the ability to use the headset with your mobile phone on the go, then you’d select the Voyager 4245. On the other hand, if having the longest wireless range is important, then the Savi 8240 would be your better choice.
Once you know what your needs are, and the things most important to you, you’ll then be able to easily decide between these two popular, and professional wireless headsets.
The Voyager 4245, and Savi 8240 not what you’re looking for?
If neither of these headsets are what you’re looking for, make sure to contact us at Headset Advisor. We have experts available that can help match you to the perfect headset solution.
So whether you need a tailored recommendation, have a question, or even need some help getting your headsets set up, we’re here to help.
