The Motorola CLP1060 was one of the first two way radios to provide built-in support for a Bluetooth earpiece. As we mentioned in our Motorola CLP1060 review that aired last May during The Two Way Radio Show, this freedom from wires was something that many businesses had been looking forward to for years.
The CLP1060 uses standard Bluetooth technology and will work with most Bluetooth earpieces that are designed to work with cell phones. It even ships with the Motorola HK200, which is also sold separately for use with cell phones. As convenient as it seems to be to use a standard headset, the feedback that came from businesses was clear: they wanted a different earpiece. Motorola determined that businesses were looking for an earpiece that was more comfortable to wear for long shifts, was optimized for either ear, deterred theft, had longer battery life, and was less expensive to replace.
On January 10th, Motorola announced the CLP Bluetooth Accessory Kit. The "guts" of this product is the Bluetooth Pod (HKLN4512). This is a small (1.75" x 1.25" x .5") device that communicates with the CLP1060 radio using Bluetooth. A swivel earpiece with an in-line microphone (HKLN4513) is included and connects to the Pod. A charging cradle (HKLN4509) is also included for charging the battery powered pod.
This accessory kit will start shipping with the CLP1060 radios instead of the current HK200 headset later this year (estimated to be sometime in May). This addresses many of the concerns some businesses had with the previous headset and is expected to be a more business friendly solution. If you liked the old earpiece, don't get too upset about this change. The CLP1060 will still maintain compatibility with standard cell phone style Bluetooth headsets, so you can always purchase one separately.
Want more info? Check out this flyer on the Bluetooth Accessory Kit for CLP Radios.
