Treo’s ringing, where’s your headset? Don’t tell me it’s buried in a pocket or purse? Not at the bottom of your bookbag, surely? All those holsters we’ve been talking about keep your Treo handy to the max, but what about your slick and slim wireless headset that makes long Treo talkin’ comfortable? Meaning: don’t have to hold the Treo up to your ear.

The Tooth Ferry, by Nite Ize, fixes that handily. Quite simply, it ferries your Bluetooth headset around in what amounts to a dedicated headset holster, elegantly keeping it accessible, where you can get at it. In a hurry!

Instead of reaching for the phone and fumbling to find the headset, retrieve the headset from the Tooth Ferry’s embrace and click the button to answer the call. Sweet.

The clever Nite Ize Tooth Ferry - that’s Ferry as in, well, you know, and not “Fairy” as in don’t-forget-to-floss – is a small, stiff, heart-shaped panel upholstered in soft, black leather. It’s fitted with two crossed bands made of elastic. A convenient pull-tab lets you grab and yank the elastic bands outward so you can drop most any model of Bluetooth headset behind them. Let go of the tab, and the bands hold the headset comfy as you please.

On the back, the Ferry sports a large, permanent, stiffly springy clip that’s also covered in black leather. That lets the whole cute thing attach to belt, strap, clothing, or sun visor, or the brim of your cap if you’re busy with that baseball thing. Result: You won’t have to spend much time looking for your headset when the Treo rings. The other theater patrons will appreciate the favor.

Usability

The Tooth Ferry isn’t specific to any headset. If yours is an inch wide or less, it’ll ride either vertically or horizontally. It’ll still work vertically if it’s even wider than that. Most are much smaller than those dimensions, some of them down right tiny.

The headset carrier comes in particularly handy in a car, clipped to a sun visor. The holder’s serious holding action won’t even notice the jostling when you move the visor up, down, or around, to shield out glare. It has a strong grip.

The Ferry doesn’t cover up its treasure or surround it with anything substantial, so it stays exposed to the elements, but you can always remove it and drop it in your pocket, bag, or whatever, Tooth Ferry and all.

The clip is excellently effective on soft materials. When you clip the Tooth Ferry to your waistband, it stays clipped there. I had to use two hands to get it off my pants. Indeed, getting it on in the first place turned out to be a two-handed operation, though after moving it to different outfits a few times it went easier. A little opposing thumb action made magic, and one hand was enough. Clipping to a belt or strap wasn’t as tricky, nor was removing it.

My only problem was ear hooks, for example my Motorola H550. An ear hook gets in the way of inserting the headset, and interferes with snatching it out for use. In the H550’s case, it came off, but I caught it on the fly. This of course won’t be a problem for headsets that either don’t have ear hooks, or have them as optional attachments. The H550’s ear hook is removable (because it’s reversible), but it’s necessary to use the headset, as the speaker needs to ride slightly outside the ear canal.

Headsets that don’t require an ear hook will make much better companions for the Tooth Ferry, but the ear hook models do work. Just have to watch out for losing the hook or tangling it in the holding straps when removing the headset from the carrier.

The product’s description mentions all the Treo models by name, but really, it makes no difference what brand or model of phone you have. Except for the ear hook issue, it won’t matter much what brand of Bluetooth headset you have, either. The Tooth Ferry should accommodate any of them – though more than one at a time might be too much of a stretch, pun intended.

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