Syncing it up to my iPhone was easy - I just followed the included directions, and I was ready to go. One nice thing about the R1 is that it can be synced up to two phones simultaneously. My boyfriend also has an iPhone, so we can both use it whenever we need to.

The R1 also has dual microphones. When used in the car, the second mic acts as noise cancellation. You can also enable “conference mode”, where both mics receive normal speech, so that the R1 can be used as a makeshift speaker for on-the-go conference calls.

In testing with the R1, I found that as the caller (using the R1), voice calls were very, very clear. The speaker is plenty loud and works great in the car. The end call and answer call buttons are easy to hit while I’m driving.

The R1 also supports voice dialing and announcing who is calling, if your cell phone supports these features. Unfortunately, the iPhone doesn’t support voice dialing, so this feature doesn’t work. It does, however, announce the phone number of the person calling. I’m not sure if it would announce the name of the person calling, if your phone had such a feature.

On the receiving end (someone else calling me with the R1), I could tell that the person was on a speakerphone, but the quality was good, and the audio wasn’t too muffled or distant. I called a few people with the R1, and got a few complaints that I sounded too quiet. Overall, however, the opinions I got from others were pretty positive.

At $99.99 MSRP, the R1 is a little pricey. However, if you travel and frequently use your phone in the car, it’s one handy device to have around. I will definitely be adding it to my collection of travel gadgets.