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Bluetooth hands free - Vin {P}
I've done a forum search (but not too far back, as the technology is no doubt changing) but do any of you have experience of a decent bluetooth hands free kit?

I'm not looking for the silly earpiece; I'm looking for a proper hands-free kit. If there's one out there that will mute my radio, etc, even better.

I know I could find one with a google search, but I'm looking for personal experiences.

V
Bluetooth hands free - BobbyG
My pal has the £70 one from halfords that works through the car stereo and it is very impressive. OK it soesn't have a separate display, just 2 buttons to answer the phone but thats really all you need at a decent price?
Bluetooth hands free - Adam {P}
My uncle has the Parrot something or other - not the blue screen one - the one with the colour screen.

He had to get it wired in especially but it's perfect. When he rings me on it. he's going very fast and it sounds like he's in a quiet room. Similarly, call quality in the car is perfect. Automatically picks up the phone when you get in the car and has it's own phonebook so you need never take it out of your pocket. Does all the stuff like mutes the radio too.

I can find out more info on it if you're interested.
Bluetooth hands free - Altea Ego
Colleague has the Nokia 616. Hideously expensive but hi swears by it as a mobile tool enabling him to work.

A lot of cheaper parrot evolutions in use, but they have no screen,
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Bluetooth hands free - JamesH
I have a Parrot myself - the CK3100 with the blue-lit screen (the 3200 is the nice, but pricier, colour one) and i highly recommend it. With either you can pay an installer to get them hardwired but I fitted mine myself as it wasn't too difficult. I paid about £90 for the unit a year ago, but the price still seems to be the same. I bought from www.justcarkits.co.uk - the seller fits car kits for a living but was still very helpful for the DIYer.

My stereo has ISO connectors, so it was just a case of taking the radio out, glovebox out, put the Parrot leads between the stereo and loom (just plugs in, no cutting needed), hide the control unit behind the glovebox, hide the mic lead up the A pillar, route the display unit to the dash, refit everything and all done.

As with Adam's uncle's device, I don't bother taking my phone out of my pocket or pressing anything, it comes on automatically with the ignition. It has a display with Caller ID, synchronises with your phonebook and recent call list so you can pick numbers from the display unit, or has its own voice dialling. Sound comes through the car speakers, muting the radio. I can hear anyone who calls me clearly, and they can hear me fine too, even at motorway speeds. I think you can pair something like up to five different phones to work with it, but only one at a time will work.


There is a sun-visor mounted one by Pama, with Caller ID, which I thought might be suitable for my other car, which has a more fiddly stereo. However, downsides of portable units are thay you have to remember to charge them up or plug them in, and switch on, and that is is easier to steal.

James
Bluetooth hands free - henry k
If you do not want to drill holes in the dash then consider a mounting bracket from
www.dashmount.co.uk/manufacturers.htm
or a clone
Bluetooth hands free - PoloGirl
I've got a Jabra that either clips to the sun visor or suckers to the dash/windscreen. You don't wire it in and it wont mute the stereo, but I have a hand to turn the stereo off with and for £55 I can fault the Jabra.

Bluetooth hands free - rtj70
What's the faults with the Jabra for £55 :-)

A proper car kit that mutes the radio is not expensive if you keep the car for a while. And it can charge it too.

Mine is a company car and I have a company phone and hence the company provided car kit. If it were my car they'd pay for fitting anyway but if I had my own car and phone I'd pay myself.
Bluetooth hands free - wotspur
I've had a Nokia bluetooth for 4 years, it's fantastic.
The mouth piece is mounted above the door, the connector button, just to the side of the steering rack, and the microphone, situated by the passenger door ,when the phone rings you just press a button and it kills the radio and you can talk and hear normally . Had it fitted by a large phone warehouse company.
Can't remember the cost, but it was a small fraction to the cost of the car, I can not understand people driving often with a phone in one hand , fag in the other trying to negotiate a roundabout, skimping on safe driving for the sake of a few hundred pounds.
Fine them, ban them and crush their cars if necessary, before they maim or kill an innocent road user, cyclist or pedestrian
Bluetooth hands free - rtj70
A good tip is to have the mic fitted near the rear mirror. Easier to fit near the driver door but depending on car it can pick up wind noise.

I think if you have it done professionally they will do this anyway although once asked where I'd prefer it.
Bluetooth hands free - rtj70
To future proof you look at the THB Bury Universal car kit. Proper car kit and the cradle for the phone is inter-changeable. Swapped mine three times so far.

You can get a Bluetooth only plugin too or one with BT that also holds a phone.

Rob
Bluetooth hands free - No FM2R
Parrot 3200 thoroughly recommended.

Given that my car is a convertible and the microphone near the roof, the lack of background noise is surprising. One can have calls at quite high speeds and its clear both ways even above road/tyre noise on a concrete motorway.

It mutes the stereo, speaks out its own menu and takes voice dialling. If you do need to look at the display, then its very clear and carries all the appropriate information. Not bad in sunlight.

As has been said, the phone lives in your pocket and the kit just pairs up when you switch on the ignition. It will pair with 5 different phones (obviously only one at a time). One phone is a default in the event that it finds more than one.

Excellent and well worth the money.
Bluetooth hands free - AR-CoolC
Not much use to you I know. But I have the factory fitted bluetooth in my MY2006 Loen, and it's fantsatic, extra large display on the dash that shows caller name etc, all functions are controled with the steering wheel and wiper stalk butons. The sound is perfectly clear, most people don't think I'm in the car when they ring.

Only down side is that the phone doesn't get charged whilst in the car
Bluetooth hands free - DP
Only down side is that the phone doesn't get charged whilst
in the car


That's actually no bad thing. Partial charging, and charging when only partially discharged does your mobile battery no good at all, which is exactly what happens in a typical car kit.

The claim that Li-Ion and NiMH batteries have no memory effect is rubbish. They are better than NiCd in this respect, but will succumb eventually.

Cheers
DP
Bluetooth hands free - Altea Ego
Li-Ion and NiMH are far better than NiCads for having no memory effect, if fact its safe to say they dont.
BUT (and its a big one)
They both have a limted number of charge / recharge cycles (500 being typical) so if you partially recharge you are esentially shortening the life of your battery - like this:
Phone gets charged every three days = 1500 days life
Phone gets charged twice a day = 250 days life.

This is very prevelant on laptop batteries with 12-18 months working life being typical on machines in daily use.

And when the latest batteries loose it , boy do they loose it, with ability to hold a charge suddenly falling off a cliff.

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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Bluetooth hands free - Happy Blue!
Well TVM, I've been runing my Nokia 6310i on an Nokia CARK-91 for a few years and have never lost a battery to wear. My current 6310i must be at least three years old and the battery lasts for over a week if fully charged and barely used (when I'm on holiday). It can be slung into the cradle up to five times per day.
Bluetooth hands free - Altea Ego
Yes I know my 6310i is the same, I have to say the battery life in a 6310i is uncanny, not usually repeated in any other mobile phone range.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Bluetooth hands free - Adam {P}
How long will the 6310 last on standby?
Bluetooth hands free - local yokel
About 4 days, sometimes 5.
Bluetooth hands free - Adam {P}
It's got to be more than that - I thought it was heralded as the phone that lasted forever on standby. My Sony Ericsson W810i (which I've sent back because it's knackered) could go the best part of two weeks just using it to send texts and the odd call.
Bluetooth hands free - Brit_in_Germany
About 2 weeks

BIG
Bluetooth hands free - No FM2R
>>But I have the factory fitted bluetooth in

In a BMW with i-Drive (which I love)....

Factory fitted at the time of ordering/speccing -
...........£400

Having it fitted afterwards -
.............£1900 & three days in the shop

Watching your CFO's face when they tell him -
.........Priceless.
Bluetooth hands free - Altea Ego
I have to say tho, if you have a nokia phone, you cant beat the hard wired Nokia Car K-91. If your phone has a pop port you can get a pop port converter to convert the kit.

For 25 quid on ebay, its a genuine bargain.,
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Bluetooth hands free - R75
fitted a Parrot C3100 about 2 weeks ago and am very impressd with it. We have 3 phones paired with it, two of them it syncs with automatically but with my XDA2i I have to manually "Push" the contacts through to it, but the quality of the calls is excellent. Got mine for about £70 from Ebuyer.co.uk. was not too bad to fit, but the Honda Shuttle it went in has very little room behind the radio so had to take some of the dash off to hide it all - seriously thinking about getting another one for the Prelude but that looks like it has even less room to hide the boxes!!!
Bluetooth hands free - BobbyG
I gather from replies on here that most of you keep your phone's bluetooth "on" all the time? Thought that was supposed to be a security issue or was that another scare story?

I always keep my bluetooth off unless I am linking it up to my Jabra "Mr Spock" headset thingy. Phone manual also states that keeping bluetooth on drains the battery quicker (Nokia 6230).
Bluetooth hands free - Alfa1
I highly recommend the Parrot CK3100. I've been using it for over a year now and it's great. It self answers and hangs up. I can voice dial people and a clear blue lit screen shows who's calling. It's very neat on my dash. It also cuts off the radio when a call comes in. I was so impressed i got a the company fleet fitted with them and they are all delighted with them. You may pay a bit more for it but it's worth every cent. I give it 10 out of 10. Hope this helps you.
Dermot.
Dermot
Bluetooth hands free - rtj70
I've heard good things about the Parrot kits. But I had to stick with the company provided kit.

Years ago THB was very poor (lots of broken clips) but the latest generation is now very, very good. And with interchangeable holders for the phone which charge. I said it earlier but I can recommend THB Bury Universal system to anyone. And they do BT stuff too.

Rob
Bluetooth hands free - Dynamic Dave
Thought that was supposedto be a security issue or was that another scare story?


Depends on whether you've got the setting on your phone 'hidden' or 'shown to all'. But yes, leaving BT on all the time does drain the battery quicker.
Bluetooth hands free - No FM2R
>>Thought that was supposed to be a security issue or was that another scare story?

Is this the - "somebody will download a virus to you" or the "someone will use your phone to make international calls" scare ? Or perhaps the "someone will download your address book" rumour.

Rubbish whatever. The only issues that I am aware of are that it does use a little mroe battery power and someone can send you anonymous texts [without even a number showing]. But who cares ?
Bluetooth hands free - AR-CoolC
BT is on permanently, but set as "hidden" As said the only issue is the battery runs out a bit quicker, no biggy.
Bluetooth hands free - Adam {P}
Even if it isn't hidden, you have to accept whetever's being sent don't you?

I left my bluetooth on all the time and showing but only because I was lazy and the battery lasted forever. With this phone I'll have to turn it off - not for security reasons but so the battery lasts more than a few hours!
Bluetooth hands free - Vin {P}
Thanks for all the replies.

Parrot seems to be coming up repeatedly, so I'll take a peek.

IIRC, the security issue was that a scrote walks past your car with his bluetooth on on his mobile, finds out that there's a response from something in your car and breaks in knowing they'll get either a laptop or a mobile.

V
Bluetooth hands free - mss1tw
Would have to be parked in the middle of nowhere.
Bluetooth hands free - v8man
I have the Parrot kit too and it's a superb piece of kit.
--
\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
Bluetooth hands free - Big Vern
IIRC, the security issue was that a scrote walks past your
car with his bluetooth on on his mobile, finds out that
there's a response from something in your car and breaks in
knowing they'll get either a laptop or a mobile.
V


Not at all, if your car is parked the unit is powered off, therefore no bluetooth signal, If you have parked your car and left the ignition on Jonny P Scrote is going to be knicking your whole car not just your car kit :o)

Also why would you leave your laptop in the car tuned on?
Bluetooth hands free - Dynamic Dave
Also why would you leave your laptop in the car turned on?


It's been previously mentioned on here that if a laptop is left in standby mode (as opposed to being completely shut down) then it could still emit a bluetooth signal.
Bluetooth hands free - John S
Little more battery power? Hm.... I use a clip-on Motorola HF820. Works OK, excellent battery life. Can struggle on noisy roads, but good VFM. Always turn Bluetooth on the phone off when not used, though, as it has a serious effect on battery discharge rate of my Nokia 6320. Daughter, who worked for while selling mobiles, said that bluetooth is a 'battery monster' and had many complaints of rapid battery discharge when bluetooth was used.

JS
Bluetooth hands free - tr7v8
I use a Visorblade or Supertooth II, it uses a clip on the sunvisor which is metal & has 2 powerfull magnets. Built in mic & powerful speaker (needed in the 944!) mine was £70 from a T Mobile shop or a mate got one for about £55 on ebay. 900 hours standby, 8 hours talk & car & mains chargers. I've got it paired with both my personal & work Motorola V3's.
Bluetooth hands free - Wales Forester
I'm seriously considering getting one a Parrot CK3100 kit to fit in the Mondeo as SWMBO is in the car for 500+ miles a week now, so a wired in hands free seems more justified than ever.
JamesH and TU, I note you chaps have fitted your own. I am intending to do this, is it really as simple as it sounds with no wire cutting etc?? Are the brackets for mounting the display screwed on or self adhesive?
The instructions on the Parrot website don't make it sound quite so simple.......

Also, any suggestions where to mount the display and mic in a current model Mondeo?

Thanks in advance.
Bluetooth hands free - R75
As long as you get the correct cable (making the assumption that the ford stereo is not an iso connector) then it is really quite easy.

If the ford is an iso connector then it is even easier. The hardest part for me was to find somewhere to hide the 2 control boxes as there was not enough room behind or below the stereo in the car I fitted it to, so it had to go under the dash on the drivers side. The display can be screwed on if you so wish or it comes with self adhesive pads and a variety of different mountings. I have the mic mounted on top of the display and the display is mounted on the steering wheel cowl, this means that you would normally talk directly into the mic when driving so gives a very clear sound for the other person. The only bit that I have realised that have done wrong and need to go back and correct is that I have the switched live and the permanent live the wrong way round - not a major issue and the kit still works well, just does not do the voice dialling as it keeps loosing the settings, just a matter of swapping two bullet connectors over as the Honda seems to have these reversed, so I would check that if I were you to make sure Ford has not done the same (next time I will use the multimeter I had with me instead of just rushing and wanting to play)

I have also just fitted the parrot Rythem N Blues all in one unit in our other car, and I am also impressed with this, call quality is excellent and fitting was even easier - well more straight forward.
Bluetooth hands free - Happy Blue!
I've just had a Parrot CK3100 fitted at £160 inc VAT. Why do it yourself, when it can be professionally done for that price? Its really very good.

However the leads that mute the radio have to be spot on. The first one did the job, but stopped the illumination lights for the radio and heater controls working. A new lead sorted that out.
Bluetooth hands free - Nsar
Espada - who did it for you? I'm thinking of getting a proper wired-in set up

Bluetooth hands free - Wales Forester
Thanks for the quick reply TU :-)

I just need to find out if the Sony 6006 head unit has the ISO connector by the sounds of it. Can see a new thread coming on in Technical Matters.......
I have no electrical experience to talk of, so want to make sure fitting is easy enough, I don't want to buy the unit then have to pay the same price again to have it fitted!!

Thanks again.
Bluetooth hands free - Wales Forester
I should have said I'm paying £82 inc VAT & delivery.
Bluetooth hands free - R75
Look on expansys www.expansys.com/f.aspx?i=112175 there is a whole forum dedicated to the ck3100, it has some useful hints etc.
Bluetooth hands free - Wales Forester
I'll be on that forum all night now, cheers TU
Bluetooth hands free - oldtoffee
I have a Parrott 3100 and rate it very highly. If you're often in and out of the car and often on the phone it's a very good tool that IMO is well wotth the extra cash. I don't like handling calls when I'm driving but this works as well as anything I've seen or heard and if I've left the phone in my jacket or the boot, I can still run everything from the Parrot unit. Pays your money ....
Bluetooth hands free - Quinny100
What year is your Mondeo? A 6006 stereo suggests Mk2, but the mention of a Sony unit would make it a Mk3 facelift if it's a standard fit item. Neither have ISO connectors, the Mk3 facelift used the new Quadlok system which was originally started by the German marques.

I have a Nokia CK-7W kit in my 2005 Mondeo and I'm very pleased with it. To fit a CK3100 in a Mk3 facelift it seems you would need an Autoleads 06-092B Telemute lead and an 06-0423B adaptor lead as you are using a Parrot kit - the Telemute leads are wired for Nokia kits.

You will also need a set of radio removal keys - even with them I struggled for half an hour to get the stereo out on mine!

I get all my phone gear from www.siocommunications.co.uk and have had excellent service from them.
Bluetooth hands free - Wales Forester
Hi Quinny, the car is a 55 plate 2005.5 yr model Ghia with the Sony 6 disc CD radio. Thanks for the info and link, I've had a look. If i'm understanding it right I only need one lead (which is in two parts) - the SOT-092 model at £19.99, I can live with that. The removal keys are about £7 on ebay for the required four so again that's not too bad. Even at £27 to install myself it still beats £90 even if I do end up losing some skin off my knuckles....
Bluetooth hands free - Wales Forester
Am I right to assume that the Parrot unit is powered via these leads between the car loom and the radio or is there another power connection that needs to be made?
Bluetooth hands free - R75
It is powered from the car loom - loom goes to parrot kit then passes onto to car stereo if you see what I mean.
Bluetooth hands free - jag
son has just fitted a pioneer deh-p75bt head unit to his car. it picks up the blue tooth signal from his sony ericsson mobile, no wires , just programme head unit to phone and bobs your mothers brother, also comes with a remote control. jag.
Bluetooth hands free - JamesH
PeterPerfect, everything has been pretty well covered by TU, I don't have much to add. In my car, I have a fairly flat area to the left of the steering wheel where I have used an adhesive mount to save putting a hole in the dash. It does mean it's partly obscured by the steering wheel, but that hides the brightness of the display and I don't use mine hugely often. I put the microphone at the top of the A-pillar, with clip wedged between where the A-pillar plastic trim meets the headlining. The cable is hidden behind the door seal.

One gripe was that on switching on the ignition, it made a series of bleeps but a recent software update cured this. I couldn't park the car close enough to the PC in my house, but borrowed a laptop, put my Bluetooth dongle in and did the update from that.

Only very minor glitch is that the display will show any other operator name, or show 'O2 - UK' with a PAYG card, but only shows 'Network OK' with my 3G O2 contract sim in a Sony K800i. More of a bugbear with this phone is that the Parrot won't synchronise with the phonebook properly. This was 'cured' by putting the Parrot in the right mode and sending all my contacts to it from the phone. The synchronisation on start-up now adds any new phonebook entries as it should.

James

Bluetooth hands free - JamesH
Forgot to ask, where can you get it from for £82? I know someone who's impressed with mine but has never seen it at that low price.
Bluetooth hands free - drbe
Have you considered the Jabra BT250v?

This is the thing that sits on your ear - yes, you can look like a wassock, but, it works and is portable.

Costs around £40 - can be set to vibrate - if you are on foot you can still take the thing with you and then you have both hands free for message taking.

If you are using it in the car, your passengers cannot hear both sides of the conversation.

Mine has just been through a wash cycle in the dishwasher (no, it was accidental) and still works fine.
Bluetooth hands free - Dynamic Dave
Have you considered the Jabra BT250v?
Costs around £40


Recently replaced my duff BT250 with the BT250V. Cost £32.45 (inc p&p) from www.mobilefun.co.uk

www.mobilefun.co.uk/product/5446.htm
Bluetooth hands free - Wales Forester
JamesH thanks for your reply too.
I ordered from www.foneshop.com it was £83.98 including VAT and delivery. I chose the cheapest delivery option, but it still came next day Special Delivery before 1pm too which was impressive.
I couldn't find it cheaper, but I did find it on one site for £149.99 plus delivery!!

I'll post a further update once i've got round to fitting it.