Bluetooth car kit or Bluetooth HU?

[vebmetal]

As you may know I have been dwelling on changing my Pioneer HU for many reasons. This also brings a new requirement of mine in the picture. I need to have bluetooth to be able to talk on my phone safely in the car. I would be the first person to admit that onthe rare occasion when I have tried talking on the phone and driving, I have driven less safely. And I detest people who drive poorly because they don't have the courtesy to not drive while holding their phones to their ears.

So which one is a better solution - getting a bluetooth car kit, or upgrading to a bluetooth HU? (Of course recommendations to specific products would be more than appreciated!), keeping in mind the following points:

• When a call comes in (or I start making a call) the music from the HU must mute automatically. And once the call is over, it should resumer automatically.
• I need to have a screen that gives the caller ID of the person calling which it looks up in my addressbook on my phone.
• The screen should also be able to show SMSes.
• Above all, the screen should be able to be viewed safely for the brief one or two seconds that I would have to look at it.
• Call quality must be excellent and it should be easy to make calls as well as receive them.
• There should be a feature to be able to shift the conversation from the car speakers to the phone handset (i.e. private mode) when I don't want other passengers in the car to hear my conversation.

(p.s. I know there are other threads out there which deal with in-car bluetooth implementation. I have gone through them, and have not found an answer. Hence this thread.)

[blueraven316]

Except for the last feature (I Think) all features are available with the blutooth add on for the JVC AVX800, its the KD-BTA200.
Even the Pioneer CD-BTB200 has the same features, but is far costlier and less available here.
The most advanced features I have seen till date is on the Kenwood's latest Bluetooth device KCA-BT200.

Also the new Pioneer 7050BT might have some of the features you looking for in terms of call receiving. Don't know about messages

[esteem_lover]

Whats your budget ? I hope it is also as large as your requirement.

@blueraven.. what are the retail prices for those models you have quoted ?

[Raja]

Regarding you 2nd and 3rd requirements, it also depends very heavily on what handset you have or are going to get.
Not all handsets relay the caller ID function or SMS's correctly.
As for the last requirement, it gets tricky, to transfer the call back to the handset requries disconnecting from the car kit, in theory it should work seamlessly, in reality, there is a high chance of the call being dropped.
If you go for a proper car kit rather than a head unit, many car kits offer the option to attach a handset to it, it's like picking up a regular phone, negative being you are holding the handset to your ear and thereby taking one hand of the wheel.

[vebmetal]

My budget... let's say 3 - 5K for the car kit. And the same for the HU plus whatever I would get by selling my 6 month old Pioneer 6050UB (in perfect condition).

The handset I use - Nokia E51 (has A2DP).

Raja I have seen the call switching (private mode) being used seamlessly in my friend's BMW's OEM audio/GPS system. The icing on that cake was that the controls were OEM in the steering wheel, so verrrrrry easy to operate. (And of course, what I meant was that in case I had to take a call privately like this, I would stop the car to the side first).

Blueraven, I hae been quoted 7K for the cd-btb200, so no use. I might as well sell my HU and use the 7K to upgrade to a much nicer HU with built-in bluetooth. (the new kenwood series?)

[viper]

Hi,

Take a look at the Parrot Bluetooth products model Ck3100 offers almost all the features you are looking for. Unfortunately it is over your budget.

Parrot CK3100 | Products from Viper Performance ...

@ Mods - I am only answering a query on the forum.

Viper

[NetfreakBombay]

viper, how much does ck3100 cost?

[viper]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

viper, how much does ck3100 cost?

Hi,

Check your PM.

Viper

[mshooli]

Originally Posted by vebmetal

So which one is a better solution - getting a bluetooth car kit, or upgrading to a bluetooth HU? (Of course recommendations to specific products would be more than appreciated!), keeping in mind the following points:

Well I recently installed the JVC AVX-44. Its a single DIN HU and would meet the following of your requirements :

When a call comes in (or I start making a call) the music from the HU must mute automatically. And once the call is over, it should resumer automatically.

this is available and i guess almost all HU's with in-built bluetooth will have this feature.

I need to have a screen that gives the caller ID of the person calling which it looks up in my addressbook on my phone.

you can store upto 50 names in the HU itself. For the numbers stored in the HU, the name and number is displayed on the screen. Else only the number is displayed.

The screen should also be able to show SMSes.

This option too is there. However I have not tested it so far.

Above all, the screen should be able to be viewed safely for the brief one or two seconds that I would have to look at it.

Yes. I have not faced issues with this so far.

Call quality must be excellent and it should be easy to make calls as well as receive them.

The call quality is good especially when you are listening. But if you speak, then your voice is not so audible on the other end. You might have to scream sometimes (this depends on the signals in the area). The problem I feel here, is that the HU is designed more for left hand drivers. The in-built mic is on the left side of the HU which is a bit far from where I would have liked it to be.

There should be a feature to be able to shift the conversation from the car speakers to the phone handset (i.e. private mode) when I don't want other passengers in the car to hear my conversation.

yes there is an option to do this.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

viper, how much does ck3100 cost?

It is pretty expensive. Certainly not in vebmetal's budget.

[vebmetal]

Yeah, btw ordering a car kit from the US is an option. So for there I guess the budget would be around $70 - $80.

Recommendations svp!!

[NIP]

a2dp/bluetooth kills the quality of music. if u like quality music, avoid this.

[vikram_d]

Bluetooth HU anyday. And if you like good music then dont use A2DP.

[hellspawn]

Why not give the kenwood bt7539U headunit a try.It does everything that you have mentioned exceptionally well.with b&w it cost 15k.You might get it a lot cheaper in grey.

[vebmetal]

Ok, will do. Do you know anyone in Delhi who has it who would be willing to let me audition it? The other day I passed by Driven in EoK and noticed that it wasn't there anymore. Is it shut?

Also two questions about the BT7539U as well as other bluetooth HUs:

1. There doesn't seem to be green and red buttons to pick up / reject calls. How does this work with the HU itself and /or the remote?
2. Does kenwood /other brands support the bluetooth call pickup / reject etc. features in their respective steering remotes?

And yeah, don't worry guys, I have experienced bluetooth music on HUs before - terrible! So no plans of doing that! I just mentioned that my E51 has a2dp in case that helps with the quality of the voice call over bluetooth.