[keith_d99]

Hi all,

Can anyone recommend a car kit for an Audi - that will also allow playing of music over bluetooth or wired? Also preferably putting calls through the car speakers? Without having to change the head unit.

I think Parrot do a number but I see on site they have that "Works with iPhone" tag that worries me.

Might the TomTom mount be an option? I think that puts call sound through it's own speaker?

Thanks in advance!
Keith.

[Rich9600]

I bought a blackberry bluetooth stereo gateway to connect my 3gs wirelessly to my car. All you need is a 3.5mm aux in on your car and you can put your phone anywhere you want with out the hastle of wires. This is a music only option and the sound quality is fairly good. As good as my car radio at any rate, its limitations show when playing through my home system though.

I use a brodit proclip and brodit mount to hold my phone on the dash (great when using tomtom and the directions also come over bluetooth). I also have a arm rest mount but the clever folk at BMW decided to block the head phone out... So, hence the use of a bluetooth stereo gateway.

If you search bluetooth stereo gateway or A2DP you'll find other options. I went for the blackberry one as my car has factory bluetooth for phone calls and I wasn't sure if a gateway with phone usage would cause a conflict...

PS. You need OS 3 to get this to work as A2DP wasn't in earlier opperating systems.

[kingofjanner]

I was looking at fitting this for Iphone 3GS into my BMW.

iO PLAY-Innovative Bluetooth Music Streaming Car Kit. iPhone hands free car kit & iPhone music integration into your vehicle

[keith_d99]

Looks good!

There are also a couple of Parrot car kits that might do the job:

Parrot UK - iPhone car kit, iPod speakers - Accessories for iPod & iPhone

Originally Posted by kingofjanner

I was looking at fitting this for Iphone 3GS into my BMW.

iO PLAY-Innovative Bluetooth Music Streaming Car Kit. iPhone hands free car kit & iPhone music integration into your vehicle

[keith_d99]

Hi Kingofjammer,

I would hold off on that - looking at this O2 Uk forum

Seems that quality of audio over bluetooth is not up to scratch - and there is frequent audio dropouts also

Originally Posted by kingofjanner

I was looking at fitting this for Iphone 3GS into my BMW.

iO PLAY-Innovative Bluetooth Music Streaming Car Kit. iPhone hands free car kit & iPhone music integration into your vehicle

[Rich9600]

I've had occasional drop outs on my Blackberry Bluetooth Stereo Gateway but I've found that if I use the power button on the device to reset my gateway it works faultlessly for the rest of the journey. Even if this is a couple of hours! Now I just do this when I get in the car.

I think Kensington LiquidAUX bluetooth might be another option, this takes phone calls also. But, you still need a 3.5mm input on your car. Do you have one?

These were to two I narrowed it down to before I bought the blackberry one.

Kensington LiquidAUX Bluetooth For MP3 Phone: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

BlackBerry Bluetooth Stereo Gateway: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

[jayjay68]

Hi,

Have had an IOPlay in the car for a few months now and it's worked great.

I think the drop outs were due to the IO bluetooth adapter that you needed to use before Iphone 3.0 was released with A2DP.

Cheers,

J

[plant]

I have used the IO play for months and I have to agree with Jayjay. It used to drop out occasionally with the bluetooth adapter but when OS 3.0 was introduced it solved that problem and now performs faultlessly. I have been very impressed with it

[kingofjanner]

Originally Posted by keith_d99

Hi Kingofjammer,

I would hold off on that - looking at this O2 Uk forum

Seems that quality of audio over bluetooth is not up to scratch - and there is frequent audio dropouts also

@keith d99
Thanks for the heads up, although I think what the other posters here are saying may be true now os3.0 is around and we are blessed with A2DP. But i am gonna keep looking i think.
Had parrots before, pretty good performance however this was before streaming music was around,

I like the IO plays price tag and they seem easy to fit yourself if you have a bit of savvy

[UnStable]

Originally Posted by kingofjanner

Had parrots before, pretty good performance however this was before streaming music was around,

Had the PARROT MKi9200 installed a couple of weeks ago. Very nice piece of kit, streams music, TomTom voice commands etc to your car speakers via bluetooth. Syncs the iPhones address book each time you pair with it for voice activated hands free dialling, has a dock for charging or for streaming without having to use bluetooth. Has a usb, audio cable and SD card slot to give you several other options to play your music other than the iPhone. It also has a sexy little screen that displays your album art when playing your ipod :D
Just make sure you update to the latest firmware if you get one

[kingofjanner]

Originally Posted by UnStable

Had the PARROT MKi9200 installed a couple of weeks ago. Very nice piece of kit, streams music, TomTom voice commands etc to your car speakers via bluetooth. Syncs the iPhones address book each time you pair with it for voice activated hands free dialling, has a dock for charging or for streaming without having to use bluetooth. Has a usb, audio cable and SD card slot to give you several other options to play your music other than the iPhone. It also has a sexy little screen that displays your album art when playing your ipod :D
Just make sure you update to the latest firmware if you get one

And just googled it, £142.99 is a great price! About £50 more than the IO PLAY but so many more features especially address book and that sexy screen!!!

[Zain]

Originally Posted by UnStable

Had the PARROT MKi9200 installed a couple of weeks ago. Very nice piece of kit, streams music, TomTom voice commands etc to your car speakers via bluetooth. Syncs the iPhones address book each time you pair with it for voice activated hands free dialling, has a dock for charging or for streaming without having to use bluetooth. Has a usb, audio cable and SD card slot to give you several other options to play your music other than the iPhone. It also has a sexy little screen that displays your album art when playing your ipod :D
Just make sure you update to the latest firmware if you get one

Same here. Had it a few months with out any major issues (just needed re-syncing a couple of times)

Loving the way the Apps audio are processed through the car speakers, especially the many gun apps, great for drive by shootings

[ste v p]

Originally Posted by UnStable

Had the PARROT MKi9200 installed a couple of weeks ago. Very nice piece of kit, streams music, TomTom voice commands etc to your car speakers via bluetooth. Syncs the iPhones address book each time you pair with it for voice activated hands free dialling, has a dock for charging or for streaming without having to use bluetooth. Has a usb, audio cable and SD card slot to give you several other options to play your music other than the iPhone. It also has a sexy little screen that displays your album art when playing your ipod :D
Just make sure you update to the latest firmware if you get one

What do you have to leave on display in the car? I'm concerned because of the area I park in at work, I don't want to have something that advertises "expensive kit in the glove box" even if I've taken it all with me! Apparantly thieves even look for things like sucker marks on the windscreen and expect to find sat-navs etc.

[Zain]

Originally Posted by ste1000

What do you have to leave on display in the car? I'm concerned because of the area I park in at work, I don't want to have something that advertises "expensive kit in the glove box" even if I've taken it all with me! Apparantly thieves even look for things like sucker marks on the windscreen and expect to find sat-navs etc.

Nothing, well a little USB plug on a tiny mount. The display is easily removed, but I don't really bother TBH.

[keith_d99]

The Parrot is looking like the way to go!

Saw a YouTube review in German of the Mki9200 with the iphone.

Just a couple of questions for those who have it:

1. When you plug in iPod cable - does that "Accessory Not Supported" message come up on the iPhone?

2. When hooked up with the iPod cable - does control of iPod completely transfer to the Parrot or can you still control playlists etc. from the iPhone

3. How does audio over bluetooth compare to wired audio through the cable?


Thanks,
Keith.

Originally Posted by UnStable

Had the PARROT MKi9200 installed a couple of weeks ago. Very nice piece of kit, streams music, TomTom voice commands etc to your car speakers via bluetooth. Syncs the iPhones address book each time you pair with it for voice activated hands free dialling, has a dock for charging or for streaming without having to use bluetooth. Has a usb, audio cable and SD card slot to give you several other options to play your music other than the iPhone. It also has a sexy little screen that displays your album art when playing your ipod :D
Just make sure you update to the latest firmware if you get one

[willyuk]

I vote for the Venturi mini, only costs £50, charges the iphone, plays via bluetooth and the phone goes via the car speakers. Inbuilt mike for handsfree talking and you can download you contacts list to the unit.
Paired with a brodit mount it works fine for me

[keith_d99]

Willy,

Have you used this??? Seems like it transfers the audio over FM frequency, which might not be the best

Originally Posted by willyuk

I vote for the Venturi mini, only costs £50, charges the iphone, plays via bluetooth and the phone goes via the car speakers. Inbuilt mike for handsfree talking and you can download you contacts list to the unit.
Paired with a brodit mount it works fine for me

[berkeley384]

I have the IO Play and Ive never been happy with it,

The main thing is that the sound quality is rubbish, its tinny and bass less no matter what EQ setting you use on the iPhone iPod settings, ive tried two phones in 2 cars and it always sounds naff.

the next problem is that it was designed to use with the dongle so you could skip tracks etc from its little control switch, but since 3.o came out the dongle is now a paperweight and you cant skip tracks, it all has to be done on the phone.

The hands free works OK, but you have to dial anything other than the last number you dialled through the phone, you cant scroll through contacts etc, since im in the car 2 hours a day I find this annoying as Im not going to give in and start trying to dial on a touch screen at 70 mph

[monksy74]

I have a parrot MKI9000. It's like the 9200 but without the screen - I didn't want another screen as I have the phone dash mounted in a brodit holder.

When it works it's great - playing music via the dock cable, charging and able to play/pause and skip back forward using the remote that comes with it.

The big issue is that most of the time when using the dock cable, it starts charging, then drops out and displays the "this accessory is not designed for the iphone" message. When it does this, the music won't play through the speakers and the remote won't operate it.

Switch the engine off and back on and it connects and works fine, but it takes about 20 - 30 seconds to boot up and connect so your halfway down the road when it drops out and switching the engine off isn't convenient.

One other issue when connected to the dock cable is that sounds only come through when music is playing, so sat nav announcements / email / text sounds don't come through when you're not playing music.

If you use it via AD2P then all sounds come through but the kit disables AD2P when connected to the dock which, when using sat nav, is required to charge the phone.

On the plus side, the sound quality is good and the bluetooth calling is great - good sound quality at both ends. The kit syncs your phonebook and has voice calling - I thought this was a bit ropey at first but if you say the name surname then first name it never gets it wrong (even with my broad lancashire accent).

If Parrot could fix the issue with it not connecting via the dock cable it would be perfect. As it is it's a great piece of kit that needs some patience to get it going.

Still there's nothing else out there that offers what the Parrot kits offer all in one device.

Oh and I recommend connectmycar.com for supplying the kit and having it professionally fitted. They even include the car specific SOT leads in the price. The MKI9000 was £170. I could find the kit for £99 + £20 for the SOT lead elsewhere, which equates to £50 for the installation, which as it required the mic fitting up on the rear view mirror - I wasn't prepared to have a go at myself.

[haircut100]

I recently bought the Venturi Mini for use with my iPhone 3G and BMW car.

The main purpose of the Venturi for me is cable-less audio playback and to provide a charger for the iPhone when necessary. The fact that it will also give me hands free capability (and better voice control when I upgrade my phone) is a bonus.

I live in London but often commute out of the London in the car. The Venturi gives me 4 pre-set FM frequencies. I set the first pre-set frequency to 107.6. I have not had to change this frequency yet.

Audio quality is good and I have no problems with it. AUX IN 'may' be slightly better but that's not based on anything other than I wasn't expecting the FM transmitter to be as good. In all honesty I can't tell the difference. Volume levels are the same.

Convenience is the main thing. I just leave bluetooth on on my phone (battery survives just fine) which means that when I get in to the car I just turn the ignition on and the phone auto connects within 5 seconds and is then ready to play music. It's awesome

The Venturi has AUX IN as well as AUX OUT sockets.

It's an excellent solution and one that I'm very happy with: money well spent for once.

[Giblets2]

Has anyone heard of someone buying the TomTom mount yet? Is it as good as it should be, for the money?

[RobM]

Originally Posted by Giblets2

Has anyone heard of someone buying the TomTom mount yet? Is it as good as it should be, for the money?

There is an entire thread dedicated to it on this forum. Have a go at searching.

[Giblets2]

Yeah thanks for the advice mate but I did do a search and the first 3 pages showed nothing relevant - apart from this thread. The thread you're talking about is, I believe, actually about the Tomtom app which I'm not interested in - just the mount. I'd have thought the mount warranted a separate discussion on it's own as loads of people want a good quality line out, charging, holder that does handsfree with no current interest in satnav?

At least I posted here instead of starting my own thread!

[UnStable]

@ monksy74
Have you tried updating the firmware? can't say I've had any of the issues you mention with my MKI9200.

[Autopilot]

Originally Posted by Giblets2

Yeah thanks for the advice mate but I did do a search and the first 3 pages showed nothing relevant - apart from this thread. The thread you're talking about is, I believe, actually about the Tomtom app which I'm not interested in - just the mount. I'd have thought the mount warranted a separate discussion on it's own as loads of people want a good quality line out, charging, holder that does handsfree with no current interest in satnav?

At least I posted here instead of starting my own thread!

er... http://www.avforums.com/forums/iphon...d-24-09-a.html

[Autopilot]

I have been trying to figure this out for myself for a few weeks now. When i bought my iPhone i thought it would be easy, but actually i'm quite surprised there is nothing off the shelf that would suit my needs perfectly and an amazing amount to rubbish.

So basically i have gone an bought one of this cables - Newer Technology 3 in 1 Audio/Synch/Chargin... (IPH3N1U2AB) at OWC which i am going to use with an active Brodit Pro clip (adjustable one for iPhones in cases).

All i want to do is get into my car and drop the iPhone in the holder. Done. Ready to go. No fishing around for cables etc. This is the only solution i can find without spending silly money.

[RobM]

Originally Posted by Giblets2

Yeah thanks for the advice mate but I did do a search and the first 3 pages showed nothing relevant - apart from this thread. The thread you're talking about is, I believe, actually about the Tomtom app which I'm not interested in - just the mount. I'd have thought the mount warranted a separate discussion on it's own as loads of people want a good quality line out, charging, holder that does handsfree with no current interest in satnav?

At least I posted here instead of starting my own thread!

http://www.avforums.com/forums/iphon...d-24-09-a.html

Dedicated to the kit itself.

[Giblets2]

OK, cheers - it must've been that fourth page down when I searched. A rare lull!

Edit: Nothing was posted there between the 18th and 26th so that explains it I guess.

[monksy74]

Originally Posted by UnStable

@ monksy74
Have you tried updating the firmware? can't say I've had any of the issues you mention with my MKI9200.

I'm currently on 1.20 for the parrot and 3.1.2 for the iPhone. I should give 1.21a a go but as it doesn't mention any fix for this in the release notes.

It may be an issue that the 9000 has but doesn't affect the 9200. From what I understand the 9200 locks out the iPod controls on the phone so you can browse on the parrot kit. The 9000 doesn't do this as there's no screen on the kit.

I'll give 1.21a a go. I just hope it doesn't make things worse.

[jambu]

:thumbsup

Originally Posted by kingofjanner

I was looking at fitting this for Iphone 3GS into my BMW.

iO PLAY-Innovative Bluetooth Music Streaming Car Kit. iPhone hands free car kit & iPhone music integration into your vehicle

I have this kit in my car. It is excellent. I have the 3G iphone, initially it did not work but after the 3.0 software upgrade, no problems. Nothing wrong with the sound and connects to the bluetooth with no problem whatsover automatically