In Car Options

[josswallace]

I just have a new (to me) car which I plan to keep for the next few years and am just about to change my phone.

I want to invest in an in car hands free kit not run off the cigar lighter with the listening end run through the cars audio and without having to wear a head set.

Is there any system I can buy that will give me the ability to change phones in 1,2,3 years time.

[rct]

Yes, take a look at the bluetooth range from Parrot (www.driveblue.com) and combine this with a phone holder from www.brodit.com (it uses a common base and easily changeable cradles for different phones). The only disadvantage here is that you will not be able to charge the phone in car without using the cigar lighter socket. However if you charge the phone regularly it shouldn't be an issue. Hope this helps

[pezzer]

Joss - looking at your requirements ( no headset / sound through car speakers etc) I can recommend the Nokia hand free installations. You do need to choose the Nokia handset carefully - I use the Nokia CARK 91 kit with a 6310 which has been excellent - the cradle charges the phone , gives audio through the car speakers with radio mute and you can set up auto answer or voice tags etc.

The 6310 is now a bit old and I'm going to get a EVO cradle convertor to use with a Nokia 6230 which allows me to keep the existing installation but just change the phone cradle.

Of course you could get a handset specific kit now and look at the EVO cradle as an option to change later on.

This won't give you as much flexibilty as bluetooth but gives a very professional installation.

I think that you could also look at the Nokia Wireless Car Kit for extra flexibility.

http://wwwhttp://www.solware.co.uk/m...,21267,00.html

http://www.nokia.co.uk/nokia/0,8764,21267,00.html

[Lazman]

What's your current phone? Bear in mind that not all phone manufacturers make handsfree carkits. The ones that do are:-

Nokia
Sony/Ericsson
Motorola
Siemens

I think that's all - atleast I haven't seen any by NEC or Panasonic for a loooooooong time & I've never seen one for LG.

Bear in mind that most manufacurers of permanently wired in carkits will only honour the warranty if the kit is installed professionally - this doesn't apply to the plug'n'go kits.