Having being caught doing something I swore I would never do and moan like a girl if I see anyone else doing ie. using my phone while driving, I need advice about hands free kits.
I only answered my phone for 10 seconds to tell the person who kept ringing to bugger off as I was driving, but it's no excuse and I'm paying for it now!

Unmarked car on the M6 just after the toll road heading north by the way guys, a black Focus STi, 05 plate from memory.

So, hands free kits!

What's out there, I prefer the idea of a cradle and speaker jobby.

I've used the bluetooth sun visor ones and found them lacking, I don't really want to change my stereo either if avoidable

So, a hard wired one is preferred, whats about? Happy to change phones if required of course, I know the cradle ones are model specific etc.

I will consider other though, I know little of what's out there so if you have a good solution, do let me know about it.

Any advice welcome.

Ta

Gareth

I have an old Nokia CK-1W hard wired into mine. I believe the newest version is the CK-7W.

Although I've not really compared it to other kits, mine is quite good.

Connects via Bluetooth.

Mine didn't come with a cradle, but I got a Brodit one for my phone.

I think the CK-7W comes with a universal cradle.

I'd thought about one of these kits too but then i heard that you aren't even allowed to use the handsfree kits now either, you have to pull over and stop IIRC

I'll look it up Theresa, thanks.

G

Really! Surely it's no more distracting than talking to someone in your car?

The world is going mad! And people wonder why I'm getting so militant!

They'll be banning passengers soon, they are a distraction!

Thanks for the info Dave.

G

passengers are just a pain though really, due to the extra weight you lose performance and economy, they are overrated!!!

Just been reading and from the looks of it you can use a handsfree phone kit whilst driving as long as you don't have to press anything to answer or hang-up the call.
also if you have an accident whilst driving and using a handsfree the likelyhood is you will still be prosecuted.
the can however use a two-way radio or you can dial 999 if it not safe for you to stop

the bury cc9060 is very good, its voice controlled down to every setting and menu and it will also read text messages and play bluetooth audio via a phone, and is touch screen and detachable

http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/8423.html

i have one in my van and its brill

also the parrot ck3100 is the bench mark, then the mki9100 and mki9200

http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/10110.html

http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/10109.html

http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/5694.html

What about the simple looking Nokia ones I've seen?

I like the CK3100, how much would that cost to be fitted somewhere do you think?

I can get the Parrot 3000 Evo for £99 fitted, any good?

Appreciate the advice people

Gareth

fitting cost should be the same for all, it can be between £65-120

Why not just get a £20 bluetooth headset - works fine for me......

Is that for real??????? Are you allowed to push a button on your car stereo whilst driving??????

I've had one of these for nearly 3 years and it's been faultless as well as a quality piece of kit.

Mrs MABR's just has a Parrot 3200 fitted to her car and if anything, it's better than the 3100. Colour screen, voice control etc etc.

Best bit is that is was £170 fitted. That may seem like a lot to some but if you compare that to the quality and the peace of mind, it's well worth it.

My wife has just bought a new car and it has a Parrot 3200 in it, but the previous owner has it pin locked or something, and we can't get it to match to her phone, nor clear all the odl numbers. Anyone know how to do this?

^^^ Jim, have you tried the Parrot website for firmware / software updates? The 3200 connects via a mini usb plug so can be connected to your pc / laptop. There has to be a fairly simple way to do it.

Urm no not yet

Good idea though

haha lol

try 1234 or 4444 or 0000 or if that stil doesnt work, go into options in the parrot and delete all previouse phones paired to the parrot, i think it pairs a max of 5 phones

now theres the mki 9200

well yes of course, if not how would we use our window wiperes or multi task???

there are not strickly legal

We could have had that for £200 fitted but most of the features would never get used (it's designed for music streaming via iPods etc) so we went for the 3200 instead.

Just to add; I've tried most of the car kit manufacturers over the years, and in my humble opinion Parrot is in a different league with regards to build quality, reliability and ease of use.

EDIT: @ Jim; did you manage to check out the website to see if that resolved it for you? As TheAudioGuy has suggested, see if you can delete all the old handsets on it and then try your own. When we started pairing phones up the kit displays an individual pin code to be used with each handset.

I'm leaning towards the mki9200 but I don't think it can play MP3's in random order, gets confused by artist names starting with "the" (eg: The Rolling Stones) and I've heard some people say the MP3 playback quality is not so good (but they didn't say what bitrate they were using, I've been using 192kbps but for some "busy" tracks it's not enough and I'll try variable bit rate)

As for many hands free kits not being strictly legal, how can any kit be strictly legal - what does the law call for exactly?

as far as I am aware the only guideline the police follow is that you are not allowed to hold a mobile phone whilst driving - if it's in a holder you are fine.

Driving with undue care and attention is the offence - which is open to interpretation.

Im going for the Parrot CK3100.

Fitted for £99 at Carphone Warehouse, job done.

Thanks for the input guys.

Gareth

That's a bargain at that price. Just make sure you can watch it being installed. Mrs MABR's new 3200 replaced a Sony model that CW installed a couple of years ago - the wiring connections were frightening e.g. electrical tape.

They use a mobile Auto Electrician sent out to wherever, work etc.

I will be with him for the duration!

Gareth

Just make sure it's uk grade stock, the parrot web site will show you how to find this out, if it's not, parrot won't cover it

At that price, I'm not worried to be honest, but I'll have a gander anyway, thanks for the info.

Gareth