If you are like me, you have a bit of a drive on your hands to get into work. In my case, it’s a drudge of 70 miles from the driveway of my house in Dublin, into the downtown belly of San Francisco.
So with California passing a law making it illegal to drive and use (talk, text, read, etc.) a mobile phone, what are the alternatives out there?
In the past couple of years, I’ve gone through 3 Bluetooth headsets. The first was the cheapest Motorola unit I could find. It barely hung on my ear and was barely loud enough to hear once the car was in motion. The second unit was a Plantronics unit – better design, light, but just didn’t fit right. I finally splurged on the (UGLY) jawbone unit. It sounded great, had “military-grade” technology for noise cancelling… but in the end… still liked to fall off or quit working when the battery died.
Around the time I gave up on Bluetooth headsets I purchased a new Kenwood stereo for my BMW. One of the selling features was a USB port for my iPOD. I used the stereo for about a year when I noticed that it also had Bluetooth plug-in capabilities.
So on my next birthday, I decided to give it a try as I found a refurbished unit on EBAY. For $85, it was a price definitely comparable to another headset.
I ordered the Kenwood KCA-BT300. Kenwood’s been making this unit for about 5 years now with mostly firmware upgrades being the only changes. The unit is fairly simple to behold – a grey box labeled Kenwood and Bluetooth, a cord protruding from it to plug into your stereo, and a microphone cord with a mic on the other end - you know, to talk into.
Installation is fairly simple but does take some planning.
First you got to find a space for the module – I choose under my glovebox in the footwell (secured using 3M double stick tape and 2 small self tapping screws).
Second, you need to fish the lines to where they need to go – I pulled the car’s OBC and accessory box out (comes out with a gentle tug) from the dash and ran the stereo line behind the climate control unit to the stereo. The mic I ran a similar path but snaked it under the steering column and up to the gauge cluster.
Third – pull the receiver deck out and plug in the stereo line.
It sounds daunting, but it’s barely an hour of work and the only special tool is the stereo removal tool (that comes with most stereo decks) and maybe a small screwdriver (for the self taping screws for the module).
The Kenwood stereo deck upon powering on, self-senses the Bluetooth module and will display some sort of ON message. The message varies from model to model of stereo deck. My Kenwood deck is older, so the Bluetooth module resides in the XMEDIA source.
Currently, I have the module synced up to my Apple iPhone 4. Pairing is pretty painless, set the iPhone to look for Bluetooth devices, then confirm when it finds the stereo.
Performance
So here’s the important part. What’s the big benefit other than being hands-free to talk?
1. No more power issues – unlike a Bluetooth headset (when the battery dies, you are back to illegally talking by hand) the module draws power from the stereo/car. So it’s always on when the stereo is on.
2. It plays through your speakers – that stereo you paid $$$$ for is now really being put to good use. And the nice thing is, if there’s too much reverb or bass, you can adjust the speakers accordingly so you get the best sound you can.
3. Truly hands free – when a call comes in, just hit answer on your phone and the call is automatically routed to your Bluetooth module. You don’t have to fumble with switches or knobs to make it work.
Caveats
Some stuff to consider and do…
1. To use this set-up you have to turn your stereo on when you start the car, and make sure your Bluetooth is on with the phone. From there, it automatically pairs up and is ready.
2. Bluetooth can be well, finicky… sometimes Bluetooth likes to drop a connection if it isn’t being used or doesn’t pair up. But I notice this about every 1 out of 50 times I use it. The solution? Turn off the stereo or phone, turn on again and allow it to re-sync up.
You can get the Kenwood unit online from Crutchfield.com for $149.99. Going price for Refurbished units on EBAY is $88.
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