Blue Tooth

[ExRexer]

Hi team. I am brand new to this site. Have driven WRXs for a few years without any problems. Until I drove a GTI! Now the worm has turned.

I have the house commander talked around now and we are looking at ordering a GTI soon. I get to decide that we will be getting a DSG gearbox and she gets to choose the colour, which could take some time.

Anyway, the other option we are looking at is Blue Tooth. My question is, what is the VW Blue Tooth like to use? Who has got it and is it any good? Hard to use?

[wokwn]

I have it in my 07 Jetta. It's not genuine VW, actually a parrot kit dealer installed. Hooks up to the radio and works fine.

Only one steering wheel button and you have a variety of push, push and hold etc. combinations to do stuff but the important things (answer, voice dial, hang up) all work great and according to my callers I sound pretty clear.

You get seperate volume, fade and balance memories on the radio for the phone which is nice; I fade it right up the front and on drivers side.

My only beef is that they put the mic on the dash in front of the temperature gauge so it's kinda blocked by the steering wheel air bag. Apparently my callers can hear me OK so it's probably not that big of a deal.

My steering wheel button stopped working but I'm waiting till the 7500 service to get them to fix it. I just set my phone to auto answer in the meantime.

Oh yeah, occasionally when I get in the car some woman says 'please pair device' and the phone doesn't connect to the radio. I just reboot my phone and it auto-pairs successfully and all is well so that's probably just my phone, not the parrot (Sony Ericsson p910i)

[BarneyBoy]

I had a hard time with the cost of the OE kit (maybe I'm just overly tight!), so I'm using one of the BlueAnt Supertooth Light jobbies. It magnetically attaches to a clip on the visor. When I jump in the car, I turn it on by popping out its microphone and it automagically pairs with my phone. I turn it off when I leave the car. I've been using it for 6 weeks and the battery's still good.

It will also pair with a total of 5 phones (only one at a time), so others who drive the car can use it too. I use the Star button to mute the radio when a call comes in and push one button to answer calls, another to hang up. Because of the magnet, it can be moved from car to car or inside your house. Call quality is not HiFi, but acceptable. It'll also voice dial, although I reckon that stuff stinks and have never used it (never seems to work reliably).

It comes with a 12v charger and a 240v charger. You'll pay between $120 and $149. Comes in white (rare) or black (most common).

Your decision...

[wokwn]

Yeah I had a blueant supertooth in the magna before I got the Jetta. The sound quality on those was stunning - people didn't believe that I was in a car. Tricky little DSP in them.

Battery life is good too - up to three weeks if you don't make/recv many calls or you can wire it to 12V permanently if you want.

I got the VW/parrot bluetooth in the deal with the car so I have no idea what it's actual cost is.

[ExRexer]

Thanks guys. I will have to take a look at the Blue Ant.

[gtimk5]

Welcome to the forum Exrex. Hope you enjoy it here.
I have a blueant in my GTI as well. It works excellently, I paid $129 for it. They claim something like 1100 hours of standby power as well.
Anyway, we are a mainly friendly bunch of enthusiasts here and if you have any questions, ask away.
Cheers, Andrew

[ozgriff]

Quick question, for those who have the blueant supertooth, or any other bluetooth for that matter; where are you placing it in the car?

[gtimk5]

The blueant has magnets on it and comes with a clip for the sunvisor. Provided you have it charged up, there are no wires wotsoever!!!
Andrew

[BarneyBoy]

Quick question, for those who have the blueant supertooth, or any other bluetooth for that matter; where are you placing it in the car?

Got mine on the left hand end of the driver's visor. The clip doesn't foul the vanity mirror on the other side of the visor and also when the mike's in the out position, it's about dead in front of the line of your mouth. Works for me.

Also, on another point, even if you have to recharge, you unclip the unit, plug it into the 12v outlet with the supplied cord and stick the unit wherever you like while it recharges. Nice.

[pinzvidz]

Those Blueants look like something that fell out of Japan in the 60's. I'll be fitting a meta kit in the next week or 2 - integration is always best IMHO.

[gtimk5]

LOL Pinzvitz!!
Better looking than a 21st century fine anyday!!!!
Cheers, Andrew

[VW Convert]

Those Blueants look like something that fell out of Japan in the 60's. I'll be fitting a meta kit in the next week or 2 - integration is always best IMHO.

I find mine totally unobtrusive. It is also ultra functional when used in conjunction with voice tags stored in my mobile phone. Press the mic button, say the name of the person I want to call and the phone does the rest. Hardly ever needs charging and can be instantly transferred from car to car. Unbeatable in my opinion.

Cheers

George

[ozgriff]

LOL, integration is fine if you'd like to pay several times more for it. It would be nice if they had a few colours that would better blend with the fabric.

I think I'm sold and will go looking for one, as the cradle I have really doesn't work as a 'hands-free'. Good to know about the voice tags too.