Has anyone installed one of these yet? I've recently been bit by the bluetooth bug, and this is the one that's looking the best to me at the moment. Most of the user reviews seem to be positive, but I havn't found any from anyone who installed it themselves.

It seems to have speaker level outs combined with a muting circuit for the stereo. My plan at the moment is to use a line level converter and connect it to the AUX in and switch using hijack.

The concept of automatically having my calls route to the hands free when i get in the car is what's grabbing me here.

Matthew

I'm definitely getting the Spmu Erocsspm HCB-30 when i get my new car. Haven't heard anything about the Parrot Bluetooth though. Looks pretty similar.

The Spmy Erocsspm? Have the bumps worn off your keyboard?

- Trevor

LOL. I can't believe i didn't notice that. I'll leave it for posterity.

Well, I went ahead and ordered one today, so it should get here sometime next week. The main advantage of the Parrot was that they have a history of releasing firmware updates as new phones come out. With most phones (aka, t68i) it syncs with the phone book, and uses its own voice recognition. This in theory has two advantages, the first that you can use the Parrot's "magic word" feature without killing your phone battery, and seccond you can reccord your car voice tags through the car kit, and your headsed/phone voicetags through the headset/phone. More of a pain to set up, but better results when dialing.

I'll report back next week once i've got it installed with a full review.

Matthew

I'll report back next week once i've got it installed with a full review.

Can't wait to hear how it works. Bluetooth on any phone I buy is now mandatory since owning the T68i. Between the awesome proximity sensor function on my computer, wireless syncing, and the ability to have a car kit that dosen't need to be changed every new phone, I'm hooked.

Im actually after one of these, the CK3000, I live in NZ, cannot find any distributors in NZ, and too expensive from Aus. Matthew where are you getting yours from and how much is it?....

I found Exansys in US are doing them for US$167.42, which works out well in NZ$. The UK Expansys is more.
But the problem is that US Expansys dont ship to New Zealand, Is anyone willing to ship it to me?? Prob by USPS Global Express which has tracking etc...

Matthew_k i've pm'd you

Cheers,
Jai

I got it from expansis US. The other place I considered was http://www.mobiland.co.uk/ which seemed to be similarly priced, but got expensive with UK shipping and exchange rates. Their site is hard to navigate, but they've got a good deal on "the works" package that inclues the speaker, ISO loom, and flash upgrade cable. All the other merchants have it priced at least 50USD more than these two, for some unknown reason.

I'd be happy to reship it for you, if that works out the cheapest for you. It looks like usps global express is expensive though, ups says mine weighs 4 pounds.

Matthew

OK cool, well it seems Expansys US order it from Epansys UK, the UK site ships internationally, so I just ordered it from them. Or else i would've have had to order from the US website, send it to a US address and have you reship it...hmmm.... well anyway it only turns out a little dearer shipping it here from the UK, cause our doller is like .34cents to a UK pound!!!....

Well the kit better come with version 3.1 software on it, I've got a T68i and a Nokia 3650.....if it doesn't I'll be PISSED off since I'd have to purchase the upgrade cable too!!,
I'm searching to see if this cable is able to be made up, but haven't found ANY specs, pinouts for the parrot cable...yet..

cheers,
Jai

I found something that said it wasn't a simple thing with a few resistors. Mobiland has it much cheaper, but shipping brought it up to $30USD for me, which is kind of expensive for a cable, but half what expansis wants for the whole kit. Mine is on the truck for delivery and should be arriving any moment. I'll probably be installing tomorrow.

Matthew

I'll be ordering the upgrade cable from Mobiland and also the speaker box, since connection to my car speakers relies on having the headunit operational, my empeg is using Aux in on the Pioneer head unit. If for some reason I dont have either in the car I dont want to have the handsfree not be operational as well.

Matthew,

Any updates on your Parrot CK3000 install?

Yup, I'm pretty much done with the install, and quite happy with it. I havn't had a chance to use it enough to really get a good feel for it, but it's worked well so far.

Hooking it up was fairly easy. It uses standard ISO connectors, which made connecting the power literaly plug-n-play. Unfortunatly, it doesn't come with pigtails for the harnesses like the empeg, so if you need to wire something up you've got to hunt for obscure connectors, or cut them off of the harness.

Speaker wise, it has a complex circuit designed to mute the speakers and play through them even if your radio doesn't support it. Instead of using this, I wired up a speaker-level to line level converter, and plugged the RCAs into the aux in. I've set up hijack to switch inputs to AUX and back, which works about 90% of the time, but sometimes leaves it on aux after a phone call. I couldn't get the kenwood player button to work right, so perhaps more investigation will help.

Voice recognition wise, I'm pretty happy with it. You say "telephone" and it picks up, dings at you for a name, you say a name, and it either dials or dings at you for a cell/home/work if they have multiple numbers. Acuracy is what I just don't know about yet. Of course, if you don't want to use voice dialing, you can just dial on the phone, and all the audio comes over the speakers.

The bluetooth aspect is great. If I get in my car, it links up without any intervention, and just works. If I'm on the phone and want to get out of the car, a press of the green button transfers to call to the handset. Prgramming it is simple, it just shows up as an acessory and you go through the menus and say the words/names that it needs to learn.

The sound quality I'm not compleetly happy with yet. I'm not sure if it's just bad cell phone sound, or a dodgy connection with the harness-> line-leve-converter->aux setup. It's very livable though. I've only had a few conversations on it so far, and the general consensus is that it doesn't sound as clear as normal, but it's perfectly understandable.

I'll write up more on the voice dialing and sound quality once I've had more of a chance to play with it.

Matthew

Matthew,

Thanks for the update!!!! It sounds pretty good so far. I forgot to ask what version software did it come with and what kind of phone do you have.

It came with 3.01, and I'm using it with a t68i with fairly R5 firmware. I put a note on my expansys order to please flash the unit before shipping, so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. I'll probably be buying the upgrade cable the next time a significant upgrade comes out.

Matthew

Is there any sort of caller id display?

Is there any sort of caller id display?

As long as you have a voice print recorded for the incoming number it will play that when the call comes in. Otherwise it just rings. I'd love to get caller ID to display on my empeg, and I suspect it's possible with a $90 Buetooth AP and docked ethernet, but it isn't quite worth that much. If you havn't seen it, make sure to dig up the orginal bluetooth empeg post.

Matthew

Okay, i'm about to purchase either this kit or the HCB-30 kit from Sony Ericsson.

Is there any reason other than price that you went with the Parrot kit rather than the Sony Ericsson one? I'm leaning towards the HCB-30 mainly due to the remote pad and the fact that it's made by the same manufacturer as the t68i, so it will definitely all work together. Is the HCB-30 firmware upgradable?? I can't find the answer to that anywhere.

How have you been liking it after more use?

I'm happy with the Parrot. I've been out of town for the past week and not driving at all, so I can't really elaborate any more on the qualitative aspects. I've also never had a car kit before, so I don't know what to expect sound quality wise.

Feature wise, I'd say the Parrot definitly wins over what I've read about the sony. The voice recognition on the Parrot seems up to the task, and I like that it has seperate voice tags from the phone. from your comment about the "remote pad" I'm not sure if you're clear that the current version ships with a answer/end button that's fairly similar to the ericsson. It doesn't have volume, and for some unknown reason the led lighting it is always on, even if the kit is off. Original versions relied only on voice commands, but having the buttons is definitly a Good Thing.

I'm happy with it and glad I bought it over the Sony. I havn't actually tried the sony, so I'm not sure what i'm missing and what I'm getting.

Matthew

If you get this thing I would like to know how it works out for you. Does anyone know of a way to use line mute with a GSM phone? in general a cheaper solution?

Hey guys. I'm wondering.... I know this sounds redundant, but do you think there would be any way to get the data from the Parrot out to another unit? I have an alpine head unit and a nokia cell phone interface for it. I'm kind of displaeased with the unit's performance, and I'd like bluetooth connectivity.

Currently, when the phone rings, the stereo system mutes, the Caller ID shows on the head unit, and I can even dial and read e-mail on the head unit as well.

Since this is the first place I've even HEARD of the parrot unit, I'll pose the question here: do you think there would be a way to interface the parrot to the nokia/ alpine interface so the caller ID and radio functions still work? The interface from the phone to the alpine/nokia interface is a standard nokia plug (looks like a HUGE modular phone jack/ RJ45).

Any thoughts?

Is there any reason other than price that you went with the Parrot kit rather than the Sony Ericsson one? I'm leaning towards the HCB-30 mainly due to ... the fact that it's made by the same manufacturer as the t68i, so it will definitely all work together.

I'd been thinking about this and came to a conclusion. While the Sony handsfree kit might work better with the Sony phone, it's much more likely that it won't work at all with some other phone. That is, what happens when you get a new phone? The Parrot is likely to still work, as it's intended to be cross-platform anyway, but the Sony one has a much greater chance of not being able to.

It's pretty much a black box as much as adding things to it. I doubt you're really going to be able to get the caller ID information out of the parrot box to display on your head unit. It is "possible" to get the caller ID information to display on your empeg, but it's only been done once. That being said, I'd gladly give up caller ID display to not have to plug the thing in every time I get in the car. The Parrot already speaks the name when someone calls, so it's not like you'd be missing out on caller id compleetly.

Matthew

The Parrot is likely to still work, as it's intended to be cross-platform anyway, but the Sony one has a much greater chance of not being able to.

good point. i've thought of that but i'm pretty loyal to Sony Ericsson phones, three so far. I'm just stuck on the Sony kit for some reason. Maybe it's the blue glowing control pad... hahah.