Rating: - BEWARE OF THE EXTRA COSTS......
Did some research before buying and was reassured to read that the Parrot CK3100 was compatible with most phones. HOWEVER, It may well be compatible with MOST PHONES, but it is not necessarily compatible with MOST CARS! You have to spend another exhorbitant £35 on a bit of cable and adaptors to make it work in a Volvo.
Rating: - Parrot CK3100
After trawling through the internet and finding which bluetooth unit to buy, the only option was a parrot based one. However, the choice between a 3000 & 3100 LCD versin was the fact that I could see if the mother-in-law was calling !!!!
I purchased the CK3100 and a loom for my stereo and they arrived within 24hrs. Being quite a technical person installation was very straight forward. If you are handy with a screwdriver and take care on removing facias etc then this is a straight forward job. I located all the cables and control units by removing my glove box and putting them out of sight. The downside is the manual is very vague when it comes to connecting to your headset it does not tell you if you need an additional connecting lead from your stereo to your headset. Also, on some cars you need to swap over the two fuse carriers. This can be found online, but not in the manual. This sort of information you have to find out for yourself. If installation is an issue there are several automotive companies that will install the unit for less than £200. BMW charge £325 !!!!!!!!
After installation which I did in a very slow methodical manner (which took me an hour) I put the unit to test. Operation of the unit along with pairing is described sufficiently in the manual. I set my phone, the wife's phone and the daughter's phone to pair with the unit. As the unit will only utilise the one it picks up first, it is very simple to connect to another of the paired ... Read More
Rating: - It does have a serious limitation
I had mine professionally installed so encountered no issues there.
I find I have to manually activate the voice-recognition prompt by pushing the green button, but then have no problem in the unit recognising the name I want to phone. Not as it should be, but not a major issue.
The main and very serious criticism is the sound quality at the "other" end. The person I'm speaking to, invariably has real difficulties in hearing me because of background noise - the faster the vehicle speed, the worse the reception for the other party.
In the car, I can hear very well so am not distracted by having to strain to hear what is being said, but many times I've been asked to call back when I've finished my journey because I can't be heard. That is not acceptable.
My daughter has the same CK3100 and experiences the same problem - above 50mph hearing by the other party becomes difficult and does reach the level of impossible. I drive a Focus any daughter a Yaris so bigger vehicles with less background-noise may not suffer as badly.
I assume this problem is recognised by the manufacturer as some other Parrot units have 2 microphones but I don't know if these units are better.
This is a real and not exaggerated problem - if you want to buy a Parrot, check out the units with 2 microphones and test it at the other end, with the vehicle travelling at 55mph+ not inside the car where reception is excellent.
Rating: - Parrot 3100
Great product. It took my 17 yr old son no more than 30 mins to fit it including running wires behind the dash. Being 17 he did not even look at the fitting instructions. Very simple to fit.
Rating: - Definately worth the money...
Firstly, let me say that the instructions are rubbish! However, once you've pulled out your stereo unit it is very obvious how to connect the unit and anyone with half a brain can work out how to fit it. It takes about 10 mins for basic installation. If you want a tidy installation it took me about half an hour to wire it in neatly.
I got this option because I thought that the colour screen version was gimmicky but I still wanted to be able to se who was calling.
The sound quality is excellent and the microphone is very good (you dont find yourself shouting ever). The volume on my unit does seem to be very high but I think thats the stereos fault... The stereo mute function is brilliant.
Overall the unit is great. The Bluetooth connection is flawless; it is so much easier and safer than trying to stand up in the car to pull the phone from your pocket like before. Would definately recommend this unit.
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