Best Car Set Up?

[Guest Blakey]

Hi,

Have just ordered an m600 and am now starting to look at how to set it up in my car.

I have never had a proper hands free car kit before but think its about time I got one. However I also change my phone on a regular basis - never normally keeping a phone for more than a few months. And I don't want to buy a new hands free car kit each time I change the phone. I don't mind buying a new adaptor for the phone itself but would rather not buy an entire new kit each time. I would expect all my phones for the forseeable future to have BT until this technology is replaced by something new - in which case I guess I might have to think of moving to a new car kit.

Equally I guess I change my car every few years so something which is either transferable or which has car specific adaptors available would be good.

I'd like to be able to drop my m600 into the cradle and have it charged by the holder. If possible I'd like this holder to also charge my GPS unit (which has a mini USB charger). In a sort of daisy chain manner preferably. I would like to be able to hear TomTom from the phone - possibly amplified so I can hear it over my stereo. I would also like to be able to take and make phone calls without messing about with the phone too much.

I would like the whole thing to be powered off the ciggie lighter if possible, rather than wired into the car, so I can move it to another car if I want to. Again, I'd prefer it if this was all powered off just one cable from the ciggie lighter and wouldn't require a multiple ciggie lighter adaptor. I would prefer not to wire this directly into the car's electronics because (1) this seems very permanent and (2) I am a complete idiot where it comes to this sort of thing so would only kill myself. :rolleyes:

If possible I'd like the solution to be as clean as possible with the least amount of wires leading everywhere.

Is there a solution to cope with these requirements? Preferably an all in one solution from one company would be good - as long as it is adaptable as I have said above.

Thanks

Blakey

[Guest Blakey]

Anyone got this piece of kit?

http://www.carcommunications.co.uk/shop/fu...hp?q=1150588897

Although expensive that seems to do precisely what I want.

Anyone had any dealings with Car Communications?

Thanks

Blakey

[Guest spangelsaregreat]

Hi,

Personally I just use a bluetooth head set, a Halfords suction mount and a usb car charger.

Works fine and only cost about

[Guest Blakey]

You certainly make a good point. :rolleyes:

I'm definitely making sure that whatever solution I go for will be easy to use with all later phones I might get...

[Guest jonajuna]

i have a charmer/mdacII which is not quite a prophet but.....

i havent worked out a way to get system sounds ie satnav commands out of the mdacII through a BT headset

none of the produced amplified systems seem to work that well with all sorts of ground loop feedback issues so.....

i made my own bespoke system :rolleyes:

ok its not classy and it took a little work but it cost me less than

[Guest Blakey]

That's really impressive!

I suspect I would have electrocuted myself to death in less than 2 hours though. I think I'd rather pay someone to do it for me!! :rolleyes:

[Guest jonajuna]

:rolleyes:

i understand

there wasnt any risk though, all the "bare wire" stuff was on the hacked handsfree cable which had no current while messing with it and as good as no current after it was all plugged in the rest of the install was all plugging this and that plug into this and that socket.

the only thing i was worried about damaging myself on was with the soldering iron, wow that thing is hot!!!!

:(

[Guest Blakey]

Well, in the end I decided that money was the key factor although I still want something that is going to work well and protect my new m600.

So I went for the Brodit standard vehicle mount for the dashboard for my car and the passive holder to attach to that.

I have to commend Dave from DSL Developments for talking me through all the pros and cons of all my options and for being honest, helpful and very knowledgable - and for not selling me the most expensive option they do. His excellent support has meant I've placed my order with DSL, that I am recommending them to my friends, that I am praising them here and that I will continue to use them in future. Thanks Dave and DSL Developments.

So, my solution ended up being a vehicle mount and passive holder for about

[Guest Blakey]

Great delivery from DSL Developments - the mount and holder arrived this morning. More kudos to them. :-)

I'm a bit of a klutz when it comes to fitting these things and have mostly got it set up now. The car holder mount attached reasonably easily although it doesn't snap into place very well. The top bracket snaps in and then the bottom bracket slides half out of its place. There is a sticky pad on the bottom to help keep it in place but it doesn't stick too well. Nothing that a bit of super glue won't solve but that does stop the whole "easily removable" point. It feels like the clip is actually slightly too big for the space its supposed to fit into.

As for adding the passive holder to the clip - that was very easy. :-) Being a klutz I managed to lose one of the screws - it pinged off into the car somewhere and I can't find it. But the holder sits more than happily with three screws anyway so that is no problems at all. Would have liked for there to have been a spare screw in the pack maybe. But then I don't expect many people lose their screws when doing their fittings!! :-)

Looking forward to testing this out with TT on the way home this evening.

Blakey