Mobile Fun Blog

A Guide to Nokia Car Kits

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

If you were to think of a fully fitted car kit, chances are two brands will spring to mind – Nokia & Parrot.  Both of these companies make some great kits, Parrot have their fantastic MKi range that you can connect your phone and music player to, and Nokia have just recently updated their car kit line up to add more focus on music & mapping integration and to make installation quicker and easier.

The most popular Nokia Car Kit ever was the CARK-91 – the one that had a cradle for the Nokia 6110/ 6210/ 6310.  Over the years, the car kits have moved away from having bulky cradles that are screwed to your dashboard, to more descreet remote controls that blend into your dashboard and don’t draw attention.

The Classic Nokia Carkit & Nokia 6210

If you’ve already got an older Nokia Car Kit installed in your car and are looking to upgrade it to work with current Nokia handsets, the bad news is that unless your car kit is a bluetooth one, it’s not upgradable and you’ll need to replace the kit.

While this might sound like it’s going to be expensive, fitted car kit prices have come down in price considerably over the past few years, so replacing your kit might not cost as much as you’d think – not only that, but Nokia have changed the way that the kits connect to your vehicle, so depending on the car and stereo that you’ve got, you might be able to install it yourself.  Now before you get too excited, Installing a car kit yourself isn’t that easy – even with the newer ISO Car Kits.  You will still need to remove some fascia panels from your car or dashboard, remove the stereo and possible connect wires to the car power supply.  I tried to install my own, got 90% of the way there and had to give in and call the professionals, so if you want an easy life (and a car that still starts) get it installed professionally.

On to the Car Kits then. Nokia now offer 3 car kits, the Nokia CK-100, CK-300 and CK-600.  Each one offers different levels of integration with your phone, and as the model names suggest, the higher the number the more features you get. All three have now dropped the external speaker and will now route all calls and music through your Car Stereo as standard.

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