If you spend a reasonable amount of time in the car use your phone for calls, listening to music or for GPS Navigation while you’re driving, then a hands free car kit is essential. Over recent years, the number of ‘self install’ or ‘plug and play’ car kits available has increased considerably, but while they may be a great low cost, portable solution, they can’t compete with the audio quality, ease of use and reliability of a fully installed car kit that is integrated with your vehicle.
In the earlier days of mobile phones, the King of the Car Kits was the Nokia CARK-91, almost every fleet car had one fitted but then along came Bluetooth, changing Car Kits forever. You no longer needed bulky cradles or holders attached to your dashboards, external aerials and speakers became unnecessary and car kits started to get smarter.
Modern Bluetooth car kits can do much more than just play your calls through a speaker. Car kits can now route audio from your calls through your car stereo without the need for adapters or extra cables, play music from your phone through the stereo, store your phonebook, add voice dialling capabilities, connect to MP3 players and Sat Nav units and much more. Bluetooth car kits are more flexible too, they work with any make of handset, where as older car kits with cradles generally only work with just one manufacturer – THB car kits being the only exception to this.
To help make choosing the right professionally installed car kit a bit easier for you, I’ve been through our range of car kits and listed 5 of the best below.
The Nokia CK-300 is a mid-range Bluetooth car kit from Nokia and with the right phone can be a very powerful accessory. All you see on your dashboard is a small remote control that has a rotating dial and 4 well spaced buttons which make it extremely easy to use. The CK-300 is designed to work best with Nokia S60 handsets (N-Series and E-Series). On it’s own, it can connect to your phone to answer and end calls, stream music in stereo over bluetooth and can also be connected to any music player that has a 3.5mm headphone socket.
Nokia CK-300 Bluetooth Car Kit
To really make the most of the kit though, you can download and install the Nokia Car Menu Application which will then make your phone an integral part of the car kit. You can use the remote control on the car kit to access pretty most of the main applications on your phone, including the phone book, email inbox, music library, Nokia Maps, call logs and settings. If your phone supports it, you can then get the car kit to read out text messages and emails while you’re driving using text to speech technology.
Installation of the car kit has been improved too. It no longer needs to be wired into the ignition of your car as a built in motion sensor will turn the kit on when the car is moving. It’s a neater installation too as there is no external speaker on the CK-300 – it connects directly to the back of your car stereo and plays all audio through your existing speakers (Non ISO car stereos may require an extra cable). Nokia handsets with a 2mm charging port can be charged from the car kit as it has a 2mm charging cable, other handsets will need a separate car charger. If you want to know more about the CK-300 I covered this kit in detail on my post a couple of weeks ago when I wrote my guide to Nokia Car Kits.
Parrot have always made great car kits, and as they aren’t tied to any handset manufacturers, they tend to offer the best compatibility with phones. The MKi car kits work brilliantly for calls and music and are the only car kits that have been designed with MP3 player compatibility in mind. Other car kits will support music playback, but on some kits this appears to be an afterthought rather than an intended feature. As a user of a touchscreen phone with a large display I’ve found that the Mki9000 does a great job, although if you have a phone with a small screen you may be better suited to the Mki9100 or Mki9200.
Parrot MKi9000 Bluetooth Car Kit
The MKi 9000 is usually installed behind your dashboard making it almost invisible and connects to your stereo using an ISO connection (Non ISO stereo’s may require an extra cable). It has a small wireless remote control that can be mounted on your dashboard or steering wheel and can be removed quickly and easily when you leave the car. The MKi9000 supports stereo music streaming over Bluetooth, is licensed to work with iPods and iPhones, and can be connected to almost any music player using a 3.5mm line in or USB connection. If you have an iPhone, it will charge it while it’s connected, but for other handsets you’ll need to purchase a separate car charger.
The range consists of 3 kits, each offering the same functionality, but with different screen options. The only real difference with the 9100 and 9200 are the screens. The MKi9100 has a small, 2 line OLED screen that shows you caller and song information whereas the MKi9200 has a larger colour screen that also displays album art, photo caller ID and has an SD card reader built in. The MKi9200 can handle SD cards upto 32GB in size, so depending on how much music you have, you could have your entire music library in the car with you.
Bluetooth might have meant the end of car kits with cradles by Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola, but that hasn’t stopped THB Bury from producing one. The THB System 8 has been around for years and is still incredibly popular. One of the biggest benefits of having a cradled car kit is that it will charge your phone while it’s in the holder and without the need to use a car charger – on the downside though, often when you change your phone, it won’t fit into the old cradle and it means ripping the kit out and buying a new one. Fortunately you don’t need to do that with the THB System 8 as it is made up of two components – the car kit and interchangeable cradles – whenever you change your phone, you just buy a new cradle, unclip the old one and attach the new one. No secondary installation fees and no hassle.
THB Bury System 8 Interchangable Car Kit
Most cradles will charge your phone while it’s connected and an external antenna can be connected if required. As standard the kit will connect to your ISO car stereo to route the audio through your existing speakers (Non ISO stereos may require an extra cable).
New cradles are normally available within a few weeks of a handset being released, but if you find that there isn’t a cradle available for your new phone, THB have also produced a Bluetooth adapter that will work with any Bluetooth enabled phone, but as with most Bluetooth car kits, it won’t charge your phone. THB System 8 kits are designed for calls only and don’t support music or satellite navigation.
The HF-850 has made it into this list mainly because of it’s price. While it’s not as advanced as the Nokia CK-300 or Parrot MKi range and doesn’t support music or sat nav, it does a great job of handling your calls while you’re in the car. As standard the HF-850 will route your calls through an external speaker which is normally mounted in the passenger foot well, but can be routed through your car stereo with the appropriate adapter.
Motorola HF-850 Bluetooth Car Kit
The HF-850 has a small remote that is mounted on your dash and provides quick and simple controls for answering and ending calls and adjusting the volume. The HF-850 will work with any Bluetooth enabled phone.
The RKi8400 is new from Parrot this month and has all the features of the MKi9200, but instead of plugging into your car stereo, the RKi8400 is a replacement head unit for your car that sits in your dash like a standard radio would.
It has a removable front that reveals a storage area for your phone or MP3 player, a colour display screen that provides information on who’s calling and what song is playing, along with a numbered keypad for quick, easy dialling as well as access to radio station presets. As with the MKi9200, the stereo has an SD card reader that can handle 32GB memory cards, potentially allowing you to store your entire music library in your car.
Parrot RKi8400 Bluetooth Car Stereo
Installation should be quick as it’s just a case of removing your old stereo and replacing it with this one – having said that, we still recommend professional installation as you’ll need to route the microphone to the roof and if you don’t have an ISO stereo you’ll need some extra cables. If you don’t have a standard size stereo fitted in your car already, you’ll also need an adapter plate in order for this to fit properly.
What else might you need?
Bluetooth Car kits generally don’t come with holders, so it’s worth investing in a holder to keep your phone safe and close to hand whenever you’re in the car. For the most secure fix I’d recommend using a Brodit Holder, and if you want to see the different options available there are a couple of posts that you should take a look at:
Installation
A lot of people are put off professionally fitted kits as they think that installation is expensive or difficult to arrange, but this isn’t the case. Over recent months, the prices for installation have fallen, making them more affordable than ever. Arranging installation couldn’t be simpler either. It can all be arranged with just one phone call, and the installation engineer will bring any additional parts with them. Mobile Fun currently offer 2 levels of installation – Standard Installation and Premium Installation.
Premium Installation is available on all car kits and includes fitting the kit at an address of your choice anywhere in the UK. It also includes connecting the car kit to your stereo for improved audio quality. There are no hidden costs as all cables and adapters are included in the price.
Standard Installation is only available on car kits that use an external speaker such as the Motorola HF-850. If the car kit you are buying uses ISO connections, you’ll need to opt for Premium Installation.
All car kits installed by Mobile Fun include a 12 month warranty for total peace of mind.