Choosing the best Clip and Talk Car Kit

Plug and Play Bluetooth Car Kits are the safest and easiest way to use your phone in the car and the Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit has always been a firm favourite with Mobile Fun customers. As technology has moved on, the Clip and Talk range has grown and there are now 3 different Clip and Talk Car Kits to choose from – the standard Clip and Talk V3, the Clip and Talk Slim & Lite and the Clip and Talk Solar Edition. On paper there doesn’t seem to be that many differences between them, so how do you know which is the best Clip and Talk car kit for you?

I’ve put this guide together to run through each of the Clip and Talk Car Kits to help you choose the one that’s right for you.

Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit – V3

Now in it’s 3rd generation, this is the original Clip and Talk car kit. It offers extremely simple controls and can be used by anyone. Once you’ve paired the kit with your phone, it’s just one button press to answer/end calls and activate voice dialling (if your phone supports it). There are two large buttons for adjusting the volume, and a discreet mute button for times when you don’t want to be heard.

If you’re not technically minded, don’t worry, the Clip and Talk V3 doesn’t need any installation. Setting it up involves inserting the battery, clipping the kit to your sun visor and pairing it to your phone. You’ll be up and running in less than a minute.

Battery life on the Clip and Talk is excellent, it has up to 1080 hours of stand by (that’s 45 days!) and 16 hours of talk time. This means that unlike some kits, you’re not going to have to keep it plugged in to your cigarette lighter and have cables trailing across your dashboard.

The Clip and Talk V3 can be paired with up to 8 handsets, this means that if the car is used by several people each driver can use the kit without having to pair their phone with it each time they get in the car. You can only use one phone at a time with the kit though.

This kit is best suited to those who are using a car kit for the first time or that want a simple, straight forward way to answer calls safely and legally in the car.

Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit – Slim And Lite

The Clip and Talk Slim & Lite is, as the name suggests, a slimmer, lighter version of the Clip and Talk. As well as the obvious size difference, the Slim & Lite also supports Multipoint. If you’ve not come across Multipoint before, it’s a way that a bluetooth device, such as a car kit, can communicate with two other devices (such as mobile phones) at the same time.

Uses for Multipoint vary from device to device, but in a nutshell it means that you can have 2 phones connected to the same car kit at the same time. This way, it doesn’t matter which phone rings, the call can be answered quickly and easily on the car kit.

Battery life on the Slim & Lite is almost as good, with 1000 hours stand by and 5 hours talk time. (The talk time is reduced slightly because the kit is monitoring two phones instead of one.)

Controls are similar to, and just as easy to use as the ones on the standard Clip and Talk, with one button to answer/end calls and activate voice dialling.

The Clip and Talk Slim & Lite is the perfect choice for any one who carries two phones around with them – one for work, one for personal.

Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit – Solar Edition

With everyone doing their bit to bring down emissions and reduce their power consumption, accessory manufacturers are looking for greener ways to power devices such as car kits.  Solar power has been making an appearance in more and more mobile phone accessories over the last year or so and car kits are the most logical accessory to make use of it – especially as they spend most of their time in your windscreen.

The Clip and Talk Solar Edition is a very similar kit to the Slim & Lite, but with one big difference – a built in solar charging panel. Unlike the previous two kits that clip on to your visor, the Solar edition sticks to the inside of your windscreen and uses the power of the sun to recharge it’s battery – completely eliminating the need for a regular charger.

The kit takes 18 hours to charge using sunlight, but does come with a Micro USB car charger if you want a faster charge or are using it at night. Using solar power you get unlimited standby time and up to 13 hours talk time. Unlike the other two kits here, it doesn’t fit on your sun visor, instead uses a suction mount to place it in your windscreen.

Controls are as easy as the other two Clip and Talk car kits, and as with the Slim & Lite it supports Mulitpoint, allowing you to use two phones at the same time.

We recently reviewed this kit on the blog, if you want to see well it performed, read the Clip and Talk Solar Edition review.

Summary

In terms of call quality and usability, there isn’t much between the three kits. Personally I’d opt for the Clip and Talk Solar. Multipoint is worthwhile feature and the fact that you never need to charge it is extremely appealing as it means that the cigarette lighter is free to charge my phone or iPod. Not being mounted on the sun visor is a bonus too as it means that you can continue to use the kit (and be heard) even with the visor down.

If you’ve used any of the Clip and Talk Car Kit’s let us know what you think using the comments form below.